The narrative common to all preachers is that any and all previous generations were superior to any and all later generations.
Here’s one counter-example: Shulchan Aruch Even Ha’ezer Siman 24 forbids Yichud with males. This clearly shows that the Jews at the time and place the SA was written suffered more from the sin of homosexuality than we do. The Bach is explicit.
(Although the Gra on Yoreh Deah 153:3 seems to disagree.)
By “we” I mean modern Jews, not this site.
Many Jewish scholars have wondered, notably among them Rabbi Shlomo Zalman Auerbach and Rabbi Ovadiah Yosef: why does there seem to be a recent attraction to stringencies (chumros)?
Without generating too much indignant heat or details at this time, the short answer is: They don’t trust you.
The masses don’t trust their rabbis to permit and allow everything.
After having been swayed to permit almost everything the masses asked you to find permission for by hook or by crook, the man in the street assumes that when his rabbi prohibits some action he can trusted, but when his rabbi demonstrates any kind of nuance in answering the question, his rabbi is lying.
While mankind wants an easy life, Jews also have a soul which yearns to do the right thing. And not everyone can tell the difference between real and fake, Halacha and Chumra. We each specialize, and we don’t all have sufficient time to learn every Torah topic with the care it deserves.
You can certainly follow the links for more, but let’s include one illustration here too.
Jews preferred to stay in exile. So they glanced at/asked their rabbis. The rabbis said “Sure”. “Wait for Mashiach. Like us”.
OK. Then the Chooch/government disallowed alcohol production. So the Jews took it up.
The same occurred with interest-bearing loans, but that’s for another time.
Well getting rid of all that whiskey on Pesach eve was expensive, so they again asked the rabbis for some way to permit them to hold onto it. And the rabbis, ever obliging, invented a fictitious sale for us.
This is where comes the famous tale of a housewife whose scholarly husband told here she could ease up on the wall scrubbing. Her response? If Pesach was left up to the men, we would all be eating bread at the Seder!
More can be said on this topic – next time…
מאי שנא מצידה ושאר אומנויות מסוכנות, שהתיר בשו”ת נודע ביהודה תנינא יו”ד סימן י’ לצורך פרנסה?
אך כ”כ בשו”ת משנה הלכות חלק ו’ סימן רנ”ט:
וצריך עיון.
There are actions a Litvak may do and a Chassid may not even think about.
Overheard.
I, an anonymous writer on the internet, wish to give any Jew who reads this some unsolicited advice.
When an elderly rabbi/rebbe/scholar/etc. moves to your neighborhood, this ought to raise the simple question: Why?
Is your neighborhood where older rabbis often go to retire? What are his plans, and do they seem to match his stature?
If it is you who just moved in, and you find an elderly scholar to whom access is surprisingly open, this too ought to raise the simple question: Why?
Are his entourage all youngsters and/or greenhorns? Why? Where are the followers and friends he ought to have accumulated over the years?
Are good answers possible? Sure. But ask! Ask yourself, ask others, and don’t fall for poor justifications.