New York – On his Talkline program this past motzei Shabbos, Zev Brenner spoke with both Rabbi Dr. Avraham Twerski and his son, Rabbi Dr. Bentzion Twerski on the breakdown of family values in today’s society, rabbinic bans, divorce, addictions and other issues plaguing the frum community.
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Both Rabbis Twerski agreed that many of these problems stem from families and schools not inculcating our children with a love and appreciation of mitzvos and a general decline in middos and values at the family level and emphasized that it is positive messages from both parents and community leaders that will help solve many of the problems that we face today.
Hear the full interview below.
In case you missed a VIN exclusive video interview with Dr. Rabbi Abraham Twerski can be viewed here
The main problem, undoubtly stems from the fact that so many bocherim, sadly, do not have any yeshivas to go to and hang out on the streets and then we have these frum guys screaming at them about this and that, instead of reaching out to them.
Its a terrible shame that all these big rabonim out there still have not found a solution to this ever growing problem.
ITS TIME TO WAKE UP AND DO SOMETHING ABOUT IT!!!
I believe that Torah values is in Chapter 11…
If one yid has a din torah with another yid and the plaintiff declines to attend the bes din after being served a summons and his local Ruv and Yeshiva will not expell them from shul or school this shows that the Torah has NO value…
If Hundreds of Rabunim signed a petition against Videos and they them self will be Mesader Kidishin when all those cameras are focused in their face thats called NO torah values..
Hundred rabunim signed a petition that Miami Beach is forbidden to vacation (except for the eldery or handicapped) and hundreds of young couples visit there every year thats what we call NO torah values…
If Yeshivas discriminate against the unfortunate kids who dont have the greatest learning heads and they get turned away from klal yisroel ,this is what i call Bankrupt.
yasher koach
If you have read the many seforim on related issues from the Twersykys, you’d also note that they are great believers in NOT speaking ill of another yid and avoid criticizing others.
“. . . so many bocherim, sadly, do not have any yeshivas to go to and hang out on the streets”
Could it be – c”v – that these outdoor bocherim are not up to the minimal educational standards for entry requested by the yeshivos?
The problems come from so many levels it’s almost impossible to parse it out. First and foremost, parents are the ones who are truly responsible for the moral and ethical behavior of their children-when the children are young. Since teachers are not in their field for the money, I think we can say that they genuinely care about the emotional development of the children under their care and really try to inclulcate their students with a good value system, i.e., caring about others, understanding that each child is an individual but is also a part of the larger Jewish community and therefore should treat others as they would want to be treated. But then these children often go back to parents who don’t share that value system, and undo all the good work that the teachers have done during the day. Teachers can talk about how to behave, how to treat each other, how to have respect, etc., but ultimately children learn from watching their parents.
Not all kids are made to sit and learn all day. They have to be given options to focus on their strengths and not their weaknesses. It is unfair for parents to expect all their kids will sit and learn. Strengthen and motivate the kids, not demoralize and beat them down. Frumkeit should be filled with love and unity, not threats and hatred.
The problem is the boys that have no respect for anyone, they get married and then divorced as soon as the poor women they married realize they are being abused.
Without placing blame, we want our children to have it BETTER than we did, but the entire world around us has changed dramatically. The age of the internet has opened doors that cannot be closed, look at what we are doing at this moment! Regardless of what we do, the future will be shaped by technology for better or worse.