Ba'alei Teshuvah

 https://www.encyclopedia.com/religion/encyclopedias-almanacs-transcripts-and-maps/baalei-teshuvah

In the second half of the 20^th century, the words ba'alei teshuvah took on new significance. Beginning in the 1960s in the U.S., the rise of the counterculture in general American society together with the search for new meaning and spirituality led an increasing number of college-age Jews to explore Jewish observance, many for the first time. For most of these young Jews, the exploration led them to Orthodoxy, of one form or another.

 

The Baal Teshuva Movement - Agudath Israel of America

 https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&rct=j&q=&esrc=s&source=web&cd=&ved=2ahUKEwjYou-Umb30AhUJh_0HHaQZCvYQFnoECBYQAQ&url=http%3A%2F%2Fagudathisrael.org%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F1980%2F09%2FJO1980-V14-N09.pdf&usg=AOvVaw13PQz_W4zuGSgcCh65G8rZ

 1 heard from Rabbi Yoseif Kahaneman, the late Ponevezher Rav 7"~n, that in the course of the Hitler holocaust a million pure souls of innocent Jewish children,cheder children, were lost. Since then, their souls hover in the world, trying to find bodies into which they can enter in order to continue their interrupted lives. Thus pure Jewish souls are transfigured in the chozrim biteshuva of our days.

 

The Baal Teshuva Movement

 https://blogs.timesofisrael.com/the-baal-teshuva-movement/

 BTW one of the saddest respondents I encountered was Rav Ephraim Buchwald, who was a leader at YU’s TLS and then founded and led National Jewish Outreach Professionals. I know, like and respect him very much. This is what he wrote to me:   

The rise and decline of the Baal Teshuva movement, particularly the rise and decline of the non-Orthodox synagogues in the U.S. Conservative and Reform synagogues were the primary feeders of the Baal Teshuva movement. With their collapse, the religious return of their youth has ceased. With few exceptions, the Baal Teshuva movement has sadly ended.

Baal teshuva movement

 https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Baal_teshuva_movement

Appearing as an identifiable movement in the 1960s, a growing number of young Jews who had previously been raised in non-religious homes in the United States started to develop a strong interest in becoming a part of observant Judaism; many of these people, in contrast to sociological expectations, became attracted to observant Judaism within Orthodoxy.
Rabbi Yosef Blau the mashgiach ruchani of Yeshiva University has noted:

A baal teshuva movement has emerged with a significant number of Jews from non-traditional homes returning to the observance of grandparents and great grandparents. In fact one of the challenges facing modern Orthodoxy is that many of these returnees are attracted to a European Orthodoxy.^[6]

Is Modern Orthodox Kiruv Possible?

 https://www.thelehrhaus.com/commentary/is-modern-orthodox-kiruv-possible/

 In theory, the Modern Orthodox community is in the best possible situation to take on this challenge. No other branch of Judaism is so firmly rooted in Torah and mitzvot while simultaneously being full participants in contemporary culture. Many Jews who are not yet observant would likely be able to strongly connect to Modern Orthodox Judaism and find an ideological home within the Modern Orthodox community if such an option were to be presented properly.

In spite of this, much of the kiruv (roughly translated as “outreach”) world is dominated by those representing various shades of a more right-wing Orthodox Judaism, including organizations such as Chabad,^[4] Aish HaTorah, Chazaq, Olami, and more.^[5]

One of the biggest issues that prevents Modern Orthodox kiruv from being successful is that Modern Orthodoxy tends to be perceived as unattractive to those who are searching for a legitimate religious outlet. One need only look at the traction of Eitan Gross’s now infamous article in which he argues that the Modern Orthodox world is full of “glaring hypocrisy and internal contradiction.”^[7] Similarly, Noah Feldman of Harvard Law (who himself left the Modern Orthodox community), assessed the following:

Orthodox leaders slam popular 'Kiruv' rabbi

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/221450

 A number of leading rabbinical figures in the Orthodox world have issued a stern rebuke of one of the most prominent ‘kiruv’ (outreach) rabbis in the United States.

