Being a Jew is a Great Deal of Work and Sacrifice
I am sorry I have not blogged in a while, but NCSY is in budget season and that has kept me pretty busy.
Recently, I spent Shabbat in Vancouver. What an incredible city it is in every way! Despite the long flight, I never tire of visiting this breathtakingly beautiful city. During Shabbat Rabbi Berman, the charismatic freight train of Kiruv, asked me to speak on Shabbos afternoon. I decided to speak on the topic of sacrificing for G-d. Over a decade ago, I gave a shiur at a New York Orthodox camp and in the midst of speaking I said that being religious was hard work. After the shiur I was approached by some of the madrichim (counselors) who told me that my words had destroyed all the hard work that they had accomplished that summer. I was taken aback and inquied what I had said that was wrong.
One of the madrichim explained that all summer long they had been telling the teens how easy it is to be religious and in one fell swoop I had told them that it was difficult. I looked at the sincere young man and bluntly said to him, “Don’t lie to them. Tell them how wonderful it is to be religious. Tell them how much more meaningful their lives will be. But, don’t tell them it’s a piece of cake. Being a religious Jew takes a great deal of hard work and sacrifice.”
After I gave my session that included this story, I was approached by the sweetest young woman. With tears in her eyes she told me how touched she had been by my words. This young girl is an incredible dancer and singer. All Shabbos she had been in agony because she was unable to perform in a play due to the fact that play rehearsals took place on Shabbos. She said, “Your shiur made me realize that anything worthwhile in life is worth sacrificing for.” How true those words are.
Rabbi Burg--I concur with your message that one should not play “bait and switch” with kids, telling them that observance is easy when it is not. On the other hand, I personally witnessed Rav Moshe Feinstien zt"l protest when a speaker said “es iz shver tzu sein a yid"="it is hard to be a Jew”. He said, and now I am translating from the Yiddish: “one must always say, ‘it is sweet (seese) to be a Jew’”. Like so many things in life, there must be a balance between candor and encouragemnt. I want you to know that this is the first time in my life that I have responded to a blog. Keep up the great work. THW
Posted by Tzvi Hersh Weinreb on 04/26 at 02:23 PMrabbi - i too tend to subscribe to your view it is difficult to be an observant Jew. Moreover, unfortunately for teens today it is becoming increasingly more difficult with pop culture deviating further and further from Torah values. However, there are two points that need to be made.
first it is a well known truism “kol haschalos kashos” - all beginnings are difficult. when one begins to embrace Judaism there is no denying that there will a large degree of discomfort initially. but as time wears on what was once foreign becomes familiar, and observance of mitzvos which may have once seemed impossibly restricting becomes a most rewarding experience. That is important message for children and adults to hear. if one is made aware that there is light at the end of the tunnel one might be more willing to endure the difficult task.
Second ,with ncsy counselors at your side supporting and prodding you, being observant is in fact very much doable and even fun. may you and the entire ncsy staff keep up the great avodas hakodesh and be zoche to much success
your admiring family in the mizrach
vidomlanskiPosted by yakov vidomlanski on 04/27 at 03:27 PMHi, R’ Steve.
Rav Yaakov Weinberg ztl of Ner Yisrael had a view much like the one you expressed - he told me that the correct approach is ‘es is shver tzu zine a Yid, ubber es is vert’
= It can be hard to be a Jew, but boy is it worth it.Shlomo Horwitz
Posted by Shlomo Horwitz on 05/11 at 02:27 PM
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