Preserving The Passion

Sometimes a person goes on a diet and he looks GREAT! He lost 80 pounds and looks slim and fit. Then some time passes and lo and behold he starts getting not-so-pleasantly-plump. Then he gets flat out fat. Again. Sometimes he gets heavier than he was before the diet.

Is this a dieting blog???

If you have ever seen me you know that dieting to lose weight is not something I can say much about. I was born skinny, have always been skinny and will die skinny. Well, I hope I won't die skinny.

I hope I won't die.

The dieting story was just a mashal. The nimshal is the "year in Israel". It's GREAT. People FLIP! The boys start davening three times daily with kavana, learn with excitement and are careful about every new halacha they learn. The girls? The skirts get longer, the tehillim gets used frequently and they dream of marrying a serious ben torah and bearing children who will be pure, holy tzadikim.

Until. Until they return home. Little by little things go DOWNHILL. The rule is a deterioration of religious passion and the exception is further, continued growth.

That is a problem.

Today I went to Queens College and I saw something remarkable. Well over hundred girls came to learn Torah in the middle of the day because they want to be close to Hashem.  I if had an extra million dollars I would LOVE to support such a program. What a zchus!! Without such a program so many neshamos would drown in the gashmiyus that floods our world.

The education is modern orthodox day schools and high school is very weak. Many kids don't know the basics and have minimal textual skills. Israel is great but then the kids lose it. The goal should be to continue the Israel experience after they leave. Even those boys who continue learning in a yeshiva need to feel a continued spiritual and emotional connection to Torah and ruchniyus.

I have to tell you something. The Jewish soul hungers for Hashem. We have to find a way to nourish that hunger.

Today I witnessed that hunger. I don't know if the girls got anything from what I said but I certainly did. I have to stay connected to ruchniyus also.