One of the more devastating offshoots of this lack might be
the relatively recent phenomenon of texting on Shabbos. The pull of this new
technology is so great that it has infected young people of even the most right
wing segments among us.
First a disclaimer. I am by nature not much of a spiritual
person. I am more of a Halachist. As a believer, I want to know what the Halacha
is and follow it. I do not for example take any great joy in shaking a Lulav on
Sukkos. But I try and observe that Mitzvah in the best way I can – because I
believe that is what God wants of me.
I know that many others are far more spiritual than I. Is
that a lack in me? Probably. But this is who I am. I tend to intellectualize.
This doesn’t mean that I get no joy in any of the Mitzvos. I do. Some more than
others. It only means that spirituality
is not the focus of my observance.
That said, I agree that being Jewish is more than just dryly
following Halacha. It is imperative that we have enthusiasm for what we do,
lest we become so jaded by our observances that they become completely rote – following Halacha mostly by force of habit.
The problem is that many of us in Orthodoxy do just that.
There is no meaning in doing a Mitzvah or following a particular Halacha. Many just do it to be done with it so that we can quickly get on with our lives.
I think this mindset affects even the best of us to one degree
or another. For example how many of us
pay close attention to the meaning of every word of our mandatory daily
Teffilos? Those of us who do it three times a day, every day – even if we do it with a Minyan - have a very
difficult time with not having our minds wander. Is that because we lack spirituality?
What in fact is spirituality?
The best way I can define it Jewishly is that it involves an
attachment to the ultimate in spirituality, God Himself. The Hebrew term for that is D’veikus. I don’t
think too many people feel this sense of D’veikus.
What we have today in many Jews is a sort of Orthopraxy. Not
in a Kefira (heretical) sense of doubting God’s existence or denying the
validity of Judaism. But in a rote sense. We go though the motions because
that is how we were raised.
When children see parents reacting this way that they can quickly
become jaded about their Judaism. And observance suffers. There can easily be a
disconnect. No matter how much they are taught in school about following
Halacha they do not identify with it when they see no enthusiasm about it from a
parent.
But they do see enthusiasm in other areas. Maybe a parent is
a sports fan and loves watching ‘the game’ and cheering for his team. They see
the passion of following a given sport… but nothing and the wrote attitude
about practicing the religion. It is not
a big step for a child to rationalize away texting on Shabbos. That is where
their enthusiasm lies.
The question arises, how do we re-invigorate ourselves? Do
we need to attend Shiurim? Or become Chasidim who as a group are more spiritual
than other Orthodox groups?
What is lacking, I think is not necessarily to be found in
the classroom or in Chasidus. I don’t think enthusiasm can be taught as a
subject. It has to be somehow experienced. But If a parent, the primary
influence on a child is not enthusiastic about his Judaism, how will their children
ever be?
And then there is this. Unfortunately there are a lot of
uninspiring things happening in our world today. I need not mention all the
problems going on in Orthodoxy. Just read any of the numerous posts I’ve written on this subject and you
will see what I mean.
Often projects designed to be inspiring have the exact
opposite effect. Like this upcoming Assifa on the internet. I don’t see
negativity as all that inspiring. And yet that is what one hears almost
exclusively these days. “Don’t ...” Don’t
go to concerts, don’t go on the internet, don’t listen to music, don’t watch TV
or movies… don’t read any secular books, don’t read blogs… The only “do” is Do
listen to Daas Torah.
In order to inspire people you need a lot more than that.
You need role models. You need people to look up to. People who you want to
emulate. These people exist. They are observant and achieve great things. They
can be big Talmidei Chachamim, big Baalei Tzeddakah or big Baalei Chesed. People
who work tirelessly for the community, There are religious Jews who have
succeeded in their field - reaching the pinnacle of success - and are lauded for
it. Noble prise winners. Or high government officials all remaining observant
despite the demands of their careers.
I have written about many of these kinds of people. Just
this week, I spoke of Dr. Joseph Walder. He is an inspiring figure. There are
people like Rav Nosson Tzvi Finkel, Nobel laureate Robert Auman, former
Attorney General Michael Mukasey, current
Chief of Staff for the President, Jacob Lew… all of them observant Jews
and inspiring achievers. These are just a few people I can think of offhand.
We need to access more of these people. Have them
speak in our classrooms and synagogues.
In order to put inspiration back into Judaism we also need
to also put some fun back into it. We can’t be all about “no”. There has to be
some fun too.
If one wants to see young Jews be inspired, come to a “fun”weekend
at an NCSY conclave. There you will witness inspiration in spades. There you
will see young people with little to no background enjoying themselves as Jews
as they begin to learn more about their Judaism. You will see inspirational
talks by inspirational people. You will see a real joy in being Jewish by young
people who are all having fun in the process. You will see young Jews with no background being
inspired by advisers -observant Jews just a bit older than they are. From
inspiration comes spirituality.
Lectures tend to ignored, I think. No one wants to attend a
class in spirituality. Big yawn! They need to experience it in positive ways like the teenagers in NCSY. I
know of some OTD young people who have come back through their experiences at
NCSY. Turned off by the dour environment of their classroom experiences (among other things) they get
turned on by what they experience at NCSY.
That sure beats reading about the latest Orthodox child
molester that was arrested. If we want to inspire the young to connect with God
we have to do more to put our house in order by doing all we can to rid our
world of its evils and do the things that make Judaism a joy rather than a
burden. Otherwise we will spend all of our lives at best just going through the
motions if not worse.
