Take for example, Meor Inc., which operates on college campuses. The Meor web site is designed to make the organization appear non-denominational, but the staff consists entirely of Orthodox Jews. That’s not obvious while looking at the photos on the staff page as the photo angle hides many of the yarmulkes, and none of the men have long beards, sidelocks, or black hats; although, in real life, most probably wear black hats at least on the Sabbath.
But I know these people. They are Orthodox Jews. The white shirts give a clue. And the IRS 990 forms of the various branches all show what seem to be the home addresses of the campus branch directors in Orthodox communities such as Lakewood, NJ, Brookline, MA and Silver Spring, MD. Furthermore, I know young people who have participated in the Meor programs. It's Orthodox Judaism and nothing but Orthodox Judaism. In other words, you have to know what to look for and the average college kid wouldn’t have a clue.
Given the contrast between the staffing profile at Meor and its presentation as non-denominational, its programming is by definition coercive. There are all kinds of ideas within Reform Judaism that a Meor rabbi wouldn’t even consider for a moment. It’s heresy to him. Yet, Meor claims to help college kids to “connect with Judaism on their own terms”.
That’s not going to happen if all the rabbis are Orthodox. They are defining Judaism as Orthodox, but the word doesn’t appear on the site. Neither do the words Torah, observance, mitzvah, or commandments. (Site visited February 2023) The average college kid who goes to Meor knows nothing about Orthodox Judaism, so when Meor says that it helps young people to connect with Judaism on their own terms, Orthodox Judaism is not what participants imagine.
Not only that but even if only Orthodox Judaism is offered, the Meor rabbis are likely offering only one kind. None of them appear to be Chassidic, Sephardic, or even Modern Orthodox. They appear to be Litvish-Yeshivish kinds of guys. Maybe some of them are right-wing Modern Orthodox, which is nearly the same thing. Litvish Judaism is a path of Orthodoxy that developed in the 19th century in Lithuania and its environs. Today, we don’t even have that, we have what you can call neo-Litivishism, which is much narrower in its outlook, and that likely is what any of them are prepared to share. And since the Meor branches lack their own facilities and deliver their classes on campus at student union rooms and the like, they don’t offer comprehensive Jewish libraries where participants can pursue even Orthodox Judaism in a personalized manner. While the staff page shows twenty-fix people who live in the USA, only one or two of them operate at any of the eighteen or so campus locations. So there’s not a whole lot of perspective being delivered in any location so as to justify the statement that Meor helps participants “connect with Judaism on their own terms”. The local rabbis likely aren’t trained to do that even if they were to try. They likely just deliver what they heard in their yeshivas. They are not necessarily professional educators. That’s much better than nothing, but it’s not what’s advertised and that matters.
Not only that, but Orthodox Judaism in general is not approached on one’s own terms. That’s not how Orthodox Judaism works. As Solomon the King said, “The sum of the matter, everything having been heard, fear God and keep His commandments, for this is the entire man." (Ecclesiastes 12:13) A major part of Orthodox Judaism consists of adherence to an extensive set of normative duties and values largely within a community framework. It’s the formidable task of the outreach person to explain how obedience to God and His teachings and law actually free a person from the constraints of physicality and produce a spiritual encounter with the Divine. Even with that, there is room for the personal and the subjective in Orthodox Judaism, but to say that one approaches Judaism on his own terms is ridiculous, particularly in the neo-Litivsh world where rabbinic authority is stressed.
While I, being Orthodox myself, personally agree with the basic perspective on Judaism of the typical Meor rabbi (eg. the Torah is the word of God), I am uncomfortable with Meor’s false advertising because being honest is a central component of authentic Judaism, the covert methods reflect poorly on Orthodox Judaism, and it can cause harm.
In the book of Exodus, God told Moses that he would redeem the Jews from Egypt at midnight. But Moses told the Egyptians that it would happen around midnight because he feared that the Egyptian clocks might be a bit off, and they’d accuse Moses of being dishonest. So even to the slave owning Egyptians whom God was assaulting with plagues, Moses endeavored not just to be honest but to make sure that he wasn’t even accused falsely of dishonesty. He did this on the very night when he led the Jews out of Egypt! So it’s very nice if Meor wants to save non-religious Jews from their secularity, to save them from their Egypt, but it needs to be honest with them. Zechariah the prophet said, “These are the things that you should do: speak the truth, each man to his neighbor; execute the judgment of truth and peace in your gates.” (Zechariah 8:16) The Gemara says that “the seal of the Holy One, Blessed be He, is truth.” (Yoma 69b). With truth being a core value in Judaism, you shouldn't bring people to Judaism with trickery.
