Glass Houses Alert

Sauce for the goose is supposedly okay for the gander, so I'd like to know why frum Jews get so bent out of shape when secular Jews make up stories or use one-off anecdotes for the purpose or slandering all of Orthodoxy.

I'm part of the Orthodox community, (and I read Cross Currents, where the jihad against left-leaning Jews shows no sign of abating) so I know the lies and slanders go both ways, but the point was really driven home this morning in a comment written by Adam:

 A secular Jew sat on the train across from a man with a black hat and a long beard.

The secular Jew stared at him for several minutes. Finally, he exclaimed, "How can you live your life in the past?! You're a disgrace and an embarassment to all Jews! Times change and you're oblivious to the real world!"

The man, nonplussed, calmly replied, "Excuse me, sir. I'm Amish."

The secular Jew turned five shades of bright red and said "Oh, I'm so sorry! I have great respect for the Amish! You so carefully hold on to your traditions, and you stick to your principles so faithfully! The rest of us could learn a lot from you!"

The black hatter responded "Reb Yid - of course I'm a Jew! Why do you have more respect for Amish values than you do for Jewish values?"

It's sad but true. Today's secular Jewish families would rather their kids become Buddhist monks or Amish farmers than observant Jews.

See what he did? On the basis of a story that (a) never happened and (b) was obviously embellished for rehtorical effect ["5 bright shades of red." "The rest of us could learn a lot from you".] (c) and in any event, involves one single person, Adam has reached a firm conclusion about "all" secular Jews.

Not nice.

For his next trick, perhaps Adam will prove Santa Clause exists via a carefully crafted anecdote he made up

Update: As Hakofer Hagodol points out: That story doesn't even prove your point. The secular Jew isn't apologetic to the Amishman because he thinks that the Amish religion is the best thing since sliced bread, he's apologetic because he was being rude to a stranger. On the other hand, when he thought the guy was a fellow Jew who was ensnared and deluded by the Orthodox heresy, then the secular guy was merely following Torah law to rebuke a fellow to for his own good.

Moiredik!