I Take It Back

The lack of quality public leaders who inspire me and make me want to subscribe to their cause is something that has been troubling me ever since my trip to El Salvador this past March. A couple of days ago I blogged about the concepts of Darcei Shalom and how wonderful I thought the Mishnas surrounding those ideas are. I still like the Mishnas, but I am deeply disturbed with the Men that wrote them. Why? Because of comments they made about the 'Am HaAretz', the non-scholarly Jews who were living during the time period. Such vulgar and descriptive stereotypes that I will not waste my time writing. How is it that such Men could also be the authors of our Halachic law, the framework on how we as Jews are suppose to live our lives?? How am I able to subscribe to such a system when I feel so disgusted with their words on relationships with those outside the Talmudic community? They are arrogant, they are pretentious--yes they are Human, I hold leaders to a higher standard. They are setting the example. The Gemara itself event mentions this in different circumstances, so how does it not apply here?? I know I have also writen about contradictory opinions and how great it is that there are a variety of voices. BUT the difference for me is that one is commentary and in this case its law. Just as I frown at the actions of Moshe Katsav, I frown at their words. And just as bad leaders make me lose faith in a system, I am losing faith in the Halachic framework.