My involvement with orthodoxy goes back a long way to my youth. My father didn't practice orthodoxy, but he's gone so far as to say that "orthodox Judaism is th only type of Judaism that's worth anything." I disagree, especially outside of Israel.
I've found many orthodox Jews to be narrow-minded and pendantic, and I've had many arguments with them over religion.
And personally, I attribute many of the world's ills to "orthodox
intrasigence" and that could be Moslem, Christian, Jewish or any type of "orthodox".
I got involved with orthodoxy mostly because of my paternal grandmother and her family. My uncle Henry, in particular, was a powerful, well-groomed, wealthy individual, exactly what I wanted to be when I grew up.
He told me once, "you have to be orthodox". And when he said it, it sounded authoritative. So eventually, I went off to learn in a BT yeshiva.
But the system that groomed him and the system that groomed me weren't similar.
The Rosh Yeshiva at D'var Yerushalayim couldn't have cared less about how mucy I suffered in the name of Judaism. All he cared about was running his Yeshiva. I didn't fit in and he wanted me out, too bad.
And I'm sure he's long forgotten about me. But now, with this message board up, I can get my message out after all these years.