Aish HaTorah also disguises its Orthodox orientation. Here’s its description from its own website:
Aish HaTorah is a Jewish outreach organization started in Jerusalem by Rabbi Noah Weinberg in 1974. Aish HaTorah’s goal is to revitalize the Jewish people by providing opportunities for Jews of all backgrounds to discover their heritage in an atmosphere of open inquiry and mutual respect. (About Aish - Aish.com)
Sounds like a historical society or a genealogical club. The word religion, which is what Aish is promoting, is switched for the word heritage.
A visit to the Aish website, whose tagline is “The Jewish Website” (February 6, 2023) shows the following articles:
The Best Advice Against Antisemitism — From an Antisemite
Antisemitism at Harvard
Shocker: Marie Kondo Has a Messy House
Can Anyone Be a Leader?
Listen to Gaza's Quiet Dissenters
Jews, Atomic Energy and the Manhattan Project
Tu B’Shevat Quiz: How Much Do You Know about this Jewish Holiday? Judaism, Nature and the Environment
Why Momma Chef Opened a Kosher Soup Kitchen
From an Ethiopian Village to the NY Legislature
Unsafe Spaces: When Being Jewish Means You Don't Belong
How To Host a More Jewish Super Bowl
97-Year-Old Holocaust Survivor is a Viral Sensation on TikTok
Anti-semitism, Zionism, the Holocaust, and charity. It’s all very secular. Even the Tu B’Shevat quiz and its 5 easy questions barely hint at religion.
Like Meor, Aish promises participants a “non-judgmental atmosphere to explore their heritage at their own pace.” Is that what happens? Elizabeth Katzki didn’t think so. She writes in her 2009 blog post on JWeekly.com how an ad on Facebook interested her in a two-week trip to the Women’s’ Future Jewish Enterprisers in New York. She writes “I was informed at the beginning of the trip that Aish HaTorah does not have any affiliation with any particular denomination of Judaism, so I was less than thrilled when bombarded with Orthodox Jewish opinions.” She continues:
I reached my breaking point when sitting down to lunch on Shabbat with a host family. We began discussing Jewish rights of passage, and I told them that I was confirmed and that it was a very meaningful ceremony and process for me. My heartfelt expression was immediately rebutted with a verse from a Jewish text stating that Jews should not take traditions from other religions and that confirmation was really not a Jewish event. Now, I know that confirmation has Christian origins, but it was a very Jewish experience for me, and to have someone discount that, a fellow Jew at that, was heartbreaking. If this statement had come from the mouth of someone who was not Jewish, it may not have hurt so deeply, but to find out that an experience that I considered so genuine and so Jewish, was wrong in the eyes of another Jew burned. (Copy of post)
So it wasn’t non-judgmental after all, and it wasn’t non-denominational. In the end, Elizabeth was turned off by the relentless proselytizing. She writes, “I became increasingly steadfast in my belief in Reform Judaism as the right Jewish path for me. The more I disagreed with the Orthodox viewpoints presented to me, the more I thought about what felt right.”
Similarly, the Dallas Area Torah Association offers this description of its activities:
DATA helps you to explore your Jewish heritage through engaging, thought provoking learning experiences in a warm and inviting atmosphere. DATA is a non-profit, unaffiliated Jewish learning center.
…Whether you’re Reform, Conservative, Orthodox, unaffiliated or somewhere in between, DATA is your most vibrant source for Jewish learning in the Metroplex. (https://www.dallastorah.org/about-us/)
At least the word Torah appears, unlike at Meor; although that’s probably because it started as an out-of-town kollel, which means an advanced Torah learning center for Orthodox Jewish men outside of New York City. At some point, they turned their attention to outreach but already had the name. Nevertheless, they are presenting themselves as non-denominational at least in this blurb. (Staff photos do show Orthodox looking people.) What they mean with their blurb is not that you can be part of their activities as a Reform Jew with a Reform outlook, but that if you are Reform right now, they are eager to expose you to the Orthodox Jewish outlook and practice. Of course, they don’t say that. They give the illusion, like Aish, that they are some kind of historical society.
