Cult Checklist

I found this "Cult Checklist" online and I'd like to see how it lines up with Jewish Orthodoxies.

1. The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment.
2. The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.
3. The group is preoccupied with making money.
4. Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.
5. Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and it's leader(s).
6. The leadership dictates- sometimes in great detail- how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth).
7. The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leaders and members.
8. The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with wider society.
9. The group's leader is not accountable to any authorities, and the group teaches or implies that the supposedly exalted ends justifies the means.
10. The leadership induces feelings of guilt in order to control them.
11. Member's subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family, friends, and personal group goals that were of interest to them before joining the group.
12. Member's are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group.
13. Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.

So now, I'll go through it one at a time.

1. The group is focused on a living leader to whom members seem to display excessively zealous, unquestioning commitment.

Not so much in Modern Orthodoxy, but you do see this with the Ultra-Orthodox and their faith in the "Gedolai Hador." And of course this is eminently obvious with Lubavitch Jews.

2. The group is preoccupied with bringing in new members.

No, I wouldn't say this is a particularly strong element in any Jewish religious movement. Jews only tend to proselytize to other Jews. Messianic Judaism and Jews for Jesus do act like this, but they hardly count as a form of Judaism.

3. The group is preoccupied with making money.

No, this is also pretty much a negative. There isn't a "preoccupation" but some UO groups do tend to push a lot of doorbells and walk around asking for money alot.

4. Questioning, doubt, and dissent are discouraged or even punished.

Oh yeah. This is a big yes. UO groups are horrendous for this type of activity. Slifkin, anyone?MO is better, but even they pride conformity.

5. Mind-numbing techniques (such as meditation, chanting, speaking in tongues, denunciation sessions, debilitating work routines) are used to suppress doubts about the group and it's leader(s)

No, not that I'm aware of. In some yeshivahs, the rabbis might yell and publically embarrass a student who "steps out of bounds" but really nothing that I would put under this category.

6. The leadership dictates- sometimes in great detail- how members should think, act, and feel (for example: members must get permission from leaders to date, change jobs, get married; leaders may prescribe what types of clothes to wear, where to live, how to discipline children, and so forth).

100% yes! The Ultra-Orthodox have to ask a shaila about everything - and of course their rabbis are only too happy to give their scholarly advice. MO to a much lesser degree but still shows up every now and then.

7. The group is elitist, claiming a special, exalted status for itself, its leaders and members.

Again, absolutely! Many MO try to hide the Jewish supremacy but it's still very much there. UO don't even hide it. A goy is maybe just a step above an animal. And secular Jews are barely a step above them - if not worse. To the UO even the MO are semi-heretics. Just ask the Frum Teens Moderator.

8. The group has a polarized us-versus-them mentality, which causes conflict with wider society.

To a 'T.' "Esav soneh at Yaakov." The entire UO worldview is the constant battle between Jews and the vicious antisemitic hordes of goyim. Non-Jews cannot be trusted, socialized with and must be avoided as much as possible. Indeed, the entire hedonistic wider society of America is traifa medina.

9. The group's leader is not accountable to any authorities, and the group teaches or implies that the supposedly exalted ends justifies the means.

No, this is mostly a negative. Except for some UO's appeal to emunat chachamim that can excuse leaders for any wrongdoing, this is not a factor I would use to describe any Orthodox Judaism. It might be there, but it's not strongly expressed.

10. The leadership induces feelings of guilt in order to control them.

Eh, not so much. Maybe a little but nothing really to speak of.

11. Member's subservience to the group causes them to cut ties with family, friends, and personal group goals that were of interest to them before joining the group.

Well, a little but not to any strong degree. BTs may feel that they can't eat at their parents' homes but I don't think they cut ties as this check is saying.

12. Member's are expected to devote inordinate amounts of time to the group.

Oh, sure. Daven three times a day with a minyan. Long hours during the holidays and shabbos. Orthodox Judaism includes a huge time investment.

13. Members are encouraged or required to live and/or socialize only with other group members.

Oh, this is a definite yes. This was like one of the others mentioned before. There is this us-vs-them mindset in the UO velt (and the MO velt too to a large but lesser degree). Socialization with goyim is seriously frowned upon.

So, now, what's the score?

I have seven yeses here for Ultra-Orthodox Judaism. For Modern Orthodox, I count maybe two or three strong yeses and then another three or four weaker yeses. The Modern Orthodox have a wide spread of beliefs about the wider world and their own religion and so on the right wing side they would be much closer to UO and have more checks but on the left wing they would have fewer checks.

Seven out of thirteen points for Ultra-Orthodox Judaism. Seems like it's on the brink. It's not quite Heaven's Gate, but still pretty far out there.