We are very part of the culture in which we live and via osmosis we absorb their values without even being conscious of this fact.
Example: Every so often, we hear of a football player who PULVERIZED his wife or girlfriend. He punched her in the face and she hit the ground, where she remained until she was taken to the emergency room.
There is a terrible outcry when this happens. The player will be fined, suspended by the team and league and often times will even be arrested. Then he will go on ESPN AND SAY "Yo man, I made a mistake. I'm SORRY. Gotta learn to control my anger" [you're telling us?!!].
But WAIT!!! He does the SAME THING EVERY SUNDAY in front of TENS OF THOUSANDS of cheering fans and MILLIONS MORE on TV. He gets paid by the very same team that suspended him for punching his "beloved" to DESTROY with unspeakable cruelty any human being wearing a different color uniform on the field. When he makes an especially hard hit he is celebrated and he celebrates. We watch on the eleven o'clock news as he dances around with his friends, the fans go wild, as an innocent human being lies on the field, writhing in intense pain on the ground, after this now joyous man sent him flying.
So what is a punishable crime off the field is a MITZVA on the field. [When these men are trained to be violent and make such a good living doing so - do we except them to suddenly turn into sweet docile creatures at home? I, for one wouldn't marry a football player, for more reasons than one....:-)].
Yet, everybody knows not to schedule a shiur during the Super Bowl because it doesn't have a chance. What shuls do instead is have a Super Bowl showing with a shiur at half time. Ahhhhh!!!! Torah can't compete with football.
Or, maybe worse, we teach our impressionable youth [my "favorite" line - He pays for the food of other people in line at Dunkin' Donuts and it makes them feel good "but more importantly, it makes me feel good". Ahhhhh - That is why we should do chesed, to make ourselves feel good!:-) See Bava Basra 9b...] to strive to be like the people who are part and parcel of that world, despite the fact that they abandoned tradition. What is the message? Be like the Goyim. Be part of that world. The zenith of success is not in Torah, Maasim Tovim and Middos Tovos, but in money, fame, athletic prowess and business success. I am ashamed that many of my fellow Jews have a value system where what should be negative values have turned into the greatest aspirations and EVEN EDUCATE OUR CHILDREN THAT WAY.
וכדי ביזיון וקצף! :-)
