Follow Up - A Strange Princeton Reunion

Recently I met my Haredi fellow alumnus of Princeton in a modest coffee shop on the fringes of the Haredi neighborhoods of Jerusalem, and we had a lively conversation for an hour or so. He is clearly a highly intelligent man, well educated in secular studies and fully a master of rabbinical literature. He is also very open about himself and has not shut himself off from the world beyond his own extremely religious community. I enjoyed meeting him and talking with him, and I felt that despite the huge gap between our world views, we could be friends.
I doubt that anyone who had known either of us while we were students at Princeton (he graduated high school the year that I graduated college, so we were never there at the same time) could have predicted that either of us we would end up living in Israel and getting seriously involved in Judaism. People's paths in life are unpredictable, which gives us a feeling that what happens to us is not inevitable, but I find myself more and more believing in fate: that which happens in the world had to happen.
You can find out more about the man by reading his blog.
My wife and I, although we took up a fairly orthodox life style after we moved Israel, were never tempted to go the Haredi route, even though she is related to a huge clan of Hasidic Jews. Why would one be drawn in that direction?

• Belief: God chose the Jews and told them how to behave, and the Haredim have it right.
• Conviction that Haredi Judaism is the only authentic Judaism.
  
• Admiration for Haredi teachers and leaders: the desire to emulate them.
• The desire to live a sanctified life.
  
• Alienation from earlier life interests.
  
• Intellectual interest: the Talmud is fascinating, and if you're a studious person, it's easy to become immersed in Talmud study, especially because it's sanctioned by your community.

But we were always put off by the restrictions that Haredim take upon themselves, by loyalty to values that conflict with Haredi values.