I carefully chose the location of where to compose this latest piece, specifically in a shul, so that I am in an appropriate environment where I will understand and fully appreciate the seriousness of this topic. Most people running around today, even in religious circles, have a severely warped version of morality and hashkafa in the lens that they view the world around them. Much of this is negatively influenced by both Hollywood and Hellenistic ideas introduced by false prophets in our community.
To the question of which one influenced the other is not really a topic that matters. What does matter is correcting this false perception of reality, both in our community and our world at large, so that we may live in a more just and moral world. As it says in Devarim, "Justice, justice shall you pursue" (Deuteronomy 16:20)
Let’s begin with a few examples of the issue and a few ways in which this moral rot has infested us.
One of the most popular movie (and now TV) franchises around today is Star Wars. Most people in the developed world have seen Star Wars content in one medium or another. The premise is popular, it’s filled with action (until Kathleen Kennedy messed it up, at least), and it focuses on a universe not completely different from our own, and still realistic in nature. The world is united by The Force, which is essentially the moral arbiter of the universe, with both the dark and light sides available. Obviously, the light side is good and the dark side is bad, and the implication is that we should accept this version of morality unto ourselves in the real world. Both anger and aggression are dark side emotions. Compassion and serenity are good, light side emotions.
But if we use our oft-neglected brains to actually process the clear subliminal messaging involved here, are anger and aggression actually “bad”? Are compassion and serenity actually required and necessary in all situations? If someone mugs you on the street, are you supposed to thank them and offer bus fare home? Obviously, one who operates with a Just mind would not think this way. You have just been wrongly wronged. When Ari Fuld is murdered, is the appropriate response to feel compassion?
We can clearly learn from Torah, "You shall not stand by [the shedding of] your fellow's blood. I am the Lord." (Leviticus 19:16) What has to be wrong in your head to feel compassion in such a time and situation for anyone but the victims and their families?
Hashem created us with a wide spectrum of emotions and feelings to use with precision, not performance. We are meant to experience different emotions at different times, each in the appropriate situation. If one has a relative that passes away, is that the time to feel joyful? I mean, unless it’s your mother-in-law...
But in general, we were created with emotions to assist us in navigating and processing life. The catch is that they must be used in the correct time and place. We can go back to the wallet example. Experiencing joy or elation is not the appropriate emotion for that moment. Despair, anger, or sadness is. Hashem gave us those tools for a reason.
Regarding October 7th terror attacks, or even the Ari Fuld murder, the healthy and appropriate response is anger, a desire for vengeance, and severe aggression. While false prophet George Lucas has brainwashed the majority of our generation to believe otherwise, that is not morality. Anger is necessary, healthy, and natural in such circumstances. A lack of anger in that context denotes a brain that has clearly gone to mush.
Another pop culture dichotomy I'd like to explore is where doing what is necessary is "bad" and allowing society-demolishing degeneracy to run rampant is a moral “good.” An easy example is when Batman faces off with the Joker, an evil madman intent on killing many innocent people. Batman makes the repeated clear intentional miscalculation that killing the Joker is morally worse than letting the Joker kill more innocents. Why Bob Kane thought this was a good moral message to impose upon the masses is beyond my extensive wisdom. I’m sure he had a really dumb reason for doing so.
This moral psychosis, pushed by those with “good intentions,” where “restraint” is elevated above justice and “compassion” is weaponized to shield the wicked, has infected even religious Jews. The Batman example is just a sanitized metaphor for the actual mindset infecting our communities. When a terrorist is killed, you’ll hear the tortured, mealy-mouthed sermonizing about “the sanctity of life.” As if murdering the murderer is some ethical gray area. As if Hashem didn’t say, “And you shall destroy the evil from among you.” (Deuteronomy 17:7)
Let’s make something clear: mercy for the wicked is cruelty to the righteous. That’s not a new idea. That’s Shmuel killing Agag. That’s Pinchas spearing Zimri. That’s Hashem Himself commanding war against Amalek. But the soy-fed moral philosophers of the modern world would clutch their pearls and sob into their lattes if they read any of that in a Torah scroll. (Spoiler: they wouldn’t read it. Actual Torah makes them feel unsafe.)
So no, “compassion” is not always good. Sometimes it’s a sin. And “anger” is not always bad. Sometimes it’s a mitzvah. The modern avodah zarah is the worship of feelings. Not correct feelings in the correct time, as I laid out above. All feelings. All the time. So long as they’re soft, submissive, and ultimately cowardly. Righteous indignation? That’s violence. Firm standards? That’s judgmental. Intolerance of deviancy? That’s hate. You’re not allowed to hate anything, unless it’s truth, masculinity, or Hashem Himself. Then hate away.
We live in an upside-down world, where weakness is inverted as virtue and strength is castigated as extremism. Speak plainly about justice and you're a zealot. Demand consequences and you're “radical.” But call for “tolerance” of drag shows in Jewish schools and suddenly you’re brave. That is not morality. It’s rot dressed in drag, posturing as the language of virtue.
And if we’re being honest, this isn’t just the fault of Hollywood or Lucasfilm or DC Comics. This is our own fault too. We have let this garbage enter our homes, our yeshivas, our WhatsApp groups. We let our kids worship cowards in capes who let evil win because they’re too enlightened to pull a trigger. We didn’t teach them what true moral clarity looks like. So now they fight genocidal evil with Canva graphics and TikTok tears.