Likewise the National Council of Synagogue Youth (the NCSY) says its goal is to “provide Jewish teens with an opportunity to build a strong connection to their Jewish roots through inspiration and leadership skills.” – again with the Jewish roots and leadership. They feature trips too. It’s as if all of these organizations have hired a single marketing firm that has instructed them to hide any suggestion of Orthodox Judaism (it’s difficult to find on the site) and to function instead as some kind of travel agency and to use words like “empowerment” as much as possible. But like with Meor, the staff page shows Orthodox Jews if you know what to look for because the yarmulkes in most cases are not in the picture frames. The photos of clean-shaven or lightly whiskered men show faces from the forehead down. Meanwhile, the NCSY operates under the auspices of the Orthodox Union, which is one of the largest Orthodox Jewish organizations in the USA.
Like Aish, NCSY and Meor offer what are described as leadership programs. NCSY has a teen trip that’s actually called LEAD. Meor calls its program the Maimonides Leaders Fellowship. This consists of a series of classes that sounds from the title like it would be about leadership. However, the classes consist mostly of religious instruction and have little to do with leadership. Refer to their very own description: “MEOR’s Maimonides Leaders Fellowship provides the most promising Jewish students on leading U.S. campuses with a unique opportunity to explore Judaism at a level of depth and sophistication commensurate with their academic skills and aspirations. In a dynamic and open environment, students are introduced to classical Jewish philosophy, the relevance of Jewish wisdom to contemporary issues and Jewish perspectives on some of life’s most challenging questions.”
Do you see any leadership training described there? Why does a leadership program consist of exploring Judaism? The promotional video for the Maimonides Leaders Fellowship at one of the campuses actually describes the agenda for the program as follows: “Forty-five minutes to an hour of introduction to Judaism. The second half of the class is a motivational speaker.” For this they give a $400 stipend upon completion. That’s not leadership training. That’s religious proselytizing through trickery. And what’s the connection to Maimonides? They are just using his name.
Yet, how many students will read the description carefully before signing up? Most just see the title: “Maimonides Leaders Fellowship.” Fellowships usually go to top postgraduates to allow them to study a subject at an advanced level. Now, undergraduates can have the word fellowship appear on their graduate school resumes all for just showing up at the university student union for a class on leadership that is really religious proselytizing. It is said that the Holy Roman Empire was neither holy, nor Roman, nor an empire. Well, the Maimonides Leaders Fellowship is neither about leadership nor Maimonides, nor is it a real fellowship.
And the real goal isn’t just acquisition of Jewish wisdom. Meor is trying to get people to change over their lives to religious practice. They make it seem like it’s just another college course, but that’s not what’s really going on. I’m all for Jews living a fully religious life with all the practices, but you can’t trick them into it. Being truthful is one of the practices.
I have talked to young people who have participated in the so-called leadership training at Meor. It consists of study of religious texts, largely through photocopied source sheets of traditional Torah material. That's it. I asked, what about it concerned leadership? One disgruntled guy was very honest about it. He said, "Nothing. It had nothing to do with leadership." Another fumbled for an answer. He said finally. "Well, the leadership is that we go out and get new people into the program."
That’s not leadership. That’s obedience to the organization and its pretensions to constituting a movement. Meor sees itself as a movement and lets you believe that you can be one of its leaders. “Our mission is to create a vibrant Jewish future led by a new generation…”.
This is false advertising again. Traditional Jewish texts offer many different things, but leadership is not prominent among them. And leadership emanating from a new generation of college students is not found there at all. Orthodox Jews are very heavy on obedience to tradition and authority. You remember Fiddler on the Roof: “Tradition, tradition.” Orthodox Jews follow rabbis, particularly elderly ones, and rabbis follow the rabbis of earlier generations, tracing back to the Talmud (redacted in the 6th century CE) and earlier still. Orthodox Jewry, particularly in our times, doesn’t look to young people for leadership.
If Meor, Aish, DATA, NCSY, and other similar outreach organizations were to stop there, we could deal with it. Maybe they’ll bring a few people to religion, even if it’s via deceptive recruiting, which is an improper approach, as I have explained, but they are religious now and that can be a good thing. (I’m speaking as an Orthodox Jew of course.) But as Sir Walter Scott wrote, “Oh what a tangled web we weave when first we practice to deceive.” So, of course, they don’t stop there. The ultimate goal is to ship out students to yeshivas and seminaries, particularly in Israel where the students encounter even more extreme indoctrination. Aish pushes them to the Aish yeshiva in Jerusalem, DATA to various places in New York and Israel, and Meor to Machon Shlomo and Machon Yaakov, two small yeshivas in Jerusalem run by the same people who run Meor. Tuition at the two machons: $10,500 and $20,000 a year respectively.
