Rav Yosef Shalom Elyashiv told the story of a group of horse thieves who made their home in a small town in Russia. A person must earn a living, so they decided they would earn their livelihood by stealing horses. After a while, they graduated to other items. They stole anything they could move and fence. They were open minded, liberal Jews; thus, they stole from everyone-not just the ultra-Orthodox. They stole from whoever had something worth stealing.
Something, however, was unique about their lifestyle and its relationship with Judaism. They established a shul which they named Congregation Horse Traders, in which they davened every day. Furthermore, every member of the congregation had to attend services on Shabbos, followed by Tehillim recitation in the afternoon. They were acutely aware that their chosen vocation was accompanied by danger. They hoped that their fervent prayers would circumvent any danger to themselves.
Clearly, anyone who possesses a modicum of intelligence understands the hypocrisy and fallacy of such frumkeit, observance. This type of self-serving nature is not even remotely connected with Jewish observance. They thought that as long as they davened and observed one particular area of bein adam la’Makom, they could reject bein adam la’chaveiro.
