What is missing from the masses of American Jewry is Jewish education. If Jews are not educated about what Judaism actually is they have little reason to be Jewish at all. Much less to perpetuate it generationally.
To paraphrase an old cliché, we can’t even bring the horse to the water - let alone get him to drink it. Most secular Jews know little about Judaism and don’t care to find out. They consider it irrelevant to their lives. That’s why intermarriage is so common Who cares what religion your spouse is?
There is another aspect to this issue Weiss makes note of that is significant to those non Orthodox parents that do educate our children Jewishly:
Too many students in Jewish schools are not excited about their Judaism. Even non-Orthodox children going to Jewish schools tend to remain non-Orthodox. I spoke to one such child recently and he told me that no rabbi at the school built a close relationship with him. This, he said, was why he was not inspired to become more religious.
Would that this were the only problem – serious though it may be. Exacerbating this problem says Weiis is that many Jewish schools will not even admit non-Orthodox students.
I had to smile at that last one. Not because it isn’t true. Sadly, it is very true. I smiled because it isn’t just non Orthodox students that aren’t accepted. Religious schools have become so elitist that even good students are rejected because they are not good ‘enough’! Or because their parents aren’t Frum enough. Their child is not getting in. Why? Because they will be a bad influence on the rest of the class.
And then there are the teachers that give their attention only to the bets and brightest students in their class. I recall many years ago one 8th grade Rebbe at an elementary school who told his class at the beginning of every school year that those that want to learn – he will teach. Those that do not want to learn he will ignore and leave them alone as long as they do not disturb the class.
It isn’t too hard to see why a lot of these students are not motivated in the slightest to care about their Judaism – even if they are raised in an Orthodox home. I believe that the disconnect from the less motivated students is one of the reasons that some children from the finest of families go OTD.
If teachers are not motivated enough to inspire our own children, how can we expect them to motivated enough to inspire children from non observant homes? Even if we were to start accepting them into our mainstream schools? Which for the most part we are not.
Not that these are the only reasons to explain the phenomenon of Jews leaving Judaism. But surely they contribute to it significantly.
That being said, I realize that there is no realistic chance of making a dent in the huge number of Jews leaving Judaism. But every Jew counts. and we need to do whatever we can to try and reverse that trend to what evet extent we can.
Weiss makes note of that our era is not the only one where Jews were opting out of Judiams. This was the case at the time of the Chafetz Chaim. He spoke about the need to do something about at the Agudah convention of 1923. Twice. The second time after he was criticized for focusing on the importance of outreach. The prevailing thought in the Charedi world then – as now - is that before we reach out to others, we must first fix ourselves. But this, said the Chafetz Chaim, is wrong headed. when Jews are hemorrhaging out of Judaism you don’t look away and talk about how we can improve our own religious lives’. You act! When people are drowning you don’t focus on Tznius. Anyone who does is called a Chasid Shoteh - a righteous fool! By the same token when Jews are leaving Judaism, you don't focus on how terrible it is that some woman wear Shaitels that are too long.
This is what the Chafetz Chaim’s message was then. and it still resonates today.
We need to return to a time where religious schools were more open. And we need to reject the new elitism that plagues religious schools today. This is not a Chiddush - a never before thought of possible remedy. I recall two incidents where great religious leaders made this very point.
One incident was where a Charedi school principal in Israel asked R’ Aharon Leib Steinman whether he needed to accept a Sephardi girl into his Ashkenazi Beis Yaakov. His claim was that this girl’s home situation did not comport with the religious standards of his school and worried how that would impact the other students were she accepted. R’ Steinman famously scolded this principal accusing him of elitism and hubris yelling, ‘Geivah, Geivah, Geivah’. Implying that all this principal really cared about was the elitist reputation of his school.
The other incident involved a Torah U’Mesorah convention where at a meeting one Mechanech (educator) stood up and defended the elitist approach of his school where only parents whose religious standards aligned with the school were accepted. Telshe Rosh HaYeshiva, R’ Avrohom Chaim Levine, ZTL stood up and responded that if that were the attitude back when he was a student, many of the highly respected educators attending that convention would not be there. And might not even be religious having come from nonobservant homes. Instead they were accepted and were inspired by their religious teachers to become observant and to be who they are today
I believe that this is what Weiss is looking for. Unfortunately I don’t think it’s going to happen any time soon. If ever. Because as far as I can tell we are going in the opposite direction.
