Why Youth Go Off The Derech

I read with great interest the transcript of Rabbi Ari Wasserman's interview with Rabbi Dr. Yitzchak Breitowitz in the article entitled Is the "Derech Too Narrow? I respectfully disagree with Rabbi Bretowitz. There are ample opportunities for yeshivah students to express their individuality. The two yeshivot with the largest number of advanced American students today, BMG and the Mir, offer a variety of chaburot where every part of Torah Shebaal Peh is learned. If someone wants to study Torah from an academic standpoint, they can go to Yeshiva University or Bar Ilan University. If someone wants to pursue a profession, Touro University, Yeshiva University, and a multiplicity of college yeshivot offer you such an opportunity in a frum milieu. If a person wants to go into business, the frum world is full of religious businessmen who have built successful firms while maintaining strong connections with their religious world. Today, I don't think anyone goes off the derech, OTD, because they feel there's no place in the frum world for their particular derech. (I'm discussing non-Chasidic communities in the U.S. The more insular nature of the Chasidic community and Israel's charedi community may have this challenge. However, I think that the attitude of members of those communities towards those who leave, and the impact on relatives left behind, actually makes their OTD rates lower.)

Rather, I think most people who end up OTD do so because of mental illness or as a result of extreme trauma. Occasionally, someone may go off the derech because of relationships they developed with non-Jews or non-religious friends. People who grew up in marginally Orthodox homes may never have been fully frum in the first place.

Overall, I think the right approach to dealing with the OTD population is almost identical to that taken with the not-yet-frum. Perhaps NCSY, Chabad, Oorah, etc. can set up special OTD divisions.

In conclusion, while I agree with Rabbi Breitowitz that certain communities may need to lighten up and allow more room for each person to serve Hashem in his or her own way, I think that most people who have been negatively affected by intolerant attitudes have no difficulty finding a more tolerant alternative.

Ephraim Zucker
Kew Garden Hills, NY