Israel – Days before the holiday of Shavuot, the head of the Yad L’achim organization, Rabbi Sholom Dov Lipschitz, called for more action in promoting Jewish identity among tens of thousands of Jewish schoolchildren in Israel, which has deteriorated significantly of late.
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“There are some 80,000 non-Jewish students in Israeli schools now, where they attend classes with Jewish children,” said Rabbi Lipschitz. “As a result, the Jewish identity of these children is eroding. Eventually this will lead to high levels of intermarriage, as in the U.S.
“These children do not even know how to say the “Shema Yisrael” prayer; they cannot complete the holy sentence that accompanied Jews throughout all the generations, all the exiles. These children, already the third generation of the great immigration from Arab countries, are being ignored spiritually, the result of our failure to integrate their grandfathers and grandmothers into religious educational institutions.
By way of example, Rabbi Lipschitz demanded religious and hareidi Knesset members do more to include Jewish identity content in the secular school system. “It is unbelievable that these MKs sit in the government and uncaringly ignore the fate of these young Jews who are being lost. If they sit in the Knesset and the government and allow these things to continue, they have a terrible responsibility on their shoulders.”
Read more at Arutz Sheva
If there is a Jewish kid who does not know the Shema it is the responisibility of the Entire Klal Yisrael to teach him or her. That does not mean that our secular schools are the problem. The problem is that these families are likely not served in any way by any kiruv program and they probably have very little yiddishkeit in their lives.
You can not expect all of Klal Yisrael to be yeshiva trained and you can not expect our American citizens to wish to religiously avoid our public educational or other educational systems. Our people are served by both yeshiva educated as well as secularly educated yidden.
This is the problem of the State of Israel – in the old days there would be assimilation and these “Jews” would no longer be bringing shame upon klal Yisrael. In the old days they would have converted to another religion and have become someone else’s problem. Now we have generations of secular “Jews”. We have to make it clear that Judaism is a religion. An atheist with a Jewish mother does not count for a minyan according to halachah. We should treat frei yidden just as we should treat potential gerim. Otherwise it is simply racism
In eretz yisroel, there should be no compulsion to learn the shema or any other part of yiddeshkeit. Its entirely voluntary and the option to learn should be available to any jewish boy or girl in the secular schools system. However, there should be no special rewards or treatment for those who decide to learn the davening for those who choose not to.
The secular schools have Russian non-Jews, druze, arabs, children of Phillipine workers as well.
Why do they need to know Shma?
The answer is to approach Jewish youngsters and their parents directly in a friendly way.
Also Shuvu is doing remarkable work in building a network of truly Jewish schools geared to secular children in a non-threatening approach.
No problem – admit them to the chareidi schools so they can learn
actually, the shame is on us- kol yisoel areivim ze lozeh, that there are so many yiddin who are ignorant!! and a child from a yiddishe mamme is always a yid even if they chv ‘convert”, they are always our problem! Shame on you!!!to deprive a yid from learning about yiddishkeit is starving their neshama, and is our responsibility! reach out to those who dont know! Love them, and teach them!