This is where the real trouble starts. Israel has an entirely different culture than that of the USA (as does Brooklyn, NY compared to Texas). A person who is becoming religious is going through a comprehensive life change. He is changing over his diet, his clothing, his social associations, the way he spends his day, and his values. All of that change puts a big strain on the mind. (Actually, it would be better if these changes were kept minor, but that’s not what usually happens.) Does he or she really need to pile onto his or her overwhelmed psyche a new culture that is conducted in a strange language by strident people? Already he has entered a new world, with its own extensive set of rules and lingo. He feels clueless much of the time. Does he need to tack onto all that the feeling of being lost in a new country that he can barely navigate? If you go to a yeshiva in Rockland County, New York, and it gets overwhelming, you can take a short flight or even a train back to Philadelphia to calm down, say hello to parents, hook up with old friends, to feel normal, to ground yourself again. If your family lives in Westchester, it’s a short bus ride or your father can come pick you up. You can go to a baseball game or to the lake where you and your friends used to boat.
But in Israel you don’t know anybody, and it’s next to impossible to find a baseball game. You are stuck in your yeshiva. You are isolated. You don’t speak Hebrew. Your brain is overwhelmed with information. You are dependent on the yeshiva, which could be a nurturing place – but oftentimes isn’t.
On top of that, the religious culture in Israel is very yeshiva centric, particularly in the neo-Litvish/neo-Yeshivish world where these students are directed. A century ago, a tiny portion of men studied in yeshiva. Life was built around God, general religious observance, family, and community. Life wasn’t built around yeshivas, around institutions.
On top of that, there are today many what I call nothing-else-matters people. That’s a term taken from numerous memorial articles of late where departed people are praised for having taken the approach in life that nothing else matters but Torah study. The articles are called literally “Nothing else mattered.” You wonder, what about people, charity, other commandments, and God. I would think that having the view that nothing-else-matters would be a criticism. The Vilna Gaon, 18th century scholar and perhaps the most prominent figure in original Litvish Judaism, said, “Just as the prime purpose of a tree is its fruit, so is the study of Torah secondary to its fulfillment. Only the fulfillment of mitzvos qualifies a man as one of the righteous upon whom the world depends.” (Even Sheleimah 5:6) Nevertheless, saying about a person that nothing-else-mattered is intended in these articles as high praise.
Accordingly, one finds in neo-Litivsh yeshivas some people who overemphasize the value of Torah study at the expense of the complete Jewish life with its many kinds of mitzvos (religious duties). The more extreme among them mock everything in the world but Torah study, by which they mean abstract wrangling on a few portions of a few chapters of the Talmud. This type of study can be edifying if conducted with other types such as review of Bible, ethical materials and law, but all by itself can overwhelm and confuse the mind.
This focus on this type of study contradicts the advice of the Vilna Gaon who said, “One must first fill himself with knowledge of Tanach, Mishna, Babylonian and Jerusalem Talmuds, Tosefta, Mechilta, Sifrem and all other baraisos. Then he should discuss and debate his learning with his colleagues. By studying in this sequence, one attains the splendor of Torah. One who changes this arrangement, however, and studies how to debate before knowing one Mishnah openly, will forfeit even the little Torah he heard in his youth.” (Even Shelaimah 8:2) The debate he references is the kind of study they focus on in yeshivas. Young men who went to cheder (which is Orthodox Jewish grade school) start with Pentateuch and Mishnah and then move gradually on to Gemara. As the Belz, the Chassidic group, describes its educational approach, “Each cheder (elementary school for boys) hires skilled melamdim (teachers) to teach their yingerlach (little boys) from the initial aleph beis, weekly Parsha story, and Chumash to master Mishnayos and Gemara gradually.” (https://worldofbelz.org/torah/) Perhaps because baalei teshuva are adults biologically they are tossed right into Gemara debate, the very thing the Vilna Gaon says not to start with.
