Rischa D'Araisa-Season Episode 14-Reversing Footsteps-Reaching those who have left Charedi life
Moved by an article in the New Yorker that sketches the travails and anguish of formerly Chasidic persons who have left frumkeit, Rabbi Kivelevitz asks Rabbi Bechhofer if there is a method to reach these persons before organizations like Footsteps push them beyond a point of no return to any semblance of practicing religious behavior.
Bechhofer indicates the fine work being done by a Jew in the City, but is pessimistic of ever seeing a strong success rate due to the milieu that fostered the disenchantment to begin with, and the skeptical attitude of many Chasidic parents towards the outreach professionals.
Kivelevitz counters with a description of the work done in the past by the Yeshiva of Newark.
Bechhofer believes that there is no great wave occurring and is more disturbed by the continuous anti-Orthodox media coverage which has only intensified during the Pandemic.
Kivelevitz offers an approach that banks on an optimistic hope that positively crafted interesting articles submitted to secular magazines and more programs like Shtissel can stem the negative barrage.
Update: R' Herschel Maryles used our discussion as a springboard for a blog post in which he dives more deeply and more positively into the Jew in the City/Project Makom efforts:
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