Leah

“The organizations present their Judaism as the uniquely accurate one, the Halacha that the non-Orthodox have merely forgotten but that all their ancestors invariably followed.”
-All Ashkenazi ancestors did follow their approach to Halachah (with new interpretations arising from 19th-20th-21st century advancements) up until the Enlightenment. Halachah wasn’t “forgotten”–a conscious decision was made by Jews to abandon the halachah they thought didn’t apply, and that trend has continued in Conservatism, Reform, and Reconstructionism

“A fellow participant on my trip was ignored by advisers when she remarked that for some Sephardim, the only halachic requirement was to be more modest than one’s neighbors”
-Too many questions and not enough information presented here
1) Was this person Sephardic? Did they know really know the Sephardic approach to modesty? As readers we don’t know
2) “A fellow participant on my trip was ignored by advisers”
a. Were they really ignored? I don’t know, there’s no quotes here from the person, and the whole idea goes against the rest of the original article: that the program goes out of its way to make every participant feel like family. How can a program that ignores questions from and acts rudely towards its participants create an atmosphere where those participants will get brainwashed? Makes no sense.

“Why the trips in the first place?

They remove participants from their normal environment and place them in a new, vulnerable context. Traveling is a mentally exhausting experience in any case. How much more so that is in Israel, where one suddenly finds oneself part of the majority – an intensely emotional experience that these programs capitalize on. Foreign ideas suddenly seem reasonable: Instead of lecturing someone with mostly secular friends to stop eating pork, it is easier to just stop serving it for a month in a completely Jewish environment.”
1. If you’re going to learn about Judaism in a medium-term trip, doesn’t it make sense to do it in Israel with other Jews instead of in Kansas with a mix of Christians? I’m not sure that you can prove having a Jewish trip in Israel equates brainwashing
2. Anyone here travel on a guided trip? It’s far from mentally exhausting. I’ve been on Birthright, every step is planned out. I knew when I’d eat, where I’d be going, and material was clearly presented to me. Not mentally exhausting at all…actually, mentally stimulating.
3. Just like you’d go to Costa Rica for an immersive Spanish speaking summer experience, you’d go to Israel for an immersive Jewish learning experience. It is far easier to learn why to eat Kosher and then give it a shot in Israel than anywhere else. . Don’t like keeping kosher? Ok, like the author says, you’re free to do what you want when the trip is over. A clear line doesn’t exist between providing a conducive environment for learning Orthodox Judaism and brainwashing someone.

“Within such an environment, participants are made to feel guilty about a lack of observance. The organizations criticize the secular lifestyle as hollow so that young people, always in search of identity, undergo a crisis of confusion about which path to take.

A FALSE dilemma is presented: Be secular and remain in impurity, where life is merely a game played for fun – or move toward a purpose and filled with holiness.”

1. “made to feel guilty” Did the participants really feel guilty? How can the reader tell without direct quotes here? Again, the idea of trip leaders making their participants feel guilty goes against the picture Kubes paints in her full article about the trip going out of its way to create a welcoming environment. Trip participants might have noticed the disparity between their lifestyle and the Orthodox Jewish life style. Does guilt always manifest from that? Probably not–a participant could just as easily feel curiousity, repulsion, affinity, etc. Again, the journalism is not very good here and we will never know from the article what trip participants actually felt.

“The organizations criticize the secular lifestyle as hollow so that young people, always in search of identity, undergo a crisis of confusion about which path to take.”
1. Young, old, in-between, people are constantly in a search for identity.
2. Again, too much Opinion not enough Editorial: Any lifestyle has its drawbacks, religious, secular, hedonistic, ascetic, whatever. Does pointing out the criticism of one society actually cause a person to “undergo a crisis of confusion about which path to take.”"? I don’t know. A valid criticism presented to a teenager can be just that–an alternate view presented to a person who, based on life experience and age, is probably eager to stop taking things like their lifestyle at face value. Either way, from this article we don’t know how the participants felt, and the slant is a complete generalization of something that could go either way.

“A FALSE dilemma is presented: Be secular and remain in impurity, where life is merely a game played for fun – or move toward a purpose and filled with holiness.”
-Again, sweeping generalization. Did author research Aish’s stance of secular vs. religious?
Actually, this is a FALSE DILEMMA because this organization does not propose that dilemma at all. Rather, they say “you live in the secular world, how you deal with it is up to”. And of course, as a religious institution (which every one of these “Big Kiruv” organizations is up front about), they have their own particular take on how to best navigate the secular world. But there’s never a false dilemma presented between “Being secular and remaining in impurity, where life is merely a game played for fun – or moving toward a purpose and filled with holiness.”

Good Op/Eds present opinions, they don’t over generalize or present vague or incorrect information.

(Hi HS, Sarah )

I wouldn’t expect you to have any qualms with underage girls in compromising positions.