There is a way. Become an amazing example yourself of what a true Torah observant person is. When any one sees a baal middos, and a lamdan, with a friendly disposition, our OTD children will flock back quickly. When Jewish kids are finding the love and acceptance they crave among goyim or non religious the only one we can blame is …us…..When I was a kid I admired my teachers and the rabbanim I knew, and I wanted to be just like them, and as dedicated to Yiddishkeit as my parents. It was also enjoyable to be a frum person! We felt grateful for every Jew-no matter their level of frumkeit. When we harp on every silliness, style of hat, type of shirt, etc… no matter that our kids fly away. None of that is EMES. Let’s focus on teaching the emes, on working on ourselves, and on accepting a teen as is FOR NOW. Kids go through stages, but look at your neighborhood. Probably half the people in your shul were not religious in high school. Look at the teens from your yeshiva that were trouble-most of them are religious today….Why? Because of good Torah true Jews who impacted them in a positive way and made them understand that there is no greater life than one that is filled with serving Hashem.
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