We may be tempted to assume this doesn’t affect us. After all, we are different. We don’t buy into the culture of the times.
But while we may feel self-assured and secure in our position, the reality is that we are human, so it can’t help but affect us. The question is: what can we do about it?
The Gemara often uses the expression “kulei alma lo pligi” – “the whole world agrees.” To the Torah sages, their world was the whole world. If you had an opinion about an issue of halacha, you were in the world. If not, you weren’t. This is illustrative of a perspective. While they were certainly aware of people outside their sphere, they created their own world.
This may sound myopic and cloistered, but it is based on a fundamental understanding of the human. To remain pure in an impure world, we need to create our own world.
To some extent, we have done just that. We now have our own music, our own novels, our own newspapers and magazines. We have, to a degree, created our own culture. To some, this may sound like “Ghetto Judaism” – limiting, closed off, isolated from the world. And in truth, it is. But it’s not out of being small-minded. It stems from recognizing the extent of the problem and the nature of the human.
The unfortunate reality is that we can’t just take the good and ignore the bad. If we wish to live as a holy nation in these times, we need create an oasis of purity. We need to create our own world.