Society On Orthodox Youth: A DEBATE By Joseph A. Polak By Mayer Schiller

There is a segment of the student tion, the Messiah) is absolutely nil. produce a holy people. Each commu- A Glass More than Half not comprehend simple questions of Jewish Educational Center in Elizabeth, population that appears to represent a The prevalence of this kind of stu- nity—Reform and Conservative—saw Full...and Rapidly Filling social policy. 2. Some don’t don tefillin New Jersey and several others. dent is deeply disturbing to educators that the dor hamidbar would have had daily. 3. Many are incapable of new, quite recent entry to the list of I have spent the past twenty-six There are two—not to be equated— and parents. As I will try to explain in to be one of the holiest societies in explaining or caring about basic dramatis personae of contemporary years teaching to Modern flaws in the current system. First, there this article, this group reflects a new, because of the manna. values. 4. Many were never connected Orthodoxy. These Modern Orthodox Orthodox yeshivah high school boys. is a segment of the population that is alarming chasm that has opened When I went to the Orthodox to Torah and therefore discard it will- students—some of whom I observe During this time an enormous change left untouched by a serious Torah call- between its members and meaningful —which is made up of alumni ingly. 5. Many have no fear of Divine daily as at Boston University—are has come over those who have sat in ing in their high school years. Second, . Part of the problem, I sus- from America’s finest Modern Orthodox punishment. 6. We, their teachers and shadowy and evasive; they don’t usually my classroom. Bluntly stated, my cur- the Religious Zionist influences in pect, has to do with how we teach. day schools from across the country— elders, have no way to compel these lead, volunteer or show up for events.* rent talmidim would be puzzled and are largely of the Chardal variety Consider the following episode that and posed my question, I had what was students to obey the Torah after high They are the ones who, whether in shul appalled by the cynicism, negativism (Chareidi dati leumi, that is, they are occurred earlier this year: surely one of the most astonishing peda- school, and they enjoy this fact. or in class, tend to sit in the back and and above all, apathy of those I Zionists but they do not view Western When we read about the manna in gogical moments of my not-insubstan- I must say that I do not recognize to marginalize themselves. They never instructed a quarter of a century ago. and secular learning as valu- parashat Beshalach, I raised the following tial teaching career. To my amazement my talmidim, present or even past, in In every aspect of that one can question with my student community: and (frankly) horror, I discovered that this presentation. Never have think of—beliefs and practices, learning …the Modern Different societies provide different lev- the one hundred-plus Orthodox stu- and davening and compliance with basic parents and els of social welfare for its citizens. Some dents gathered for Kabbalat The Good Path Orthodox halachot—the Modern Orthodox com- societies, for example, provide free health didn’t understand the question. The path followed by almost all the community been munity has experienced a veritable reli- care; some provide free or subsidized pub- Let me clarify: Had I asked these boys I have taught at The Marsha community has gious renaissance compared to where it lic transportation; some provide incen- Orthodox students how many degalim Stern Talmudic Academy as powerless as was two and a half decades past. experienced a tives for people to start up businesses. On (banners) represented the tribes of University High School for Boys dur- This is the result of many factors, they are today. the other hand, other societies provide Bnei Yisrael in the desert, and what ing the last fifteen years is as follows. but the predominant one is the expo- veritable religious only a standing army for the protection their formations were, or if I had During their high school years, a sig- sure of the system’s high school gradu- of its citizens but don’t even collect asked them the details of the mishkan, nificant number are already fairly seri- renaissance com- raise questions. Because they don’t let ates to the philosophies of the garbage or clean streets. Assume also that they would have been comfortable and ously committed to learning, davening others know what they are thinking— Religious Zionist yeshivot in Israel and pared to where it the kind of social welfare a country offers forthcoming with the answers, unlike and a halachic life. This number has indeed, whether they are thinking— their return to America, transformed has considerable impact on both the lives their Conservative and Reform coun- varied over the years; today it is well they appear to have an almost mysteri- in varying degrees by that experience. was two and a half and the values of its citizens. terparts. But as soon as I posed a ques- over half. Almost every talmid goes on