Reply To: Going off the Derech

thethinker3-when I read your post, it made a lot of sense. However, I don’t think I am painting the goyishe influence as schmutz, or lacking anything worthwhile. In fact, some of the goyishe music may sound nice, especially classical. My point is merely that it comes from a non Jewish source and has an influence on us. Secular and goyishe movies typically have messages extremely antithetical to Torah (immorality is standard), despite extreme pritzus. I guess, perhaps, there are 2 ways one can choose to live as a Jew. One, is to reject all non Jewish influence, and immerse oneself completely into Judaism, untainted. The other is to mingle with the goyishe culture, and pray you stay a Jew. The risk of the second choice, is to lose your sense of who you are and what your purpose is, not to mention, marrying out of the religion. In a State where one’s marriage partner can be of any gender, where marriage isn’t sacred, and basically “anything goes”, I choose to raise my children in a Jewish bubble as much as possible. If my children do get exposed to goyishe influences as they grow older, I’m hoping that the ‘sense’ of Judaism will prevail. I’m not forbidding the exposure at this point with my teenage son, but I wouldn’t encourage it as part of their chinuch. I’m hoping that, as you say, he will be able to ‘incorporate the best of mainstream culture’ without losing his Jewish identity. Unfortunately, however, he is being exposed to the worst of mainstream culture and I’m not sure where it will lead..

Bilbo-point taken.