There are many roads to Kiruv... that is, to convince secular Jews about the beauty of Torah. Some better than others. Some are very effective. Some... very controversial. Some are both. In a recent post I wrote of the terrible approach to Kiruv that Breslov uses. I thought it might be useful to look at others as well and at one Kiruv organization whose methods I heartily endorse: NCSY.
We live here today in an era today of unprecedented freedom. There has never been a country like the United States of America where the freedom to practice religion freely is a constitutionally protected right and for this we should be eternally grateful. But this kind of freedom is a double edged sword for those of us who want to preserve tradition. For along with an unfettered freedom to practice Judaism in any way we choose comes the freedom to not practice it at all.
Just as this country allows the freedom to practice religion so too does it allow all manner of attraction away from religion. Although assimilation is good up to a point, the beck and call to assimilate out of Judaism is so great as to pose the single biggest danger to the continued existence of the Jewish people since the holocaust. The holocaust of course posed a physical danger: that of the annihilation of all the Jewish people. But here in the United States we are at risk of a spiritual holocaust numerically equal to and perhaps greater than of the holocaust. I, of course do not mean to belittle the horror of the holocaust, but in a spiritual sense, more souls have the potential for destruction through assimilation then were destroyed in the holocaust.
Nowhere is the pressure of assimilation greater than in then halls of today’s public high schools. It is at the vulnerable teenage years where there is immense peer pressure to conform to today’s latest fads. The task of Kiruv amongst teenagers is so difficult that few organizations have even attempted it for this age group. This is where National Council of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) shines like no other Kiruv organization.
NCSY has gone into the trenches of today’s public schools and have caringly and lovingly literally ripped away from assimilation thousands of young people who have through them discovered their own heritage and have become not only observant, but committed Jews and have grown into idealistic leaders in virtually every sphere of Orthodoxy. And it does so with every intention of maintaining a harmonious relationship between a teen and his or her family.
NCSY does Kiruv with little fanfare or even notice from the Frum public on a daily basis and has done so year after year ever since it’s founding many decades ago. And it does it in the manner that our sages dictate of Chanoch L’Naar Al Pi Darko, treating each NCSYer as an individual and guiding them along a path that is most sensible to that particular individual. So NCSYers can “graduate” from a public high school environment into the entire spectrum of Orthodoxy whether it be Modern Orthodox or Ultra-Orthodox. There are committed teenagers that because of their circumstances remain in public high school and are Shomer Shabbos. In Chicago, there are NCSYers that end up in the mixed gender high school, Ida Crown, the center-right Fasman Yeshiva High School, the more right of center, WITS, and the ultra right Telshe Yeshiva. There are even some individuals who have ended up Chasidic. And many end up studying in a Yeshiva in Israel and come back to their own niche.
This is the beauty of NCSY they are a Kiruv organization whose sole purpose is to guide young people into a commitment to Torah observance without pressuring them to fit into a mold.
Contrast this with some of the others. I already wrote about Breslov. Let’s look at Lubavitch. It is probably the single biggest Kiruv organization in the world... perhaps even in all of Jewish history. (I know they don’t like that word “Kiruv” but for purposes of comparison I use it here.) They are a group who believes that the ends justify the means. So they will do what ever they think necessary to get win somebody over, even if it means humoring them with lies. They rationalize. Once a BT is roped in, they can tell him or her the truth. For example they always tout their support of Israel and praise Israeli leaders. They know that the typical assimilated Ameican Jew has this attitude. So they fake having it too. In reality of course they are about as supportive of a secular state as Satmar is. The only difference is that they don’t publicize their antipathy to secular state the way Satmar does. They fake support it until they “win over” the BT. Once that happens they are told the truth. But by then they are so deeply entrenched in Chabad that they accept it and “understand” the need to deceive at first as it is all done “L’Shma”. Lubavitch’s other great “sin” in my view is that their goal isn’t just to make you Frum. They want to make you a Lubavitcher. This is the epitome of Torah observance to them. Anything short of that is considered a compromise and looked at as somewhat of a failure.
Another successful Kiruv organization is Aish HaTorah. They are a more mainstream type Kiruv organization than Lubavitch in that they are more open to differing Hashkafos, but they are not without problems. They are also of a mindset to use deceptive tactics. Several years ago Rabbi Chaim F. Keller, RY of Telshe Chicago wrote a scathing attack against their tactics in the Jewish Observer, and rightfully so. Without mentioning them by name he blasted them for advertising a Kiruv event falsely. The ad misled people into thinking they were going to see one thing and the event was about an entirely different matter... only remotely tied to the event. Rabbi Keller felt that you cannot “sell” Judaism with lies and deceptions. I totally agree.
Of course there are other much better Kiruv organizations in my view than Lubavitch, Breslov, and Aish. Ohr Somaech comes to mind. But even they seem fixed on producing a more Charedi product. There are some here in Chicago that are even more open to a variety of results. But in my view none of them compare to NCSY. They are best of all Kiruv worlds. They truly are universalist in their approach. If anyone wants to see a model Kiruv organization, let them come to NCSY.
