Is Adversity the Key to Greater Observance?

Anti-Israel protest at University of Toronto (Arutz Sheva)

Loyalty.

That is the one thing that desired by the One in whom we put all our trust — or at least the One in whom we should put all our trust.

No… I’m not talking about the president of the United States. I’m talking about God. God wants loyalty from us. His treasured people. The Jewish people.

God wants us to be loyal to His laws and statutes. All of them. That includes not only matters affecting our fellow human beings (Bein Adam L’chaveiro), but also those that pertain strictly to our relationship with God (Bein Adam L’Makom).

The Jewish people as a whole tend to do pretty well with the former. But aside from the observant community, the latter is generally ignored by American Jewry.

The problem with observing only Bein Adam L’chaveiro is that you don’t have to be Jewish to be kind to your fellow man. Most decent people behave that way, regardless of their faith tradition. Which is why Jewish identity doesn’t seem to matter so much to secular or heterodox Jews who define their Judaism in terms of Tikun Olam (Bein Adam L’chaveiro).

It’s why so much of American Jewish youth has abandoned their Jewish identity. And why there’s an intermarriage rate of over 70% among non-Orthodox Jews.

God is not pleased with those statistics. This is not the first time in history where many Jews have abandoned observance. It has happened many times in the past. So periodically, throughout Jewish history, God has acted to reverse that trend.

I like to use a phrase popularized by World War II journalist Ernie Pyle to describe this phenomenon: There are no atheists in foxholes.

When one is under attack by a mortal enemy, all doubts about the existence of God tend to disappear - and people begin to pray for survival.

God’s demand for loyalty is therefore sometimes accompanied by a ‘heavenly nudge’  of adversity among His people.

In the case of North American Jewry, that nudge has come in the form of a substantial increase in antisemitism - both here in the U.S. and in Canada. And it’s had God’s desired effect, as reported by Moshe Levi in Arutz Sheva:

“Faced with a world where they are being turned on from all angles, young people are finding their Judaism again. Campuses across much of the world have erupted with antisemitic frenzies. Many channels of media are thick with hatred for Jews and Israel.

This outside pressure has squeezed a diamond-hard resolve into many students, who are weathering this storm by holding fast to their Jewish identity and community.”

I should add that this has happened in Israel as well. Ever since the atrocities perpetrated by Hamas on October 7th, there’s been a surge in observance by Jews who were, at most, Masorati - traditional but not particularly observant of Halacha.

This was true even among some of the most secular hostages and their families. Many secular IDF soldiers have begun observing Mitzvos.  As Levi noted:

“In Israel, many chiloni (secular) young men have begun wrapping tefillin daily. Rabbi Yosef Aharonov of Chabad declared, ‘This is an awakening the likes of which we have not seen for years.’

Precisely because of enemies trying to wipe out the nation that keeps the mitzvah of tefillin, more and more youth in Israel are now putting on tefillin. ‘From bitterness,’ he said, ‘we received sweetness.’”

This reinvigorated attachment to tefillin even caused a stir in a school in Ramat Gan, after a student was suspended for distracting others by wearing tefillin during school hours.

Levi goes on to cite additional examples of this phenomenon.

It’s hard to feel bad about a renaissance in observant Judaism. On the contrary. It’s something to celebrate.  And yet, I can’t help but focus on why this is happening.

All of this was brought about by the massacre of 1,200 Jews on October 7^th. And the subsequent, ongoing wave of antisemitism that followed.

Did we really need so many people to die in order for this renaissance to occur? Did we really need so many soldiers to be killed or permanently injured in battle? And so many families left to grieve?

The idea that the perpetuation of Judaism can only come through tragedy is a frightening thought.

While I’m quite happy that so many Jews are returning to their heritage, the idea that it only happens through tragedy does not sit well with me.

Because that doesn’t bode well for our future physical and mental welfare.

I’d hate to think that antisemitism is the only thing keeping us together as a people. But that seems to be the case.

And if that’s true and the only way God will achieve loyalty from His people, we can expect a lot more of it.