חדש באתר: NotebookLM עם כל תכני הרב מיכאל אברהם

Q&A: The Contemporary Religious Revival

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Originally published:
This is an English translation (via GPT-5.4). Read the original Hebrew version.

The Contemporary Religious Revival

Question

Lately there have been articles about the phenomenon of young people becoming more religious. There’s no doubt this is a fairly broad phenomenon, and its most prominent expression is in the music world. I saw that when people asked about this here on the site, the Rabbi asked for concrete questions, so here are mine.
Do you see value in this kind of faith among young people? Of course, their belief in God and in Judaism is different from the way the Rabbi believes, but even so, do you see value in it?
Do you think there is potential here—that with so many young people starting to observe the Sabbath and take an interest in Judaism, if there were proper guidance from serious people (like the Rabbi) who would lead them to Torah study and observance of Jewish law, it could lead to major change, or is it just a passing trend?
If the answers to the first questions are that there is value in this kind of faith and there is potential in the phenomenon, does the Rabbi think there is religious significance to the possibility that in the Land of Israel there could be a state whose majority observes Torah and commandments and is connected to the Holy One, blessed be He? It looks almost redemptive. This is not some outdated form of faith from all our years in exile; it seems like there is a living, vibrant faith here. I don’t want to sound like Rabbi Kook (I’m actually Haredi, and unfortunately we haven’t changed at all in recent years), but it seems like something is happening here that is essentially different. Rabbi Guy Elalouf spoke about this in his lecture on Israeli art, and in his lecture on the Instagram generation.
Another unrelated question: did the Rabbi see Tamir Dortal’s second podcast with Rabbi Feivelson? He mentions the Rabbi in the podcast; he explains there how he thinks one is supposed to read the Chumash and explains what he disagrees with you about. What do you think about that?

Answer

I’m not familiar with this phenomenon. If they have indeed become believers in God, then it is certainly a welcome phenomenon. If it is just part of the New Age, then I do not see much value in it.
It is obviously important that Jews observe the commandments. It has no connection to whether this is in the Land of Israel or not. As for redemption, we’ll wait and see.
I haven’t seen it.

Discussion on Answer

Yoel (2025-11-16)

By the way, in light of this phenomenon, spreading the Rabbi’s teaching in the media (for example, the Rabbi appearing on podcasts) is all the more important, because maybe people are becoming more religious now because it’s trendy, but those among them who are used to thinking will also start reading and listening about the religion they are beginning to take an interest in. And of course the media is the first source they will turn to, and from there it would be worthwhile to draw them toward a sustainable faith.

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