ous aura about them, so that the mode Today, those who went through this Now suppose that there was a country tion of meaning or of values, they to learn for at least one year in Israel decades past. of one’s relationship with them is process are sending their own children with such spectacular social welfare benefits either squirmed or, more commonly, after high school. Upon returning— always interpretive rather than direct. If to yeshivah high schools and are com- that it actually offered, without any charge, looked at me as though I were from with their devotion to all aspects of one raises a question of substance with ing to positions of leadership in shuls able) and are thus unsympathetic to full and completely satisfactory food and Mars, and then with limited patience. Yiddishkeit vastly improved—they these students, they smile sheepishly, as and community organizations. the notions of if to say, “Thinking about these things clothing for all its citizens. What do you Many of the Orthodox students I either attend or a orTorah Umadda as anything other is not really something that I do.” suppose would be the impact of such bene- meet are clueless when asked to engage Needless Pessimism local secular college, which they than a means to the end of parnassah. fits on the values of its population? in a conversation about why Torah val- almost invariably combine with day or There is a hollowness about them, a It was thus with some surprise that I Of course, the latter problem is not The Reform students saw it—their ues and knowledge are of consequence. evening enrollment in a beit . feeling of their being elsewhere. Their read the largely negative depiction of my confined to Modern Orthodoxy. The hands shot up at once: Spectacular, They don’t know how to talk or think They emerge from this process with a interest in, perhaps even their capacity talmidim in Rabbi Joseph Polak’s article. notion of acquiring knowledge as a they said. It would be a society in about these issues; they don’t know commitment to Torah and mitzvot and for, abstract ideas (like free will, revela- Rabbi Polak makes some sweeping means to improve the soul has largely which envy would virtually disappear; why or how Torah values are of conse- a means to a dignified parnassah. characterizations that may be summa- been forgotten throughout the American Rabbi Polak is in his thirty-third year as when people looked at each other it quence. I sometimes have the impres- This process is not limited to the rized as follows: 1. Many Modern educational system. Nonetheless, there Hillel rabbi to the Jewish community at would be for what was inside and not sion that they have never been asked yeshivah I teach at but is fairly common Orthodox high school graduates can- remains a serious divide between the Boston University. His writing has outside, and so forth. The Conservative the question “What do you think of among those who attend similar institu- philosophy of most Religious Zionist appeared in Commentary and students also saw it immediately: It Aaron’s behavior during the debacle Rabbi Schiller gives a at Yeshiva tions such as the Hebrew Academy of institutions in Israel and that of the Tradition as well as in a host of other would replicate the life in a Buddhist with the Golden Calf?” University High School for Boys in Long Beach in New York, Rambam Torah im Derech Eretz andTorah scholarly books and journals. monastery, they suggested; it would (continued on page 3) New York. in Lawrence, New York, the (continued on page 4)

Summer 5763/2003 JEWISH ACTION Summer 5763/2003 JEWISH ACTION ing trips over Shabbat?” of this question, from whose tone one was packing for college, I noticed that it demanding conformity. And as we Schiller (continued from page 2) Polak (continued from page 1) She: “As a matter of fact, we do! We could easily conclude that attending a didn’t even occur to him to take his have already said, young people cer- This problem—an incapacity by a build an , and it’s always wonderful.” shiur now that the student is in college tefillin. Where did we go wrong?” tainly do not experience Divine forces Umadda schools in the United States. large segment of Orthodox students to Me: “Do you typically return home would be an activity that is wholly There are many reasons for the for conformity either. The student has However disconcerting the latter prob- speak intelligently and compellingly on Saturday night or Sunday morning?” absurd. It amounts to the student saying calamity I am describing, but I will autonomy of a sort that no generation lem may be, it is the former problem, the about their religious choices—seems She:“Usually Sunday afternoon. Do something like this: Hey, listen Rabbi; I limit myself to three. The first—which before him has ever had, and he revels inability to reach all of the talmidim pre- curiously absent among their peers in you mind if I ask where this is going?” attended twelve years of Torah classes. I I have already alluded to—is that the in this autonomy. He loves it and Israel—which is a far graver flaw—whose the Conservative and