And the yeshivas have them doing it all day long, from morning until bedtime. They hit them with this concept called 'bitul Torah', which means wasted Torah. They are told of the requirement of not wasting a moment, not a second. It must all be filled with Torah study. (Actually, every moment should be filled with connection to God.) You feel not only guilty for doing anything else but afraid because the punishments of hell are often invoked. (This is another commonplace in yeshiva that they don't tell you about in the outreach program.) So, your outreach group told you that anything you do presently, you'll be better at when you become Torah observant, and now you are terrified to engage in anything but Torah study.
Once in a yeshiva, it’s hard to get out because one hears so much propaganda for the yeshiva and against everything else, including earning a living. Newcomers in particular are vulnerable to this propaganda because young people raised in religious environments look to their own relatives for examples of how to live and have met many more rabbis in their day. Newcomers often take everything from one person and tend to take literally talk that is usually uttered as hyperbole.
In some places, even dating for marriage is prohibited (eg, Machon Shlomo for the first year and a third) or strongly discouraged because “you have to learn more Torah.” That’s an amazing thing. The first commandment in the Torah is to be fruitful and multiply, ie. to get married and have children, but some yeshivas have you putting off marriage for years to learn more Torah. Get your mind around that logic. You have guys and gals who likely were sexually active for years before entering yeshiva or seminary, who grew up on television and all kinds of salacious material, but now they are celibate for the time being as they wait for permission from their rabbis to start dating. This is a very dangerous situation.
This comprises more bait and switch. Some of the outreach websites advertise themselves as some kind of pickup joint (more on that in a bit). They then tell the young people that in Judaism we are not celibate like those Catholics priests. Rather, we marry and have large families. (Actually, Catholics have large families too.) Then, you go to yeshiva and find yourself celibate for the sake of Torah.
Going to yeshiva is a positive experience for some people, but for many it’s a disaster. I know more than a few who left religious practice after that. Some literally crack up from all the pressure and confusion. As the French poet Charles Baudelaire wrote in his poem Song of Autumn: Mon esprit est pareil à la tour qui succombe Sous les coups du bélier infatigable et lourd. My spirit resembles the tower which crumbles Under the tireless blows of the battering ram.
I’m certain that most would still be religious if they hadn’t gone to yeshiva at all, if they had kept their apartments and their jobs and just studied at night as they grew in religious observance, just like they did in the good old days. Attendance at yeshiva or seminary isn’t for everyone, but strangely it has become this standard next step for everyone as if it were a commandment from God. It isn’t a commandment. You won’t find anywhere in the Code of Jewish Law. Yet, it’s become this thing that everybody has to do even though the Torah and Jewish law don’t demand it.
Dishonesty degrades all people involved. Once the student loses his regard for truth and his own sense of integrity, he can be tricked into anything. It’s a violation of a person’s dignity. And that’s one of the reasons that we are seeing so many casualties from these groups. CultNews.com shares the stories of a number of parents whose sons went innocently into Meor and wound up undergoing severe negative personality changes. One mother lamented bizarre behavior in her son who had been valedictorian of his high school and went on to study at the Wharton School of Business at the University of Pennsylvania:
Our son was transformed by Meor and a network of “Jewish Outreach” rabbis that completely changed his life through their undue influence. He was once an independent, analytical, well-informed, free thinking, happy-go-lucky soul. Now he has been distorted into a miserable, tired, rigid, condescending, racist, and empty person dependent upon his “leaders” for every basic life decision.
Evidently, the young man went from pursuing Judaism on his own terms (as Meor advertises) to being led around on a leash by some newly found masters who he consults before making any moves in his life on matters large and small. He was instructed (not by Meor but by other rabbis he met) to tell his parents that he was only going to Israel for two months and not to disclose his destination there. Once there he said that he was never returning.
It’s not just that the mother or other parents can’t deal with their sons keeping the Sabbath or the rules of being kosher. Many of these parents are supportive of their sons’ involvement in Orthodox Judaism and even kashered their ovens. What disturbs them is erratic behavior and the severe disruption to their lives. A father wrote:
My sons (is) currently going through the beginning phases described in this article. I fear this is the path he’s headed. He looks different. He’s lost his life and energy. He refuses to come home, see his family, and is constantly lying to us. He is now informing us he has no intention to ever return. Any advice on how to approach this?
Their sons have become irresponsible and strange. (I know of similar stories about daughters.) The mother mentioned above wrote, “His relationship with his family also deteriorated. Our son’s behavior became erratic and he would run away in the middle of a sentence. He neglected his father, even when he became ill with lymphoma. He lost all care and interest in his niece and nephews.”
