Reply To: Yiras Shamayim, Yashrus, and the Internets

WIY: Sure, but please go easy on details since I have to protect my identity and work with very educated people. If you think you know me, you don’t! (based on what I have posted in the CR anyway)

Example 1: Coworker A lives near a rather large Chassidish community and is involved in the town budget. Coworker angrily informs me that “the Hassids are trying to take over the town and are making every single building a religious institution so they won’t have to pay taxes.” Not only that, they have dome something illegal to allow them to build. While I’m not mekabel it completely, do they realize that if they behaved above board, they would have a much more positive reaction from the populace?

Example 2: Coworker B thinks Hassidic girls are cute. Coworker B asks me if I often go to [insert name of expensive store]. I have barely heard of it (my family is not rich.) Coworker B informs me that “All the Hassidic girls shop there.” This follows a conversation where they mentioned how government programs for the poor are used by ‘hassids’.

This has taught me that we think it doesn’t matter, but everything we do is scrutinized. If having Yiras Shamayim isn’t enough to keep you from being super honest in your dealings with non-Jews, please think about the Orthodox Jews who will have to work with them in the future.