Reform ranks. Me: “When you go on these camp- did my piece, passed my exams, made my question “What does this mean to enjoys it to its narcissistic hilt. source we will pursue shortly. While most Conservative and Reform ing trips with the family, does your son parents proud. I’m past all that now; I you?” has been insufficiently empha- And now the good news. A bad spiritu- Turning to the picture painted by students have a far more limited fealty to typically bring his tefillin with him?” don’t need to do this anymore. It’s over.) sized in the Torah classroom; perhaps al spell seems to be reversing itself. Rabbi Polak, I find almost none of my halachah, what they do have is the ability She (pausing): “Now that you men- Me: “I’d like you to attend my shiur because it is the question of the evil Students are looking for community as talmidim who, while in high school, to personalize religion. As part of their tion it, he doesn’t. He usually leaves because it’s interesting.” son in the Haggadah. The conse- well as direction. They want to be would callously not wear tefillin, or education, non-Orthodox are his tefillin in school on Friday.” Remarkably, this answer commonly quence of its banishment from the inspired, and they certainly want to be led. who are yearning for their immediate always asked such questions as “What Me: “Would you agree if I were to works because it provokes their imagi- classroom is a culture of day school My shiurim on campus are full, with release from Torah life. does Shabbat mean to you?” or “Why suggest that, knowing that your son has nations. Is this because they have never alumni who have no idea whatsoever more attendees than in recent years. Could they articulate the underlying have you chosen to wear a yarmulke?” no serious commitment or attachment to experienced Torah learning as interest- of say, what means to Kosher dining and Friday evening assumptions of their world? Yes, in a And I’m afraid that non-Orthodox putting on tefillin, when he leaves home ing or have not thought about it this them, or what a dress code means to attendance for shul and dinner are so superficial, hesitant manner. But no Jewish education, with its experiential he is likely to leave much of his commit- way? Is it possible that most of them them. Better, they don’t know how to high that we are putting up a new more or less than most Americans—in approach to teaching religion, has suc- ment to Yiddishkeit back in the commu- have not been touched by a Torah life? think this way, and when their educat- building to accommodate the crowds. our decidedly non-reflective, non-ideo- ceeded in transmitting a sense of mean- nity where he found it? We have smooth What does seem clear is that the Torah ed Reform and Conservative friends The daily minyan has resuscitated logical age—could articulate their own ing, or at least a way to think about shechitah here, ma’am, and frum bread, life is one they’ll lead if that is what describe what Shabbat means to them, itself after a several-year hiatus. . After spending a year in meaning, that appears successful, partic- but you better check out your son’s val- everyone around them is doing, but it it may well be their first encounter But, as I walk home from Shabbat Israel, this changes for the better. ularly in this postmodern, narcissistic age ues before you send him off to college. is not one they will lead when such a with this kind of thinking. morning services and meet some of when what so many young people relate The yeshivot in Israel are also telling me society is not at hand. When the latter The second reason for the discon- the students I have been describing General Social Awareness to best is themselves. Orthodox students that they’re having a heck of a time wak- is the case, they will drop their obser- nectedness is related to the first. first making their way to Hillel, the Would my talmidim fail to grasp a for the most part, having never been ing the boys up for davening; they’re vance without hesitation, without a Teachers will not ask students what sleep still in their eyes, I know that social question presented to them in exposed to this type of experiential edu- telling me that apparently the boys don’t smidgen of guilt or regret. attending services means to them, most of them have no intention of basic language? Granted that, while cation, do not appear to understand see religiosity as part of the script for the Twelve years of Jewish education has because somehow the teachers believe catching up on their davening, as similar to most of their American meaning-oriented questions. next few years of their lives.” failed to connect them to their tradi- that their students should observe the almost every latecomer would have peers, my talmidim do not find larger A handicapped capacity for abstrac- Yet, it is not merely an incapacity to tion. The reason that “connected” is so commandments out of a fear of God. tried to do ten years ago. I also know social questions to be of much interest, tion can have interesting consequences personalize religion that I am trying to satisfactory a