Is there any one reason why people go off the derech? I would imagine not. However, it would seem pretty clear that what most allows for it is our total integration into American/Western society. For centuries Jews did not assimilate in the numbers that they do today, probably because they couldn’t more than any other reason. Jews were kept in ghettos, seperate from the rest of society, and when they werent, they were limited in profession and in title. Let’s not fool ourselves into thinking that if Judaism became more appealing all of a sudden no one would want to go OTD. The last time I checked, the ??? ???? happened not too long after every single person at Har Sinai experienced prophecy. Not to sound too closed minded, but the surest way to prevent assimiliation and this OTD problem (which are one and the same thing) is to make it as difficult as possible to happen, by exposing our children as little as possible to values contrary to our own. By no means am I denying the importance of improving our Jewish society, and of presenting Judaism in its most appropriate form, but by the same token, I do not believe that a most perfect Judaism will prevent the OTD problem in any country in which we have become fully integrated with a society antithetical to ours(see latest NYC mayor elections as the newest example of our involvement in American life).
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