Thursday, November 24, 2016

The Scandal Of Orthodox Indifference

Someone once asked his friend what the difference was between "ignorance" and "indifference". He answered "I don't know and I don't care".

Let us say [chas vishalom chas vichalilah!!!] - that there was an epidemic and one out of every four religious teenagers were dying. All of Klal Yisrael would be completely wrapped up in these tragedies and would go to any extreme in order to stop it. Money and other resources would not be an issue. PASHUT! To save lives we would do anything.


Statistics say that ONE OUT OF EVERY FOUR teenagers in Eretz Yisrael in the "Dati Leumi" [Kippah Sruga, Religious Zionist] world is going off the derech. That means that they are dying. We believe that the body is temporary and the soul is eternal so not only are these adolescents suffering in this world but their neshamos are dying forever. How tragic. That means an average of one to two kids in every family [!!].


So why are we not doing anything to stop it?? Why aren't there organizations, think tanks, teams of rabbonim and therapists devoted to this cause etc. etc. And for every kid who goes off there is his family and friends that mourn. EVERYBODY suffers. כל ישראל ערבים זה בזה.


In the Charedi world things are better - but not by much. According to statistics, every year 2,000 to 3,000 teenagers drop out of the system and go to the streets [over 5 percent]. Accumulatively, the numbers are astounding.


Again - why is so little being done???


I am going to say something which may irk some people - but I have to say it because I believe it.


The reason so little is being done is because most people just don't care ENOUGH.


What we need is manpower and womanpower [plenty of girls fall out of the system as well] who are devoted to saving the bodies and souls of our children. We need to think of ideas and programs to solve the problems. And we need MONEY to implement them. That is where the problems begin and end. If there was money we could find people. If there were people we would find solutions and save the kids. But the money. Getting money. THAT is the major barrier. So we need more people who care and are willing to express that care.


YIDDEN!!! Let us not forgot those poor lost souls who are roaming the streets right now as we speak. Who lost Shabbos, davening, their self esteem, their happiness [nobody goes off the derech because they were too happy being frum], their positive friends and family connections etc. etc.


על אלה אני בוכיה - עיני עיני ירדה מים על חללי בת עמי!