One of the most serious issues of our time is a phenomenon that has had precious little attention paid to it. I’m talking about young, religious Jews from good families with absolutely no problems simply not accepting what Judaism teaches. There seems to be a significant number of young people who simply aren’t ‘buyng’ the Torah that we are ‘selling’. And if my intuition is correct the numbers we now see refects only the ‘tip of the iceberg’. To put it the way Rabbi Yakov Horowitz did in a recent column ( …and I urge everyone to read his entire piece):
‘No anger, no drugs, no promiscuous activity. They are just not buying what we are selling. Some have decided to ‘go public’, while others are still ‘in the closet’. In some of the cases, their educators have no idea of what is really going on.’
I am not talking about the ‘kids at risk’ problem. That is well known by now and is beginning to get the attention it deserves... attention that was sorely was lacking a few years ago. That phenomenon is related to issues having to do with dysfunctional family situations or children with learning disabilities or emotional problems… or other such problems. While that phenomenon happens in good families too, it is not really what I am talking about.
I am talking about the good kids, the bright kids, the socially integrated kids… in other words they are normal and not mal-adjusted in any way. There are far too many young people that just refuse to believe what they are being taught. And it cuts across the board. There is no religious segment that is immune form it.
On the other hand, though I have no statistical evidence for it, I have been told by several knowledgeable people that the most affected community is the Chasidic one. If this is true perhaps it is because they are the most sheltered and the most vulnerable. In that community an adolescent is strongly indoctrinated in a believe that everything in the outside world is Sheker. If he or she is suddenly exposed to an outside world that isn’t... and learns about things that raises these questions, skepticism is not an unreasonable reaction. Such a person will feel he has been deceived by his parents, teachers and community.
Be that as it may there seems to be an overall flaw in the entire approach to teaching Judaism in the Torah world. Something is lacking. It seems apparent from this that many if not most teachers are unprepared to deal with serious questions touching upon Emunah. When asked, the response can often be, “We don’t ask such questions”. Or worse.
When an adolescent child has a serious question such as the one about the Mabul, the unprepared teacher may castigate the child for even asking it saying the question and even call the question itself heretical. In some cases the questioner may be called a heretic just for asking it.
That can only have one consequence, reinforcing the doubt. That can easily result in skepticism. With the advent of the internet, the scientific information that generated a child’s question is available for him to read at the click of a mouse. To then tell a child that his question is Apikursus, is a one way ticket for that child out of belief.
Why should an adolescent trust any Mechanech about anything he teaches if any serious question goes unanswered? If on top of that the question is treated as heresy or the child is made to feel badly for even thinking it the only response one can expect form that child is anger? Anger at the Mechanech, anger at the school, and anger at the entire religion! That is a prescription for the really bright and thoughtful children (i.e. the ones who ask the questions) to walk away from the entire enterprise of Torah in disgust and disbelief.
I think it is incumbent upon all Mechanchim in the Torah world to first realize that there is a problem and to better learn how to deal with it.
There are some who would day that this phenomenon justifies banning the internet and the solution is to strengthen the ban. But, that is foolish. All that does is delay the inevitable. At some point a curious adolescent will find a way to access the information that will generate the questions and doubts in his or her mind. The internet is so pervasive it is impossible to completely eliminate it from your life. And it is becoming even more pervasive every day.
So, when an adolescent come up with difficult question about Emunah based on information they received on the internet, our Mechnchim better be able to answer them…. honestly! No brush offs. No lies. No fudging. Just a truthful response from a caring and understanding teacher that does not disparage a child for asking the question.
There ought to be a serious program in all segments of the Torah world to educate teachers in how to answer these questions. Instead of discouraging questions, children ought to be encouraged to ask a Rebbe anything that is on his mind without fear of being branded a heretic. Because if this problem isn’t dealt with soon, we are going to lose some of the best and brightest Jews in our ranks. We have already started losing children. The only question is how we stop it and how soon.