Part of the problem may be the dissolution of life long dreams. It may be a different matter for people who were raised with Torah observance. They have been gearing up their whole lives for yeshiva. But the young man who went to Wharton worked most of his life to gain admission to an elite college and then worked hard there to graduate and to get a good job offer. Tossing that away was likely destabilizing. The rabbis he was dealing with were probably thinking that such an intelligent young man should be in yeshiva studying the Torah. However, that is not necessarily the case as that involves a severe disruption to his life dreams and his plan for earning a living.
The book of Proverbs teaches “The one who hates gifts shall live.” (Proverbs 15:17) This means you shouldn’t run around looking for handouts. You should be self-sufficient. The book of Psalms says, “If you eat the toil of your hands, you will be happy and it will be good for you." (Psalms, 128:2) The Talmud itself says “Teach you son a trade.” (Kiddushin 29a) It says “Excellent is the study of the Torah when combined with a worldly occupation, for toil in them both keeps sin out of one’s mind.” (Pirkei Avos 2:2) Maimonides himself wrote, “It is a tremendous advantage for a person to derive his livelihood from his own efforts.” (Mishneh Torah, Chapter 3:10) Moreover, he condemned the act of taking handouts in order to study Torah.
Anyone who comes to the conclusion that he should involve himself in Torah study without doing work and derive his livelihood from charity, desecrates [God's] name, dishonors the Torah, extinguishes the light of faith, brings evil upon himself, and forfeits the life of the world to come, for it is forbidden to derive benefit from the words of Torah in this world. (Ibid., 3:11)
Yes, that’s Maimonides, the famous scholar whose name is used to sell Meor’s Maimonides Leaders Fellowship. How ironic that numerous young men who started with Meor now do exactly what Maimonides condemned as they follow the dictates of their new handlers. It all started with Meor’s deceptive recruiting.
When you accept being deceived, you start to suspend your critical reasoning. So ridiculous proposals like quitting the job for which you labored for years and going into poverty in Israel sounds idealistic instead of self-destructive because you have become a fantast. In Orthodox Judaism, we try to live in reality. You need a six figure salary to support an Orthodox Jewish family these days. That’s not just in America. Try to find any apartment in Israel for less than $300,000. Leaving a good job is not a good idea from a religious perspective. This radical behavior happens in large part because of the deceptive recruiting that knocks the young person off kilter.
So what about teaching your son a trade? Quite possibly, Meor mentions teachings like that in its classes. Outreach programs often mention broader Torah ideas when responding to concerns newcomers have about what seems like animosity to work, gentiles, and secular knowledge. They teach you that Jews are supposed to be a light unto the nations. They’ll tell you that in Judaism we are allowed to ask questions and the Talmud is full of debate. They tell you of great Torah scholars who were also proficient in secular knowledge. The problem is most of that goes out the window in many yeshivas. Even American yeshivas can be fanatical on these topics, but it’s worse in Israel. American yeshiva kids often attend college on the side. That is rare in Israel. So again, if Meor and other outreach programs stopped the song and dance when these college kids became observant, if it didn’t hurry them off to yeshivas, that would be one thing. But when yeshiva is portrayed as the absolutely necessary next step, then we start to see all the wisdom that is shared in the outreach programs as a lure.
What else is used as a lure? Well, sex. The Meor websites feature photos of scores of handsome young men and pretty young women all mixed together, some arm in arm, most in immodest dress by Orthodox standards. It’s right there at the top of the home page, the first thing you see when you go to the site. And such photos appear on nearly every page. They dominate the site. I am not showing the photos because I don’t want to embarrass the young people who are being used for this.
Yet, in the Orthodox world, males and females are kept largely separate. Premarital sex is forbidden. Even holding hands with anyone from the opposite sex who is not one’s spouse is forbidden. That’s fine, but it is distinctly incongruent with the image Meor tries to create of its gatherings serving as a Miami Spring Break pick up scene.
The Unification Church, aka the Moonies, famously send pretty girls to the streets of Manhattan to lure young men up stairs for indoctrination. Is that what Aish is doing with its homepage that features photos of gorgeous male and female models. It’s the first thing you see when you visit the site, underneath a caption offering timeless wisdom.
Those are really good looking people. Is that who I’ll meet at an Aish seminar?
