When a people's leadership becomes useless

The change in the economic circumstances of the shtetl Jews had profound effects on their livelihoods and their situation and position in the diaspora. The ultra-Orthodox leadership had nary a clue to the course of those effects, and so was rarely able to help the populations to deal with their challenges. As the pace of change in the modern era began to accelerate, the ability of the orthodox leadership diminished and they were less and less able to help ordinary people manage the challenges of adapting to the changes modern life presented to them.