I made a denominational shift from Reform and then Reconstructionist to Traditional and Orthodox. I was very observant by non-Orthodox standards- I davened every morning with tallit and tefillin and also davened Mincha-Maariv (albeit using Reform and Reconstructionist siddurim). I studied Gemara and other texts, learned the parsha every week twice with Onkelos and Rashi, kept kosher (didn’t eat “milchigs out” ever, since I lived in NYC), kept shabbos (I walked to services 3 miles from home), and wore a kippah and sometimes tzitzit. I learned trope and nusach, and was involved in transdenominational efforts in learning and other areas. I began observing at this level around the age of 12.
I grew up to realize that the only community where my lifestyle made sense was the traditional, halakhic community, and that being a halakhic Jew meant that I had to meet personal status standards al pi halakha, and I had to go through many hurdles to be where I am at today (a teudat giyur from one of the most respected rabbinical leaders in Modern Orthodoxy and a former RCA president).
In order to make “connections,” investing time and money in the proper courses and yeshiva education is a necessity for me.
Why anyone born with the linguistic skills from age 3, with the yichus, social network, right connections, who can learn rishonim presumably by the age of 18-19, who was raised with the geshmack of what I worked so hard to achieve and learn, would choose to reject this astounds me.
That being said, there are several areas where we need to return to the teachings of Hazal and the Rambam, Rav Hirsch, and other rational and correct gedolim.
We need to encourage those who inquire and ask questions and scrutinize knowledge. They are sincere mevakshei Hashem.
We need to adopt a grand religious vision that combines ethics, yashrus, humanism, and universalism with the demands of a strixt halakhic life and torah learning. Our torah learning needs to be enriched by a robust agenda of studying the natural and social sciences and humanities, which sharpen the mind and allow us to see life holistically.
Spirituality needs to be nurtured, in addition to philosophizing. Historical revisionism, conformity, brainwashing, and closed-mindedness need to be erased from the picture.