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Change To Ultra-Orthodoxy
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40
FRIDAY, FEBRUARY 12, 1988
el Aviv — Israeli Jews
who abandon their
secular life for one of
strict and frequently fanati-
cal religious observance are
usually between the ages of
17 and 23 and leave their
parents fretting and confused,
according to an article to be
published shortly by Dr.
David Green.
The research of Green, a
psychologist teaching and
researching at Tel Aviv
University's department of
education, was based on an
examination of 76 families, of
which about 30 had children
about 14 years of age.
Green found that the
secular parents of the chozrei
b'teshuvah, the Talmudic
term for repentant Jews, are
seriously concerned by the
growing phenomenon, which
may comprise 8,000 to 15,000
adherents. The parents worry
that their mistakes led to
their children's "conversion."
A full quarter of the
mothers said their children
still were unhappy and con-
fused after what the parents
regard as "brainwashing" by
the Orthodox elements which
encourage them.
In a recent Israel radio
discussion program about the
phenomenon, a man said he
and his wife still did not know
what "went wrong" with
their daughter, who "con-
verted" some years ago.
He said that his teen-age
daughter, studying at a
"secular" high school, sud-
denly became withdrawn and
shunned the family at meals
or on festive occasions,
especially on Shabbat. She
refused to watch television on
Friday nights, instead retir-
ing to her room to read.
"This of course had its effect
on the family. We tried to ac-
commodate to her wishes,
began to keep a kosher house,
but could not give up entire-
ly our previous way of life. We
began driving less on the Sab-
bath and stayed home more,
going on fewer outings and
almost stopped going to the
beach," he said.
When the daughter sud-
denly announced that "they"
had arranged a husband for
her, the family did not know
whether to agree to the
marriage.
That was nearly a decade
ago. According to the girl's
parents (the names were not
disclosed in the radio pro-
gram, to avoid a further
Ultra-Orthodox in Jerusalem: There are an estimated 8,000-15,000
"chozrei b'tesuvah" in Israel.
widening of the gap between
them and their daughter), she
was "adopted" by an ultra-
Orthodox anti-Zionist family
and has had seven children.
"She very rarely visits us,"
the girl's mother said. "At our
request she once sent one of
our grandchildren to visit us,
but when the boy apparently
reported home that he had
been to a mixed-sex swimm-
ing pool the visits were call-
ed off for some time. And the
next time a grandchild came,
he arrived with his own sup-
ply of food.
"What did we do wrong to
bring this about? Maybe we
were too open and permissive
and left our daughter con-
fused with too many choices,
until an Orthodox group seiz-
ed upon her and brainwashed
her."
Green found that 14 percent
of the "conversions" were
almost instant: The
youngsters left home within a
matter of weeks, giving up
work or studies, moving to
Orthodox quarters and fre-
quently entering special
yeshivot for full-time study,
working outside the yeshivah
only to recruit other secular
Jews.
But in other cases the pro-
cess took up to two years to
complete.
The researcher said that
when he asked the chozrei
b'teshuvah why they no
longer observed Israel's In-
dependence Day, he in-
variably received the stan-
dard reply that "the Bible
does not mention In-
dependence Day, and it
should therefore not be
observed."
They have no allegiance to
the Israeli flag for the same
reason.
According to Green's
research, 96 percent of the
parents of the families he
studied were "traditionally
observant" or "liberal."
Looking into their origin,
eight percent of the parents
were of African or Asiatic
backgrounds, with the
balance from Europe or born
in Israel.
°I IN BRIEF I°
Hopes Pinned
On New Diaper
Tel Aviv (JTA) — Changing
a baby's disposable diaper, a
mundane but essential task,
violates the Sabbath in the
ultra-Orthodox community of
B'nei B'rak north of Aviv.
Residents have complained
to the Committee for the Pro-
tection of the Sabbath that
the pre-glued self-adhesive
straps on disposable diapers
violate halachah (Jewish
law), because their use con-
stitutes sewing or stitching
on the Sabbath.
The committee raised the
problem with diaper
manufacturers, noting that
Orthodox Jews are good
customers because religious
families have many children.
The manufacturers advised
the committee recently that
they have come up with a
solution.
But they refuse to disclose
details until they are ready to
market the new diapers. One
observer suggested they may
have gone back to the old
fashioned safety pin.