while i think your idea of kosher hangouts is a good one, i don’t think it is THE solution. i don’t think that the younger generation has had it with yiddishkeit because there aren’t enough hangouts (although this is a start).
quite simply, kids today aren’t stupid. they understand so much more than we give them credit for. and they can sense the hypocrisy that pervades the lives of many of those who are supposed to be their role models. what should kids think when supposedly ehrliche people are committing crimes, being hauled off to prison, etc.? when people are more concerned about the color of a boy’s shirt than what is in his head or in his heart? when our first reaction to anything is not ‘what is the right thing to do’ or ‘what would hashem want’ but rather ‘what will everyone else think?’ or ‘how will this effect this or that shidduch’?
let’s face it. our ‘yeshiva world’ has become so much like the greater society around us – we are so much more concerned with images, appearances, and reputations than we are about truth, reality, and sincerity. its really no wonder that we judge so much about a person now by the way he dresses, the color of his shirt, the length of a skirt, sleeves, etc., just as our society judges one another by similarly superficial characteristics. is this what yiddishkeit is all about?
our kids see right through this charade. they realize that most of us do not REALLY practice what we preach. we go through so many of the motions and dress, talk, and act a certain way in order to ensure that no one in our society will look at us any differently. they realize that so often our actions are dictated not by the ratzon hashem, but by the ratzon of those around us.
our kids aren’t dumb. they realize what yiddishkeit means (and doesn’t mean) to their parents and their communities. and they are sickened by the thought of perpetuating such a perverted and hypocritical system. can you blame them?