[Avodah] insight from a MO mechaneich

[Micha Berger]

This isn't an MO issue, even if the subject line mentions the affiliation
of the mechaneikh. For many people in yeshivish minyanim I attend,
davening with a tzibbur is something one does between gaps in looking
at a seifer.

And among the yeshivish-lite (Shababnikim?), minyan is an excuse to get
together for the qiddush.

We really don't know how to daven. And all the time we spend teaching
how to learn contributes to that. Defining religious inspiration in
terms of learning, new knowledge, makes it hard to find what the point
is in saying the same words yet again. When the majority of men who
learn daf don't chazer the gemara they learned until it comes around
again another 7 yrs 5 mo later, who can find patience for saying the
same words numerous times a week?

We need to know how to teach davening, whether in school or adult
education. Take a page from qumzitz and experiential religion, rather
than modes that look at sitting with a siddur in contrast to other
books. We define it those terms, tefillah won't get anywhere.


On Thu, May 24, 2018 at 01:01:44PM +0000, Rich, Joel via Avodah wrote:
: Interesting insight from a MO mechaneich-The generation that did not have
: the gap year in Israel was more likely to be able to move to a community
: and be inspired later in life by a community Rabbi. The generation that
: did have the gap year experience but returned home to be close to their
: prior levels of engagement are less likely to be inspired later in life
: by a community. Do you agree?

I think so, because gap year subtlely teaches the message that true
spirituality is incompatible with "reeal life". And that's why they need
to go to a 1 year religious experience, with no job, no secular studies,
no other concerns, not even the usual setting, in order to get inspiration
that is supposed to last year the rest of your life.

I believe it's an underdiscussed factor (among the many others) as to
why so many MO youth go yeshivish during gap year or upon return. That
implied message is not fully compatible with TuM or TiDE.

That said...

There are other factors. Telecom means you can hear from a famous rosh
yeshiva regularly, and don't need to "settle" for someone local as a
role model. Never mind that you can regularly connect with the LOR,
so that he is actually in a position to better model the role.

Also, the whole universal post-HS yeshiva thing feeds the RY-centric view
(outside of chassidishe admorim) of religious leadership now prevalent,
rather than the rabbinate. The shift from Agudas haRabbanim to the
Agudah's (or in Israel, Degel's) Mo'etzes haRabbanim.

Secondary effects: There is less tie and sense of belonging to a
particular qehillah. More and more people daven in a handful of places,
because this one is more convenient Fri night, another Shabbos morning,
a third for Shabbos afternoon, Sunday, weekdays... Qehillah could be
a source of positive peer pressure when inspiration is running low.
But only if you feel attached to one. (An LOR mentioned to me this effect
as a factor in OTD rates...)


As per the famous machgich line: It's chazaras hasha"tz, not chazaras
haSha"s!

: It reminded me of the simple agricultural pshat as to why we immediately
: go to def con 5 fasting if a little rain falls, the crops sprout a bit
: and then no more rain falls.

Although it's less that no more rain falls as much as the crops no longer
accept irrigation water. Okay, the metaphor doesn't really work.

A good rav who one can interact with regularly may be more useful

:-)BBii!
-Micha

-- 
Micha Berger             What you get by achieving your goals
micha at aishdas.org        is not as important as
http://www.aishdas.org   what you become by achieving your goals.
Fax: (270) 514-1507              - Henry David Thoreau