Posted to Op-Ed on
by Boruch Wolf
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Op-Ed: The Children Are Not ‘At Risk!’

What is the greatest klipah (impurity)? The two greatest klipos are depression – not bitterness or brokenness which are very unalike – and laziness.

Really?! How can these be worse than sins like arrogance, aggression, and the like?

Man can have attributes or passions that are rotten. Treif! But is passion in sin truly all bad?

The Yetzer Hara’s source is higher than that of the Yetzer Tov. It’s on the descent into this world that it becomes corrupted. When one has a passion in sin, in truth that passion is positive energy that gets misdirected into impurity. If that passion were only to be harnessed for goodness and redirected into passion for Torah and mitzvos, it would reach its intended divine actualization. Whereas, laziness and depression do not have positive aspects to harness for good.

It is indeed cliché to rebrand a label into a more politically savvy digestible form. But please indulge me in the opportunity to identify one ill-articulated phrase: “Kids at Risk.” A child who is rebellious does not merit that slanderous label. If a child has passions that are misdirected into dark places, he is an entrapped child who must be lovingly redirected to the light. These passions are a great opportunity to be harnessed for good. For example, rebelliousness isn’t strictly bad. In this morally depraved society, it often takes rebelliousness to do the right thing! If only that rebelliousness would be utilized to nullify the norms of society in favor of executing judgment strictly according to conscience.

Quite a few of our most inspiring and capable within anash are those that at one point hit a rough patch, but eventually merged back onto the “path.” They had passions in conflict with the proper values, but once they “returned,” those passions and streaks of rebelliousness were redirected, enabling them to shine in their respective communities and mishpochos.

Perhaps the phrase to describe non-conforming youths shouldn’t be “Children at Risk;” rather, it could be “Youth/Children with Potential.”

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12 Comments

  • with the old breed

    so when you do not get along with your mother-in-law you can say shivga with potential?…

  • semantics

    Call it what you may, anyone who doesn’t have their head in the sand will agree that there is a crisis going on with way too many of our youth off the derech, with “one foot” off the derech or with “issues”. New shluchim continue to be sent to every “pina nidachas” around the world and that’s wonderful, but where is the mobilization, the sense of urgency, the pooling of resources and focus on our own children to address the problem?

  • Mechanech At Risk

    Any educator of rebelious children is at risk of being posted on a Wall of Shame.

  • Anonymous

    You said it well #3. I feel the whole system rotted, became focused on the impression we make on the outside world, showing them how ” benevolent” we are.
    The kids that for some reason have a difficult time adjusting, who see through the mask, have to be destroyed, in order to maitain the facade. ( this is not to undermine the work the Shluchim do in every Pina Nidachas) The educational system has to be completely revolutionized to incorporate the true teachings of Torah and Chassidus and the love within them to all of our children, then Mashiach will come.

  • ahavas

    a child is a tinok sh’ nishbaah, especially if the mother is gone many hours from the home and the child is left with a nanny, if there is divorce or sholom bayis issues, etc. He /she will look for comfort, and if those who are supposed to be there to support him are going through something and not there for him, then they are at risk for the negative influences in the world. They are also at risk for disorders such as borderline personality disorder and other similar disorders which can set in as a “protection”. We must love each other and try to help.

  • my opinion

    Take at least five of the top Shluchim in the world (who speak English) and get them to move to C.H. for at least two years and then after the two years, another 5 could be chosen. Let them do serious Shlichus with all the youth/children with Potential. Who will ask Rabbi Kotlarsky to see this through?

  • To #7

    Its for a good that you didn’t post your name on your post. Maybe you made a mistake by writing “then Moshiach will come”. But its better that your name is not known. Although you may have a good argument regarding our educational system, which i will not argue about because i am not a mechanech who thoroughly studied all the Rebbe says about chinuch, however you are mistaken if you think that there is something incomplete that Moshiach is waiting for. The Rebbe said that the world is ready for Moshiach to come, and since then hafotzas hamayanos has become stronger (in many essential ways-i dont know if we are perfect), so there is no such thing as “then Moshiach will come”. We dont know what moshiach is waiting for. we can only do our best to improve what we are already doing. Just please be more cautious when you comment (or think) in the future, if the Rebbe would agree with what you are saying.

  • phoebe

    ooh I want to say something too! ooh, um, well im also all fired up and opinionated!

  • call it what you want

    but our kids have MAJOR problems. Most are illiterate, and if you can’t read, you can’t daven properly. If you don’t understand the davening, then you are just practicing your incorrect reading “skills”. If you can’t read and understand, then chumash, gemorrah, halacha all don’t make sense, so who needs it anyway?

    If your child is not doing well in yeshiva / school get him / her help immediately. Demand a better teacher, or find a better school. Jews are the People of the Book. Make sure your child can read it!