Saving Judaism.
Peace be upon Rabbi Michi Shlita.
Apparently Judaism is racing towards destruction, with on one hand the religious nationalists with insane spiritual dryness and 40% returning to the question, and on the other hand the Haredim, a fundamentalist diaspora group that would be very bad if Judaism remained in their hands. Add to that the secularism that bites everywhere, and the situation is really not promising.
Although the period could have been a golden age, with a thriving Jewish state and tens of thousands of Torah scholars – things we could only dream of a hundred years ago – since the Enlightenment, Judaism has been missing out on its opportunities.
I see a critical need to establish an educated Judaism anchored in reality but not a secular one, with the Torah at its center. This was the original idea of the State of Israel, but it failed due to lack of interest and long secular rule.
Does the rabbi have a solution for how to fulfill the dream or does the rabbi generally agree with me in the above analysis of the situation?
First of all, from a young age I learned not to draw conclusions from phenomena I encountered around me. The world is a pendulum, and what goes up today goes down tomorrow. About thirty years ago it was clear to me that the entire world was racing to the left in a crazy way. Today there is an opposite process.
Second, those who repeat the question indicate a real spiritual ferment and flowering. It is true that there is a price for this: if people choose, they do not always choose correctly, and on the contrary, their good questions that are not answered lead them to abandon because we do not address them. This can lead to a great correction. I am actually very optimistic about these processes. If we were to continue to die as we did last year and remain in the same perception as the previous generation despite all the difficulties and changes in reality and new information – that would be a worrying mistake. There is a promise that will not be forgotten from the mouth of its seed, and we do not have to worry about the task. We need to do what we can – and God Almighty will do what is best in His eyes. And if it disappears – then it disappears. His problem. It probably has no right to exist.
My goal on this site and in writing is to try and divert the course in the directions you wrote. Everyone will do the little they can, and I am very optimistic that in the end the truth will prevail. If not – then it is probably not the truth and if so I am not sorry that it has disappeared.
Ultimately, I’m not worried at all. On the contrary, I would be more worried about the haredi inertia that, despite its folly and distortions, remains on a machine without too many major shake-ups (although there are interesting processes there too, of course). All of these are blessed processes that inspire great optimism. I would be discouraged if I had lived before the beginning of the Enlightenment and everything had remained old and stale as it was.
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