description of what has Let this article, then, be the wake-up that they won’t try to catch up not they are capable of understanding for a frum crowd: Such a group will explain but also a similar incapacity to not happened to these students is call to contemporary Orthodoxy. The because they are rebelling against their them. Sadly, given the nature of have, as I have already indicated, no relate to abstract categories. Israeli roshei because it accommodates another phe- age of the fear of God—certainly for teachers, parents or values, but because Chardal influences, this indifference to interest in Olam Haba, Mashiach or yeshivah have told me, with wide aston- nomenon: When students forget to this slice of Orthodox youth—is over. the calculus of tashlumim (making up general society does not change much even in “simpler” things that can only ishment, that many of the American bring their tefillin to college after wear- Notwithstanding the thundering sec- davening), as beautiful and idealistic as post-Israel. be explained in abstract terms, like day school alumni who now spend their ing them six days a week since their ond paragraph of Shema, few students it is, represents a value structure to (However, the root of this lack of a tefillin or tzitzit. pre-college year in are startled Bar Mitzvot, then curiously enough, believe that something bad happens to which they have no access. As a result, larger social awareness lies not in the A nouveau Chareidi (formerly to learn that one still has to daven and this forgetting never presents itself as you if you don’t observe the command- I appeal to their parents and teachers Modern Orthodox educational system Modern Orthodox) mother of a put on tefillin if he sleeps late. The an act of rebellion. No one is saying, “I ments. Their thinking might be as fol- to provide real spiritual modeling, to or even in the current state of prospective freshman phones me from roshei yeshivah have told me that these no longer believe in the command- lows: I won’t steal because I think it’s speak with their youth about what American education, so much as in the the Midwest. students genuinely don’t understand ments,” or “My parents are hypocrites, wrong to steal, or even because the Torah Torah values mean to them—what very fabric of almost all Orthodox cul- She: “My son is interested in attend- Judaism’s expectation that one’s commit- and I hate them and all they stand for.” says don’t steal, and the Torah is a neat there is, say, to be learned from the ture, which views political and social ing Boston University. Mind if I ask ment to observance be absolute. And Discarding tefillin or among book. But I have no fear of adverse spiri- Akeidah, what that tale means to them involvement as primarily the advocacy you a few questions about the herein lies the key to what I’m trying to this population is very much like dis- tual consequences that come from steal- and how it affects their lives. and protection of Jewish interests and hashkafah of your place?” explain: “Absolute” is not a concept that carding the proverbial old sweatshirt— ing. “Adverse spiritual consequences” is And, sign of the times that it is, not the promotion of a Divine-based Me: “Please.” holds any meaning for them. they were just never seriously attached a concept that does not have the slight- someone needs to make the case to view of society as a whole.) She: “Do you use Chassidisheh she- Another way the syndrome mani- to these mitzvot to begin with. est bit of meaning for such students. them for the verity of the second para- chitah?” fests itself is as follows: I usually have A Modern Orthodox father offers me And this leads to the third reason: graph of the Shema. Is There a Me: “Absolutely.” to speak to incoming freshmen to get the following lament: “Listen, between every student graduating from high Campus Problem? She: “Is your bread pas Yisrael?” them to attend my Torah classes. In our tuition and the community’s contri- school knows that there is absolutely *While this article focuses on an array Given my positive view of the Me: “Absolutely. Mind if I ask you a recent years this invitation has led to a bution, over $200,000 has been invest- nothing, there exists no one who can of problems affecting Modern strides that Modern Orthodox educa- few questions about your son? Stop repeated pattern: ed in my son’s Torah education. He compel him to be observant. Never have Orthodox youth, no one need assume tion has made of late, do I thus con- me, please, if it gets too personal.” Student (somewhat amazed): “Why comes from a loving home where peo- parents and community been as power- that such issues are absent among clude that Rabbi Polak has imagined She: “Go ahead.” should I come to your shiur?” (It took ple get along and even like each other less as they are today. Never has there young Chareidim. But that is another the students he describes? Me: “Does your family go on camp- me a long time to fathom the meaning [peirush: no rebellion here]. Yet when he been a society so bereft of resources for essay. JA Not at all. They are very real.

