Frum
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- For people with this surname, see Frum (surname).
Frum (Yiddish: פֿרום; [frum | frim]), from the German fromm, meaning "devout" or "pious", is a Yiddish word meaning committed to be observant of the 613 Mitzvot, or Jewish commandments, specifically of Orthodox Judaism.
The opposite of frum is frei (pronounced "fry") meaning someone who is "not religious" and "free" from the yoke of the mitzvot, or feels "free" to do whatever they feel like doing.
The word "frum" can have other specific meanings depending on the context in which it is used. Often the terms frum and frei indicate one's social associations as much as his/her actual religious commitment.
Someone who is extremely frum or devout is known as a frummer. This term is generally used in a positive sense if he/she is frum "unto themselves" but does not force their frumness (frumkeit) on others.
"Frummer" can also have a negative connotation similar to "Hasid Shotah" (pious idiot), which is how the Talmud describes a man who sees a woman drowning, but will not save her lest he touch her. A frummer in that sense refers to someone who is more concerned with the technical aspects of religious achievement and displays outward signs of religiosity, but lacks a sense of ethics and/or respect for his fellow man; in other words someone who has their priorities mixed up with no sense of proportion. In this vein, the word "frum" is said to be an acronym for "fiel rishus un veinig mitzvos" – "much wickedness and few mitzvos." (See Backronym.)
Unlike the Yiddish word "ehrlich" ("honest") which also means "pious", and is always used in a positive sense; the word "frum" can be used in a negative sense for: "hypocritically pious", "holier-than-thou", "sanctimonious"; or in a positive sense for: "pious", "devout", "God-fearing" and "upright". A combination is sometimes used to describe someone as "frum and ehrlich", which captures all the positive attributes of these words and would roughly mean "upright" or "righteous" (tzadik).
In orthodox communities, the abbreviation "FFB" meaning "Frum From Birth" is sometimes used to refer to a person who was born into a religiously-observant family and has maintained this lifestyle; it contrasts with "BT" which refers to a baal teshuva - a jewish person from a secular background who has become religious later in life.
