While driving home from a Kosher supervision visit to Simply 406 in Polson, I received a phone call from an old friend in Lakewood, New Jersey. In our conversation, he was bemoaning the future of Judaism and how we are losing too many souls to secularization. I listened, I agreed with him that Jewry surely has its challenges, but I also explained to him why I totally disagree with him about his prognosis: every day I get to see the sacrifice that Jews, young and old, are ready to endure in order to get a Kosher chicken, in order to observe Shabbos, in order to use a Mikvah. Heck, just this past Saturday night, a woman who was on vacation with her husband in Big Sky, drove up after Shabbos, to fulfill the Mitzvah of immersing herself in the Mikvah at 12:20 AM!!
In this week’s Torah portion, Shelach, we read about the twelve scouts Moses sent on a reconnaissance mission to Israel. When they returned, ten of them reported that Israel was unconquerable, and while Caleb and Joshua disagreed, their voices were drowned out by the hysteria of the masses who refused to travel to the “terrifying land”. As they bewailed what awaited them in Israel, they said “why does the Lord bring us to this land to fall by the sword; our wives and children will be as spoils. Is it not better for us to return to Egypt?". They didn’t say “we lack trust in G-d”, “we don’t think we have what it takes” or “are we sure the spies are being objective?”; instead, they chose the “it’s all about the kids” excuse, while essentially professing their own pessimism.
In G-d’s response, He says “As for your infants, of whom you said that they will be as spoils, I will bring them there, and they will come to know the Land which You despised.” Sure, the internet is exposing innocent children, teenagers and even adults to a world of folly and coarseness, but that will not define our future. The elementary students who are explaining Mezuzah to their classmates, the middle schoolers who are teaching the story of Purim to their principal, the high schoolers who are defending Israel in hostile environments, the college students who are choosing Shabbos dinner over club hopping and the adults who each day choose charity, Torah, Tefillin, Shabbos candles and Kosher, they are the future. As Corrie Ten Boom wrote “Worry does not empty tomorrow of its sorrow, it empties today of its strength.”
I believe in a bright future, do you?
May You guard our brethren in Israel and the world over from harm and send us Moshiach speedily. May You protect the armed forces of Israel and the United States wherever they may be. Shabbat Shalom! Chazak!!! L'Chaim!!!