NCSY: Recruiter for the Ultra-Orthodox

I wrote a guest post for Jewschool about the Orthodox Union’s NCSY’s continued irresponsibility in promoting Ultra-Orthodox institutions to teenagers of unsuspecting secular parents who trust them with their kids.

To my Modern Orthodox critics (and not all the Modern Orthodox disagree with me):

1) If you say that most secular parents are aware of Charedi recruitment within NCSY, and what this means, then there is nothing to worry about in terms of my demanding they be informed of this.

2) If you say that Aish HaTorah and Ohr Somayach are not Charedi, this is simply not the case. They most certainly are Charedi. And don’t tell me you disagree about Aish. You don’t disagree and you don’t care, and that is not why you work with them, or you wouldn’t also have worked with Ohr Somayach, which is more blatantly fundamentalist. You are open about your relationship with Aish HaTorah because they don’t present themselves as Charedi. But they are Charedi. Which is why they obide by the B’nai Torah leaders, and why you don’t.

3) If you say that “there, at least they’ll become and stay frum,� then you are expressing exactly the reason why the Modern Orthodox OU and NCSY should not be trusted by traditional secular Jewry with their kids. Not that I expect the OU or NCSY to care, or to break their alliance with the Ultra-Orthodox baal tshuvah institutions, no matter how deceptive or fundamentalist they are, provided they aren’t anti-Zionist. But even if we are not able to stop the hunters, we may be able to scare away some of the gazelles over time.

Understand that the more the traditional secular Jewish community understands your ties to the ultra-Orthodox baal tshuvah institutions and what that translates into in terms of lifestyle, the less likely they will be to send their kids to an organization that allies itself with them and defends it on the grounds of “inclusion,� “options,� or “choices.�

You clearly believe that Charedism and Jewish fundamentalism are still better than secularism, and perhaps preferable to the risks faced by a Jew from a secular background attending a regular college. Well, you are entitled to your view. Some of us disagree. Let us each take our case to the secular Jewish parents of NCSY, and see whose vision sits best with their values. Because these are not your kids. And it shows. Again and again.