Sixteen rabbis penned a letter, publicized on Wednesday, rejecting the behavior and comments of Rabbi Yosef Mizrachi, calling his teaching methods “superficial”, “deceptive”, and “dangerous”.

“As rabbonim and mechanchim (teachers), we are greatly concerned about the popularity in some circles of a ‘kiruv’ approach that does not bring honor to the Torah…but on the contrary, creates considerable chilul Hashem (desecration of God’s name),” the statement reads.

 Among others, the 16 signatories to the letter include Rabbi Gedalia Dov Schwartz, head of the Beis Din of American and the Chicago Rabbinical Council; the Bostoner Rebbe, Rabbi Mayer Alter Horowitz; Rabbi Yitzchok Alderstein, editor of Cross Currents; Rabbi Avi Shafran, a senior member of Agudath Israel of America; Rabbi Shalom Baum, President of the Rabbinical Council of America; Yeshiva University Rosh Yeshiva Rabbi Daniel Feldman; Rabbi Shaya Karlinsky, Rosh Yeshiva of Darche Noam in Jerusalem; and Rabbi Joseph Dweck, Senior Rabbi of the Spanish and Portuguese Jewish communities in the UK.

A Time to Build,” Rabbi Chaim Dov Keller

https://agudah.org/the-jewish-observer-vol-35-no-5-may-2002sivan-5762/

 

 There is another aspect to the "with us" syndrome: Give us what we want. "We want spirituality," so we give them spirituality. "We want meditation," so we respond with lectures on meditation. "We want Kabbala,"and we deliver Kabbala. This, it can he argued, is only used as a means of attracting them. But then we have to "bait and switch." And"bait and switch" does not always work. A person coming into Judaism searching for mysticism and Kabbala may not be so happy to be sold the halachos of Shulchan Aruch. And when he's not satisfied with ourbrand of mysticism, he may explore other forms of mysticism. Our goal is not to produce Mitzva Machines, but to make bnei Torah, andto spread Torah, which is the lifeblood of the Jewish People. "Spirituality"seekers are in reality "hungry to hear the words of Hashem." When people are hungry and thirsty, you do not feed them potato chips and diet cola with cotton candy for dessert. And when they really want to hear the word ofHashem, you do not feed them puffand platitudes and pop Kabba/a before you teach them the basics of Torah'. Otherwise, the result can be a hybridization of Judaism - "feel good,'' and do-it-yourself religion, and in the worst scenario, introduction into messianic cults. Not all outreach is kiruv.

Out to Save the World

https://mishpacha.com/out-to-save-the-world/

Warmly eulogized by the entire Torah world after his passing, in his lifetime he was both ridiculed as “Noach the meshugener” and subject to sharp criticism. Despite being the seminal figure in the modern baal teshuvah movement, he was rarely invited to address the general chareidi public, and a major rosh yeshivah once took to the pages of the Jewish Observer to attack the “religion of kiruv.”

No one who had such a vast list of things he wished to change could have failed to arouse critics. The Novominsker Rebbe, Rav Yaakov Perlow, in his eulogy for Rav Noach — a boyhood friend — hinted at the source of some of that opposition: “Often, those who burn with passion to right every wrong make others nervous.” The Rebbe confessed that in later years he would often cross to the other side of the street when he saw Rav Noach coming to avoid being confronted with questions about what he was doing to solve the problems of Klal Yisrael.

 

 

Rebbetzin Jungreiss Class Pinchas- Hineni

Heard from the Shomer Emunim Rebbe

About 15 years ago I had the opportunity to spend a number of hours with the Shomer Emunim Rebbe. The following are samples of our conversations. 