Appeal to the ego is also a lure. Meor is interested in “the most promising Jewish students on leading U.S. campuses”. This tempts the ego. And you wonder, why aren’t they interested in regular Jewish students from regular colleges? The appeal to ego also applies to the ubiquitous offerings of leadership programs at these outreach organizations.
The founders and the three primary directors of Meor were not raised religious. This is in part what equips them to craft a message that causes young people to lower their guard. They know the words to use. I suspect something similar is happening at other outreach places. People raised in Torah environments, particularly yeshivish ones, wouldn’t even be able to employ phrases like “Judaism on their own terms.” They don’t talk that way. The other groups, which are not necessarily run by baalei teshvah are not as outlandish even as they promise openness and acceptance that they don’t necessarily deliver. Thus, the pairing of these kinds of outreach organizations with more severe Orthodox institutions that are the next step afterwards can be very problematic. The brew is poisonous.
Orthodox Judaism is not a cult, but poor handling of newcomers can produce a cult-like experience. The outreach groups perform the deceptive recruiting that is the first stage of cults. Then comes isolation, control, personality breakdown, and reprogramming. A kid raised in a yeshivish environment isn’t deceptively recruited. He is already in the yeshiva world. He doesn’t feel isolated in yeshiva. He’s got cousins there and friends from school. That world is all he knows, and he has a large extended family that is also from that society. He doesn’t feel controlled, usually, because he isn’t changing over his dress, diet, patois, or routine. The kid raised religious isn’t being reprogrammed. You could say that he’s already programmed or that he’s living out the values of his youth.
However, a newcomer may experience all of this in a destabilizing way as he is recruited and gives up his dreams, interests, and friends and enters an environment where he doesn’t know anyone. The newcomer gets reprogrammed, particularly if his mentors come on too strong. You have two types of people getting a completely different psychological experience in the same institutions. The parents with stories on CultNews.com are likely furious at the rabbis who are involved here as well as Orthodox Judaism. That’s understandable, but they need to know that what they are seeing is a poorly administered Orthodox Judaism or even a poor imitation of Orthodox Judaism. Certainly, these rabbis are being very irresponsible and unthinking, and that is enough to cause great harm to others.
Of course, money plays a role here. Decades ago an acquaintance of mine was tasked by a yeshiva to walk around selling raffle tickets. He approached one religious man who refused. He was a working man and he didn’t like the idea of guys studying forever on his dime. When my acquaintance told him that his yeshiva was a place for beginners (baalei teshuvah) his whole attitude changed. He bought a ticket. For baalei teshuva he’ll give money.
But only religious Jews are going to give money to help people to becomeTorah observant. If you want big money, you have to appeal to the non-Torah observant Jews. They might be Reform. They might be Jewish in name only. But they have some kind of Jewish identity and will give money for trips to Poland to learn about the Holocaust and to Israel. Have you ever seen the list of American billionaires? Around half are Jewish. There’s a lot of money to be had in general Jewish outreach. And so that’s what you see on these websites, general Jewish outreach, even though they also seek to find students for their neo-Litvish “yeshivas” in Israel, and to get what they deem will be divine rewards for making you Orthodox. What these organizations have done is found a way of getting non-Torah observant/non-Orthodox Jews to fund Orthodox Jewish outreach without their knowledge. I don’t want to be overly cynical, but I find it hard to justify what’s going on here.
Take Meor. The IRS 990 forms of several of the Meor campus branches indicate that most of the revenue is spent on salaries. Several of the campus directors earn more than $100,000 a year. For example, in 2019 one of the Meor branches on the East Coast had $499,439 in revenue but gave out $276,799 in employee compensation. Most of that compensation went to two people, the Executive director getting $135,596 and the Vice President getting $101,391. That’s great pay for non-profit work. Meanwhile, they spent $55,156 on programs. Maybe some part of the salaries can be considered program expenses too, but again, there does not appear to be much happening at the branch so it’s odd.
At another branch, revenue in 2020 was $369,560, employee compensation $225,734, and program expenses $57,599. Yet, at this moment on their Homepage under the title Upcoming Events, it says “No upcoming events at the moment.” They are in the middle of the school year. Purim is in a month, and they haven’t announced any plans for it.