Summer 5763/2003 JEWISH ACTION Summer 5763/2003 JEWISH ACTION Modern Orthodoxy is not a mono- ah renaissance, the schools will the why and how of their approaches. lith. By its non-threatening nature, it improve even more. Rabbi Polak may It is woefully insufficient to proclaim will appeal to many whose degree of expect many more committed stu- one’s loyalty to a shittah while doing Torah adherence is a bit hazy. Of dents in the years to come. In general, nothing to explain its basis to one’s course, this is both a blessing and a I have a far more optimistic view of talmidim and ba’alei battim. curse. It is wonderful that many are thus the future of Modern Orthodoxy than 3. The reduction of Jewish political introduced to Torah. However, it is Rabbi Polak does, and that optimism activism to “what’s in it for the Jews” painful that inevitably basic standards is validated every day at school during is similarly destructive to the universal must be lowered to accommodate them. davening and in my shiur. The stu- vision of Torah im Derech Eretz and This is particularly true in those institu- dents today are not only much better . tions that veer the most from traditional than those I encountered decades ago In the best of times, if Modern yeshivah patterns via their coeducational but are giant steps ahead of the norms Orthodox schools were really devot- environment or their shortened hours of ten years past. ed to Torah im Derech Eretz and devoted to Torah studies. However, there remain some areas of Torah Umadda, and if their stan- This is not the place to debate concern that demand both defensive dards were on par with those of whether these institutions provide and proactive attention. 1. Despite the basic halachah (may we dream a bit an opportunity for those who might progress made in Modern Orthodox more?) and they had a firm grip on choose more to choose less, or circles in recent decades, the move- the essentials of the Jewish faith and whether they enable those who a sense of the Divine norms for all would choose less to get at least mankind, then we might send (with what they offer. Probably both The notion of fear and trembling) some of our best analyses are true. What is relevant is and brightest to live on secular cam- that these schools do not send all acquiring knowl- puses. There, with their commit- their students to Israel and since edge as a means ment firm and clear, they would they appear less threatening to out- remain a cadre of mekadeshei siders, service a weaker clientele in to improve the Hashem, not tempted by campus terms of yediot and shemirat decadence. They would be paragons haTorah. Their students also make soul has of emunah and Torah that would up the vast majority of those largely been for- inspire both Jews and Gentiles. Orthodox Jews who attend secular However, there are precious few colleges and live in their dorms. gotten throughout schools that may be so described. Realizing this fact, some of the Thus, it would seem far better at this vignettes that Rabbi Polak presents the American edu- point to advise—if and when possi- become understandable. cational system. ble—the majority of Modern Orthodox students to pursue their These Pastures higher education at Yeshiva University Are Also Greener ment as a whole still lags far behind or to base themselves in a yeshivah However, let us keep in mind that the basic standards of learning, yediat dormitory or day-time beit midrash explosion of Torah learning and shemi- haTorah, simple practice of halachah while attending a local secular college. rat hamitzvot in many of the environs of and passion for commitment. This sit- Realistically though, there will still Modern Orthodoxy (nonsensically uation demands more effort, higher be many who opt to live on a secular labeled a “turn to the right” in some standards of learning and davening, campus. It is there that the courageous quarters, as if ideally Torah im Derech more musar, Chassidut, hashkafah and efforts of the Rabbi Polaks will be most Eretz or Torah Umadda welcomed the inspiration. Indeed, ifTorah im Derech important. Yet, those battling previous state of laxity and disdain) has Eretz andTorah Umadda adherents are milchamot Hashem in these negative affected all of the movement’s schools. ever to be capable of offering their environs should not conclude that They are all far better today than they approaches as equal alternatives to oth- those entrusted to their care are typical. were a quarter of a century ago. ers, they must at least come close to It is a heavy burden for us who fancy, to Thus, the positive trends cited at their standards of learning, davening whatever degree, the doctrines of Torah im the end of Rabbi Polak’s article may and shemirat hamitzvot. Derech Eretz orTorah Umadda, when we be readily understood. In fact, I sus- 2. The Chardal influence in Israel is realize there still are “miles to go before we pect that in years to come as the inimical to true Torah Umadda or sleep.” Nonetheless, we are far further administrative upper echelons of the Torah im Derech Eretz avodah. Torah down the path than anyone could have schools become staffed by those Umadda or Torah im Derech Eretz envisioned a quarter of a century ago. schooled under the post-Israeli-yeshiv- leaders and educators need to explain Chazak V’ematz. JA

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