Reaching Out - Softcover

Aryen Kaplan

Softcover

ISBN 10: 187901601X ISBN 13: 9781879016019

Publisher: National Conference of Synagogue Youth / Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, 1991

Synopsis

We live in a time when an alarming and growing majority of our youth is being lost through intermarriage, assimilation and general alienation. When reports tell us that 80% of our youth never go to synagogue, even on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur, something is dramatically wrong. When we find that almost half of our youth are intermarrying, then we know we are faced with a problem of awesome dimensions. But what are we going to do about it? One of the serious problems has been the isolation of the Torah community as well as its inability to cope with the problems of American Jewry at large. There are some concerned groups, but they represent only a very small portion of Torah Jewry's resources. But from a Torah view every Jew as a distinct obligation to look out for the spiritual benefit of his brethren. There is a commandment in the Torah, "You must correct your neighbor." This commandment gives us a definite obligation to speak up when we see other Jews going astray. There is the concept that "All Israel are responsible for the other." There is the teaching that, "Anyone who has the opportunity to protest (wrongdoing), and does not do so, is caught up in the sin." This book points out our obligations as set forth by the greatest Torah authorities. Each section speaks of a different aspect of this problem, and is followed by a number of readings presenting a translation of these ideas in the original. Every one of us must find his or her way to respond to the unspoken cry for help that is in the hearts, if not on the lips, of our estranged brethren.

About this edition

• Publisher: National Conference of Synagogue Youth / Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America
• Publication date: 1991
• ISBN 10: 187901601X
• ISBN 13: 9781879016019
• Binding: Paperback
• Number of pages: 85