I have never met Rabbi Daniel Mechanic. I have heard his name mentioned in passing but do not really know much about him. But what I do know from single comment he made is pretty impressive.
I recently wrote a post dealing with the specific problem of young people who drop out, not because of any dysfunction in their lives. ...but because of unanswered or poorly handled questions about matters dealing with Emunah.
Rabbi Mechanic responded with a rather lengthy but important comment. The fact that it was at the end of a somewhat lengthy comment section it may have been missed. As I said I think it is important so I post it here in its entirety:
I would like to bring to the attention of the readers that a program already exists dedicated to addressing this very issue. Ten years ago, with the Haskamos of numerous Gedolim and Roshei Yeshiva, I founded Project Chazon. Our staff presents comprehensive Hashkafa seminars on the Yesodei HaEmunah to Yeshiva and Bais Yaakov high school students throughout the United States, Canada, and England. To date, over 1300 programs have been presented to over 125,000 students in 265 schools. These multi-series seminars cover a wide range of issues basic to Yiddishkeit including the classical approaches to Metzius Hashem, Torah MiSinai, Torah She’Bal’Peh, Tzaddik Verah Lo, Tachlis Hachaim, Bechirah, etc. The unprecedented success of these seminars can be measured by the letters and calls arriving daily from school principals, parents and, most significantly, the students themselves.
After speaking and listening to the questions --and sometimes doubts-- of thousands of Yeshiva students, I can attest to the fact that this problem is broader and deeper than we tend to think. I recently invested a great deal of time analyzing correspondence received from over one thousand Yeshiva high school boys and girls and found the following question to be the overwhelming favorite: “How do we know that we are right?” It would seem that the challenge of growing up in a society increasingly driven by science, technology and all manner of newfangled “modern sensibilities,” demands that we provide our children with the ability to effectively articulate to themselves, and to others, the truth and relevance of Torah.
After a recent three hour Hashkafa presentation in a well-known Bais Yaakov, the valedictorian of the class wrote me a long letter wherein she shared some of her, and her classmates, feelings about the program. Here are some excerpts from the letter - and this is after she and her entire class were exposed to years of fantastic teachers and the necessary and high quality chomer and curriculum of the school.
"Very infrequently has anyone in the Frum world spoken to us as directly as you have. Most just pass over those questions they do not feel earn a response, disregarding the truth that answers are badly needed – and it is not just a matter of several unstable and therefore argumentative adolescents looking for conflict. There is a fair amount of insecurity in our grade. About religion, about Hashem, about life, history, and the world at present. Most of our feelings about the above issues have been hushed up, one way or another. Either it is not appropriate, or it is shocking that such a thought would enter a “Yiddishe Maidele’s” head, etc. And with responses such as the above, our unease and discomfort builds, and perhaps we begin to feel we should not be asking these questions, and that it’s wrong to think such thoughts".
"Never before have I seen so many kids so enthusiastic about Yiddishkeit as there were after you had spoken. Please continue, the impression made upon us is incredible, and it is necessary that other young teens feel the same".
My friends - I am not so talented. Really. But what I did accomplish apparently was validation - validation for their frum lifestyle and mesiras nefesh. Something that, unfortunately, our kids desperately need today. And all I did was answer their Hashkafa questions.
Project Chazon is not in the business of being meorair shailos (awakening doubt). We are there, however, to provide the reassurance of direct and compelling responses to the crucial Hashkafa questions of today’s Yeshiva students.
Hopefully, with great siyata dishmaya, Project Chazon will continue to assist the schools in reinforcing and strengthening the Shmiras Hamitzvos and Avodas Hashem of their students.
Updated: 10/24/07 - 7:17 PM CDT
