It wasn’t that he was rejecting our Modern Orthodoxy, but he had found a different path that spoke to him personally. As King David wrote: “God is close to all that call upon Him, to all who call Him in truth.” There were also discussions about his guilty feelings for the things he had done and not done those many years.
My message to him was to move forward with the renewed strength he had gained from his positive experiences of the previous few years. After Zviki’s return from India, he decided he had to develop and hone his skills in Torah. He joined the yeshiva in Bat Ayin, only a few minutes away from our home in Efrat. The yeshiva world is known for its emphasis on Talmud, and Talmud was one of the few subjects in high school he actually enjoyed and did well in.
And so Zviki has came home again, after a truly amazing journey in search of himself, his path, and his emunah. I cannot say his journey is over, since he is still searching and discovering, but so are all of us, and that’s how it should be.