#StopAntisemitism
#NoPlaceForHate
#StrongerThanHate
So what do we do?
We recalibrate, following the guidelines given to us by Hashem when He chose us those many years ago. We reject the black-and-white childish morality of Hollywood, where all violence is bad and all forgiveness is good. We preach and teach the Torah’s model of moral discernment: mercy when earned, justice when necessary, and holy rage when commanded. We teach our sons that there is a time for empathy and a time to go to war. We teach our daughters that a soft heart is only holy when it beats in tandem with a strong spine.
And above all, we remember: morality is not a vibe. It’s not a personality trait. It’s not a genre on Netflix. Morality is allegiance to Hashem’s definitions, not society’s.
This moral paralysis, this fetishization of “restraint” even in the face of evil, is everywhere. The Batman example is cute. But what it actually reflects is disgusting. An entire generation of idiots raised on the doctrine that doing nothing in the face of evil is somehow more noble than eradicating it. The Joker butchers a busload of kids. Batman ties him up gently and sends him to Arkham again, so he can escape next week and kill even more. Why? Because “we don’t kill.”
Yeah? Well maybe you should.
But the comics are just the smoke. The real fire is in the culture. We’ve taken this garbage in and started quoting it like Torah. Mercy, mercy, mercy. No judgment. No violence. No standards. Just endless empathetic hand-wringing while the wicked laugh and build more rockets. Because dealing with those who try their darndest to kill us would make people who already hate us more mad at us for not dying, and that would be really terrible.
And worse, this moral confusion has metastasized into religious circles. That’s the part that should make your skin crawl. We’ve got frum Jews, rabbis, teachers, speakers parroting this Hollywood morality back at us with a pasuk duct-taped to it for effect. “Oh, but we have to be compassionate, even to the sinner.” Do we? Was that Pinchas’ takeaway? Was that Eliyahu’s great act of kiruv on Har HaCarmel when he slaughtered 450 false prophets with a smile? Imagine the statement the ADL would have to issue to clean that mess up. Whew.
Hashem Himself told us how to think about evil. “And you shall destroy the evil from among you.” (Deuteronomy 17:7) “Whoever sheds the blood of man, through man shall his blood be shed.” (Genesis 9:6)
This is not optional. This is not metaphorical. This is Torah. But we’ve replaced Torah with trauma theory and virtue signaling. And now we’re surprised that our kids have no moral compass.
We’ve bought into the lie that morality is about intention instead of outcome. That as long as your heart is full of fluffy feelings and your Instagram posts say “love is love,” you’re righteous. Mottel Lightstone could not be more excited by that idea. But if you raise your voice to actually defend your people, if you demand consequences, if you exhibit actual strength, now suddenly you’re “divisive.” Or worse, you're giving us a “bad look.” And that is the worst aveirah of them all.
Let’s call it what it is: religion for eunuchs.
In Jonathan Sacks’ perverted version of Judaism, we worship restraint. We glorify passivity. We perform moral indecision and call it “depth,” and "ethics." And then we’re shocked when our communities get steamrolled by people who believe in something.
The Torah doesn’t shy away from strength. Moshe Rabbeinu shatters the luchos. Shmuel hacks Agag into pieces. The Maccabees didn’t light a candle and tweet about antisemitism. They pulled their swords and killed the Hellenizers. You want to talk about real morality? It’s not about staying calm. It’s about choosing the right target for your holy wrath.
And don’t get me wrong. There is a time for compassion. That’s why Hashem gave us those emotions. For serenity. For giving someone the benefit of the doubt. But the Torah puts that time after the blood stops flowing. Not while your neighbors are being raped and beheaded. Not while children are kidnapped. Not while evil is still breathing.
Hashem gave you emotions to wield like weapons, not to swaddle like blankies in a breathwork circle.
Anger is for injustice. Compassion is for the worthy. Fear is for Hashem.
But what the world has done, and what we’ve shamefully mimicked, is flatten all emotion into a single, perpetual virtue-signaling smile. Be nice. Stay calm. Don’t fight. Don’t be mean.
To which I say:
You’re not being good. You’re being pathetic.
We have allowed the morality of sitcoms and superhero comics to redefine Torah. We let Disney tell us that loving the enemy is strength, and hating evil is a flaw. We let Netflix frame vengeance as toxic, and spinelessness as piety. And then we wonder why nobody can think straight anymore.
Here’s a radical idea: maybe Hashem knows more about morality than George Lucas.
We need to stop outsourcing our hashkafa to screenwriters, psychologists, and the ADL PR department. We need to teach our children, and remind ourselves, that morality is not softness. It’s not weakness. It’s not neutrality. It is a sword sharpened by truth, wielded with courage, and guided by Hashem.
And sometimes, the moral thing to do is to be angry. Sometimes, it’s to fight. Sometimes, it’s to destroy. Because if you won’t fight evil with strength and clarity and unapologetic fire, then you don’t love good. You just love being liked.
In other words?
You’re Batman.
You let the Joker kill more innocents and you still think you’re the hero.