Everything In Moderation

Lately while blogging I have read what, as an orthodox frum jew, I consider to be some strange things.
On one blog I read about women shaving their heads. One was talking about TV and movies and the fact that Chassidim don’t involve themselves with that. Another, the craziest in my opinion, discussed Judaism’s issue with sex.
It made me think a lot about chassidus and about how it differs from my way of thinking. Granted chassidus does not advocate celibacy, that’s a whole different issue.
One of the differences that I always noticed between us as Jews, and the Christians/Catholics, was that we understood moderation. They did not.
Obviously we have laws that restrict us from many things, but once we get past the laws, we are living in a corporeal world. Sex in Judaism is not forbidden or prohibited or only for procreation. Our Rabbis and leaders engage in sexual activity. However, it’s done in such a way as to emphasize the spirituality of the union of husband and wife.
This is directly opposed to Catholicism where sex is a “necessary evil” for procreation and abstaining makes one better or holier. This is not natural. Hashem did not create the world this way. I hate to say it but that’s why you see priests and altar boys…….
As it relates to women’s hair, (yes, it’s supposed to be covered), colors of clothing, types and quantities of kosher foods that we eat and in my opinion even television and movies, moderation, moderation, moderation is the direction in which we should be going.
To some degree, I understand why chassidus chooses to exclude themselves from the rest of the goyish society, but for me it doesn’t work. Generally if a child is prohibited from doing something, it only makes them want it more. Why else would we have imitation shrimp, crab and lobster? Do we really want or need those foods, or is it only because we can’t have them?
My wife once heard a woman lecturer, I think her name was Tova Mordechai, who grew up in a convent. She now is frum and speaks, traveling the world, wearing bright clothing (she was wearing a bright red dress when my wife heard her) and eating smorgasbords of food (no she is not fat, I was simply making a point), to offset her years of being allowed to only wear black and white and eat only old bread and water.
There are simanim and simanim in shulchan aruch, teaching us the torah way to do the most mundane things (which I will not get into here), but the point is, doing things the torah way, means taking the most mundane acts and objects and elevating them to a higher level, by using and doing them properly in the way that Hashem would want you to do them.
Do you see what I’m getting at? I believe that to be a frum torah jew means to involve yourself in the world, but in moderation and doing it in a way that both elevates yourself as well as those around you, not to mention the opportunities to make a kiddush hashem, both with Jews and non-Jews alike.