I see what you’re saying, reuventree. Late starters to Yiddishkeit get so much encouragement and support when they start out, and are applauded at every small step forward. Once they seem to know what they’re doing, there doesn’t seem to be much support. Correct me if I’m warping the situation, but it seems to me the same case as a child learning to walk. Every shaky step receives a standing ovation when we’re just starting out at age 1 or so, but once the kid starts walking regularly it doesn’t garner such admiration. Is this necessarily a bad thing? I think not. I don’t think it’s misleading to praise a child for progress and then neglect to do so once they’ve achieved independence. I think it would be silly to do so, and won’t accomplish anything. I’m 20 years old and I don’t need someone to celebrate my ability to walk. (That shouldn’t, of course, take away from my own appreciation of said ability.) Encouragement and support is one hundred percent essential and effective to a BT starting his path, and will provide a solid foundation for a person’s Judaism and relation to his brethren, and love of Hashem and His Torah. Once that foundation has been laid, however, they don’t need to be told that “It’s amazing that you are keeping Shabbos! You are so great!” every time they do so. It may even seem insulting.
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