“What do you mean by that?”
Simple. If you were there in those days, you’d see the crowd and understand.
There was only one G-d those folks worshipped, and only one message the kids were fed: the American Dream. College is a must for success, and the quicker you integrate with the USA, the sooner you can be assured you have made it out of the shtetle. Yiddishkeit is nice, but if you have finals coming up, its a given that you study on Shabbos, Tom Tov, whatever.
The hypocracy of going to shul in the morning, but watching the ball game after the seudah, being a member of a frum shul, but kashrus was determined on an as needed basis one of two things happened to the membership’s offspring:
* As a result of living with this hypocracy for so long, the next gen of kids / grandkids are too off the D to go to shul, so what happens to BE, happens.
* As a result of seeing the side effects of this hypocracy, for so long, the next gen of kids / grandkids realize there has got to be more to Judaism, than just lip service. So, off they go to find some true meaning to all the plastic they’ve been fed, turn yeshiva frum, and feel uncomfortable in a place like BE. So as sad as its sounds, whatever happens to BE, happens.
Like I said, been there, seen it. Doesn’t taste good, but its just the way it is.