Sorry is the son who leaves his father. But sorrier is the son who not only leaves his father but repudiates him as well. Not that many years ago it was sometime occasioned that the children of immigrants would leave the proper Jewish lifestyle of their parents, a lifestyle that spanned many generations. They reasoned that rules in the “goldene medinah” of America were different from those of the old time “shtetle.” This was a problem faced not only by European Ashkenazi Jews but by Sefardi immigrants to America as well. Stephen Birmingham writes a whole book about this phenomenon: The Grandees.
There was a time that the problem was largely ignored, and those that made it, made it and those that did not were just lost. However, now in our day and age there is so much in the way of material available that even the layman can absorb sufficient knowledge to counter the anti-Orthodox and the current antisemitic rhetoric.
Truth be told, we should do our best to engage even those gentiles we encounter in our everyday course of life who unfortunately commit antisemitic acts, mostly out of ignorance. And if I may wax chauvinistic, teach them of the Jewish underpinnings of this world. Indeed, many a gentile, especially those of the Evangelical Christian denominations, not only understands this but espouse this as well.
Now, if we are to commit to engage the world, then surely we must engage our own. We as Orthodox Jews must show them that contrary to any negatives they may feel as regards their own past experiences, ours is a good lifestyle, one that goes back to our ancestors who blindly traveled through the wilderness, under the guidance of Moses and Aaron. It was their legacy that binds us today to our core Jewish beliefs and practice.
It pains me to see some of our young people go off to other religions in search of the source of all life when it is right in front of their own eyes. Kudos to those organizations that engage in kiruv/outreach. They accomplish not only with the agnostic, but with the atheist as well. Engage with intellect from the heart and, if need be, with two scoops of sugar as well.
– Rabbi Yaakov Klass is chairman of the Presidium of the Rabbinical Alliance of America; rav of Congregation K’hal Bnei Matisyahu in Flatbush, Brooklyn; and Torah Editor of The Jewish Press. He can be contacted at [email protected] and [email protected].
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As a general rukle, you don’t want to fight evil, because all you do is give them more publicity, and potentially even more credence. So any direct mention of such an anti-Orthodox program or show wouldn’t be recommended.
As always, best thing to do is try to show our lifestyle in the most positive manner possible. That means that we should take any opportunity we have to make a kiddush Hashem and show the world the wholesome, happy, well-adjusted people that we are.
While it is true that we as a community certainly have things and issues that we must continue to improve and work on, the simple reality is if you compare our lifestyle with the secular lifestyle, there is almost no basis for comparison. In terms of wholesomeness, in terms of happiness, in terms of family life, in terms of any index of a successful life, we are heads and shoulders above any of the secular lifestyles. In that sense, it’s an easy sell; all you have to do is portray the accurate understanding of what a wholesome Torah lifestyle is.
Any opportunity to show it in that way is certainly recommended, but to actually bash or knock or even critique one of these outlets would just be adding more credence and publicity to them.
– Rabbi Ben Zion Shafier is founder of The Shmuz and author of 10 Really Dumb Mistakes That Very Smart Couples Make (available at theshmuz.com).