I recommend that all Jews consider Orthodox Judaism, but I can’t recommend students get involved with organizations that are not candid about their intentions. Only deal with people who are honest with you. In contrast, Chabad is very open about its intentions. Look at its website. There are articles about prayer, sacrifices, faith, mezuzahs, mikvahs, and tefillin. There’s a whole section on Jewish practice. The Chabad Rabbis wear long beards and big yarmulkes. They don’t hide their goal of trying to bring you closer to religious observance, and they don’t coerce. They don’t tempt you with immodest photos of mixed groups that suggest a pickup bar. Also, they don’t get paid by Chabad headquarters. They head out to the far corners of the world – not where rich Jews live but where any kind of Jews live. They raise whatever funds they can raise there and show an interest even in people who don’t go to “leading US colleges.”
Here's a photo of Chabad outreach workers (shluchim) with their long beards and black hats. They aren't hiding a thing.
Also honest in their approach are the Belzer Chassidim. You’ll find right on their outreach site a quote from the Belzer Rebbe, “My main goal is for a baal teshuvah to reach a point where he no longer feels like a baal teshuvah, like someone different. He should feel like every Jew who observes the Torah and its mitzvos.” (https://worldofbelz.org/avodah/) You find there three words that don’t seem to appear on the Meor site: “observe”, “Torah” and “mitzvos” You’ll also find numerous references to God. “Thanks to Tzohar’s outreach organization, hundreds of troubled youths return to their roots striving to rebuild their connection with Torah, Judaism, and Hashem.” Hashem is a word for God. You don’t find on the Belz site photos of gorgeous models or mixed gender social scenes. You find photos like this:
And the home page shows right up top some very religious looking young men.
Belz isn’t trying to fool anyone. So not all Orthodox Jewish outreach groups engage in deceptive recruiting. These Chassidic groups conduct themselves in a straight-forward and kosher manner.
Some of the people at the problematic outreach organizations might be well-meaning, but they don’t understand the complexities and challenges of becoming an Orthodox Jew. They don’t understand the dangers of moving people too fast. They figure, these college kids don’t know anything about Orthodox Judaism, and I have been doing it my whole life, so surely I am qualified to teach them. But that’s like me saying that I can, without training, be a pediatrician because I am an adult so surely I know more about medicine than a child. The soul is a delicate instrument. One has to be very careful when he prescribes medicine or performs surgery. And of course you have to be honest and open about your intentions.
Young people, if you want to become a Torah observant/religious/Orthodox Jew, that’s wonderful. So start doing it. Take on commandments. You don’t need to drop out of school or quit your job. Consider that the same Meor rabbi who is encouraging you to pass up a job offer is being paid $130,000 a year by Meor. Raising a Torah observant family requires a solid income in our times, but good jobs are not ubiquitous. You don’t need to get weird with your family or drop your best friend. You don’t need to go to yeshiva, and you certainly don’t need to fly off to Israel. There’s no special magic that happens in either place. You’ll find much more magic if you live sensibly, if you retain your critical thinking, and if you don’t hand over your life to strangers. It’s not that you can’t meet new people and consider their perspective. But don’t hand over your life to them. Watch them for a long while until they are not strangers anymore. See if they are authentic, decent, and conscientious.See if they know what they are talking about. You won’t know this instantaneously. They have to prove themselves to you, not you to them.
And parents, what should you do? Well, trying to get your sons to drop religious practice probably is going to backfire. And there is no need to try it. Orthodox Judaism, when practiced properly, is not a cult. It is actually a healthy lifestyle that should involve independent thought, dignified living, reason, and common sense. What you have to do is get away from the crazy people, the ones who don’t embrace the entire religion, the ones who take little pieces of it and build their little fiefdoms on it.
You might suggest different approaches to your kids, ones that include working, bathing, and thinking for oneself. Actual Torah Judaism includes all of that. Modern Orthodoxy has that. Check out Yeshiva University and its many affiliated institutions. Seek out the writings of Rabbi Joseph Soloveitchik. Chabad also is not controlling. See Chabad.org. Try to get them to switch to one of the more healthy schools for beginners such as the yeshivas Darche Noam, Orayata, Dvar Yerushalayim, Maayanot, Morristown/Tiferes Bochurim, and Hadar Hatorah. Authentic Litvish Judaism in general is also different as I have noted. But one is seeing less and less of that these days. It’s quite different from the new fangled Judaism that sadly has a hold on part of the outreach world.
The Meor homepage is very strange. It's full of stats about how successful they are. (I"m sure the stats are highly exaggerated.) I wouldn't think that a college kid would care about that. Are they bragging or is this all for donors?
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