Orthodoxy means following Halacha… and being so committed to it, that raising your children to be observant is of the highest priority. That usually means sending your children to religious schools through high school and beyond. These are the real Orthodox Jews. And there is very little attrition form Orthodoxy by them. Which means the numbers coming in far surpass the numbers leaving.
So… is the future of Orthodoxy assured? Let us examine this more closely. Orthodox Judaism encompasses many groups. From the extreme left to the extreme right. The two ends of that spectrum are hardly compatible. To an outsider these two extreme might seem to be living on two different planets. There are many other groups that are defined as Orthodox. Among them are: Chasidim, Lubavitchers, Yeshiva types, Religious Zionists, Centrists, Sephardim… all of which are significantly different from each other. And then there is the Atlantic Ocean which separates us more than just geographically. Because of cultural differences, American Orthodoxy is radically different from Israeli Orthodoxy.
I often say that what unites us (observance of the Halacha) is far greater than what divides us. That may be true. But there is a lot that divides us and that – in some cases – has led to hatred of one form of Orthodoxy against another.
There are other factors that do not bode that well for our future. The fact is that we no longer have the kind of Gedolim that – a few generations hence – will be remembered the way those of the immediate past are and will be. There is no-one today like R’ Aharon Kotler, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the Satmar Rebbe, R’ Joseph Soloveitchik, R’ Ahron Soloviechik, R’ Moshe Feinstein, R’ Yaakov Kaminetsky… and numerous other American Gedolei Yisroel of that stature… far too many to mention.
This is particularly true in America. This is why the current American rabbinic leaders look to Israel for guidance. And yet the two worlds could not be further apart culturally. There is no possible way to see an Israeli rabbinic leader whose values were developed there, leading American Jews whose values were developed here.
On the other side of the Orthodox spectrum there is the challenge of feminism. It has become the most important feature of the left. One does not have to look far to find feminist values taking hold that are changing the face of Orthodoxy. Just to name a few innovations resulting for that: An Orthodox Yeshiva that ordains women (Maharat). There are Women’s Teffila Groups; Partnership Minyanim; Women of the Wall; Women wearing Teffilin, Female cantors in certain portions of public prayer service… all things that are condemned by the right or at best strongly frowned upon even among Centrists.
There are also deep divisions in how to confront modernity. On the one side you have Modern Orthodoxy and on the other you have Charedim and Chasdidm. The latter tend to be insular – rejecting all but what is necessary for life (like modern medicine). While the former embrace those parts of modernity that are compatible with Halacha – seeing much of it as a positive contribution to our Yiddishkeit.
And then there are all those scandals. There have been so many of them involving identifiably Orthodox Jews in recent years that to an outsider looking in, there has to be major reservations about joining us. Are we a light even among our own people …let alone to the nations of the world (an Ohr La’Goyim)?
I don’t think we can see ourselves as one cohesive unit of Orthodox Jews any more. There are too many divisions among us that break us up into tiny little parts which seem incompatible with each other. And the chasm between Israel’s Orthodox Jews and America’s Orthodox Jews is as wide as ever- and growing. We do not have the kind of rabbinic leadership to rely upon as we have in the past. Not in any segment of Orthodoxy. The divisiveness among us is increasing.