I asked him what it was like being a rebbe? He replied, "In the old days when the chassidim needed the rebbe it was good. But now the rebbe needs the chassidim and it is not so good."

He mentioned a well known rebbe in Europe who had one daughter but many sons. The rebbe made all his son's rebbes but not his son-in-law. His daughter was hurt by this and asked her father why he didn't make her husband a rebbe also. The father replied, "Your husband is a tremendous talmid chacom. A talented leader - he will have no trouble with parnosa. Unfortunately your brothers are not so smart or talented - at least they can be rebbes.

I have a son who at that time was a strong kanoi. I asked the Rebbe what I should do about it. He told me to bring my son to him. The Rebbe talked with him - and my son criticized one group after another as not being "proper Jews". The Rebbe pulled out a sefer - Derech Mitzvosecha" and pointed out a paragraph. It said, "You can not be a kanoi if you enjoy it. Being a zealot is only for those who find it distasteful." My son lost all interest in criticizing other Jews at that meeting and totally changed his perspective for the good.

Rabbi Kanievsky says children 5 and up should be vaccinated

 https://www.jpost.com/israel-news/rabbi-kanievsky-says-children-5-and-up-should-be-vaccinated-686971

 Rabbi Chaim Kanievsky, one of the most senior haredi (ultra-Orthodox) rabbis in the world, said that children over the age of five should be vaccinated against corona, a ruling that should bolster the vaccination drive among young children in the haredi sector.

The rabbi, 93, met at his Bnei Brak home on Thursday with senior medical officials and doctors, who informed him of new developments regarding the vaccine, rising case numbers, and the recent approval by the US Food and Drug Administration for administering the Pfizer vaccine to children from the age of five.

Of the haredi population, 678,000 are age 0-19 of whom 200,000 are five to 11, so the vaccination drive for this cohort is of high importance for the national child vaccination drive in general.

A prison commander says female IDF soldiers were ‘pimped’ for terrorist prisoners

 https://www.timesofisrael.com/liveblog_entry/prison-commander-admits-idf-soldiers-were-pimped-for-terrorist-prisoners/

Gilboa Prison commander Freddy Ben Shitrit appears to confirm reports from 2018 that female IDF soldiers who were doing their military service in the prison as guards were “pimped” and forced to have sex with Palestinian terrorists.

Ben Shitrit says the prison “pimped soldiers” and “they handed over female soldiers… to terrorists for sexual purposes.” The incident allegedly happened before Ben Shitrit served as commander in the prison.

The allegations were first reported in 2018 by Channel 20 and firmly denied by the prison services.

Shocking allegations regarding female soldiers in security prisons

 https://www.israelnationalnews.com/News/News.aspx/317578

Coalition chair MK Idit Silman has asked the Minister of Internal Security, Omer Bar-Lev, to establish a government review committee to examine the Israel Prison Service’s conduct with regard to conditions for female IDF soldiers working in prisons where security prisoners are held.

“In view of the shocking and serious allegations made by a senior Prisons Service official, a government review committee is required to conduct a thorough and in-depth examination of conditions,” Silman wrote, “even though the events described did not occur during the term of office of the current government.”

The allegations date back to 2018 but regained prominence this week when Gilboa Prison commander Ben Shitrit gave testimony regarding the prison break-out that occurred there earlier this year. Ben Shitrit had noted that female soldiers were allowed to be used by security prisoners being held in the Gilboa Prison, “in order to keep them happy.”

Top Israeli Expert: Vaccinating Children Is 'Important for the Kids, Not to Control the Pandemic'

 https://www.haaretz.com/israel-news/thousands-at-risk-israel-s-top-covid-expert-on-kids-vaccines-and-boosters-1.10415577

 “It’s not the booster waning, it’s the fact we still have unimmunized individuals,” she said. The public health expert explained that three-quarters of newly infected individuals have not been inoculated at all, while a further 15 percent are more than six months past their second dose and have yet to get a booster.