Guest Blogger:
R Dr. Aton Holzer
[in response to an email -- RRW]
I discern two possibly distinct questions in your email
1. What accounts for the success of the Orthodox community in preserving Jewish identity, where others have failed?
2. What accounts for the remarkable success of Chabad in Kiruv?
I had the good fortune of sharing your experience of living in a tiny Jewish community in Alabama that allowed a vantage point for "Yeridas HaDoros" on the periphery of American Orthodoxy, ample contact and comparison with phenomena in other streams, and access to a local Chabad that worked extremely well.
1. For preserving Jewish identity, I posit that the key is self-definition. In previous generations, the cultural experience of otherness stemming from displacement, foreign accent and anti-semitism, the shared language of Yiddish, and memories of shtetl music and cuisine cemented the nonobservant Jew's perception of self as, fundamentally, a Jew. The children born in America had none of those and thus perceive themselves fundamentally as Americans, albeit of Jewish origin.
IMHO, Orthodoxy succeeds most when it inculcates Yir'as Shamayim, the perception of the essence of the self as Jew -- that our purpose and meaning in life is to serve God, that the world exists only to serve His will and we are the effectors of His will -- and that all else in life is subordinate to that goal. This is difficult to sell to other streams, which by definition re-evaluate Judaism based upon the assumptions of other systems.
In many cases we don't succeed in conveying this, or this awareness lapses, and so the cultural cocoon of Yeshiva day schools, Yeshiva high schools, Israel year, and the shared cultural experiences of Shabbos and Yom Tov meals and liturgy, Shul chevrashaft, Yeshivish jargon, and in some segments of the community, myths such as gentile inferiority or malevolence, profound differences in dress and technological restriction all act to simulate the experience of "otherness", but all these are external and don't necessarily succeed if Orthodox Jews are sufficiently removed from their native environment, such as vacations, the workplace, secular college, et al. The cultural experiences of non-Orthodox Jews are much less pervasive and frequent, and succeed far less often at providing this protective cocoon from the pressures of assimilation.
I think Shemiras HaMitzvos alone is neither sufficient nor necessary for this particular goal. We all have seen youth with scrupulous adherence to Mitzvos lose everything when extracted from the cultural cocoon via secular college, and in Birmingham I saw some Ba'alei Teshuvah ultimately succumb to recidivism by moving back with non-observant parents and their cultural milieu, despite initial (lonely) adherence to Shabbos, Kashrus, Tefillin, etc. On the other hand, the older generation of nonobservant "Orthodox" and for that matter, Conservative and Reform Jews in Birmingham for the most part were deeply committed to Jewish identity and saw intermarriage as an act of treason, despite a sometimes utter lack of attention to ritual.
2. I think Chabad succeeds because of the first element that Dennis Prager identified: the best Shluchim subordinate themselves completely to the organization, or, more broadly, Avodas Hashem, as they understand it. When "Bittul" is held as the central value in a community, even if many fall short, self-sacrifice and total commitment to the cause become possible. Rebbitzens can become willing though unpaid partners in the enterprise, and parents can bear the enormous effort of homeschooling or to part with their children at high school. I remember once wondering with the local Chabad Shliach about the difficulties of his chosen path, both for himself and his children. His response, "It's not about me," has inspired me in my own times of difficulty.
Also, the Shliach that consciously subdues his ego may be better at convincingly projecting a sense of respect, value and even admiration of non-religious, and folks seem to be attracted to that.
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