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| Bais Yisroel - typical Yeshiva where students come in MO and leave Charedi |
(Charedi high school students do not share in this
phenomenon. There is no ‘gap year’ since there is no college post high school
for them. Instead they generally continue in American Yeshivas by learning full time.
If and when they do eventually go to Israel, it is much later and to a Yeshiva
unlike those attended by modern Orthodox high school students during their gap year.)
There are, Ezra says, 2 virtually opposite reasons that a student
will want to study in Israel for their gap year:
One reason is that they are happy with their upbringing, which comprises their home, school and community, and would love to take a break from their current environment to join their brothers and sisters in the Jewish homeland to continue their education, learn more Torah and begin to build an independent, adult life.
The second reason, which I described in my last article, is that they are not satisfied with their upbringing, which has left them with a bad taste in their mouths, so they turn to the Jewish gap year to satisfy their desperate need for a totally new and fresh perspective on Judaism or, as my friends and I call it, “religious rehab.”
These differences cannot be overlooked. I have to wonder
what the percentage of modern Orthodox students fall into each category. And what
the impact is on each type. Can an eventual outcome be predicted based on these
differences? Although there is no guarantee, I have to believe that if one
belongs to the latter group, there is a far greater danger of eventually
becoming a skeptic and totally non observant.
The question is whether the ‘bad taste’ about Judaism they bought
with them can be overcome by a ‘religious
rehab’. My guess is that some minds can
be changed. But I believe that in some cases (how many – I don’t know) these
students are just playing along until they get back and continue their adult lives in a university campus setting that will be more appealing to them. And perhaps be lost to observance forever.
There is another aspect of this phenomenon that should not
be overlooked. The extent to which Mechanchim (religious educators) push
students to go to Israel for the gap year and which Yeshivas they direct them
to. And push they do. Very hard!
As one might expect, Mechanchim in many modern Orhtodox Yeshivas
are Charedi. That’s either because Chinuch is where many of them want to be. Or
because their career choices are more limited since many (perhaps even most) never attend college themselves. The Modern Orthodox world tends towards the
more financially lucrative careers outside of Chinuch which is what a college
education gives them a better chance at.
There are of course modern Orthodox Mechanchim.
But I think it is safe to say that you will find that many modern Orthodox schools have teachers
that are personally Charedi even as they are required to teach the Hashkafa of the
school. Or at least not disparage it. But it is almost impossible to hide where
you are coming from to your students. And when it comes to the gap year, they influence
their students which Yeshiva in Israel to attend.
There are plenty of Yeshivos in Israel that recruit modern
Orthodox students. But they are far from modern Orthodox themselves. Once there the modern Orthodox student begins
an indoctrination that in many if not most cases turns them into Charedim. They do it subtly but over time, a student
from a modern Orhtodox background will come to reject the Hashkafos of his
home. Especially if he comes from that first group Ezra described.
The high school Mechanchim consider this ‘conversion’ to be a
success. These young people whose minds were filled with the mush
of modern Orthodoxy are now Bnei Torah. Which only someone
with Charedi Hashshkafos can aspire to be.
But for sincere Modern Orthodox parents who wanted their
children to grow in their Judaism, by sending them to Israel, it is often a
shock. They wanted the growth. But they did not want it to grow into are rejection
of the values with which they had raised their child.
Why do these young people buy into the Charedi version of
Judaism during their gap year? I believe it is because they have been
influenced by a charismatic Rebbi in Israel in the Yeshiva they attend. Buying into the arguments against modern
Orthodoxy those Rebbeim have been making all year. Arguments that capitalize on
the feeling a certain type of student brings with him. In describing the
motivation of one students like this, Ezra put it this way:
(H)is biggest fear (was) believing… that it would force him to “drop everything and become Charedi.” He feels that the environment he was raised in at home is not genuine, so much so that it only leaves him with one option.
I am not saying this happens in every case. Perhaps not even
in most cases. But it happens a lot. I see it all the time.
What about Yeshivas in Israel that have a Modern Orthodox perspective?
From what I know of them (and I could be wrong) they tend towards the left wing
fringe of modern Orthodoxy. That is not the answer for Centrists like me. And as most people know by now, I believe it
is Centrism – and not the far left - that will be the future of a viable
modern Orthodoxy - if it will continue to exist at all! If it does - it will coexist with the moderate Charedi world.
I’m not sure where this will all lead. But one thing seems
certain. The Charedi influence is pervasive. Which in my view means that modern
Orthodox schools need to do a better job teaching their students (and perhaps
even the parent body of those schools) what the Modern Orthodoxy Hashkafa is
all about; that it is as valid as the Charedi Hashkafa; and explain why that is
true. If we can’t do that, modern Orthodoxy is doomed.
