A clandestine undertaking on behalf of Israel, the Jets and the Jews.

 
Frum Teens

Frum Teens should be required reading for observant Jews.

The site deals with a vast array of issues. I strongly disagree with the moderator (apparently there are several) on issues concerning Zionism, and modern orthodoxy. As examples, Rav Kook is compared to Korach, while Rav Soloveitchik is essentially labeled an egomaniac. The moderator's approach is so harsh, that I believe the site to be worthless with regard to these issues.

Yet in other ways it is uniquely valuable. There are postings from bais yaacov girls who have been sexually active, from kids who have been molested or raped, have attempted or are considering suicide, who are using drugs, who are pregnant, and everything else one can think of and some things you couldn't - like the kid whose mother divorces her father to move in with another woman. The kid desparately wants to remain observant. Incidentally quite a few of the kids started off on the wrong track after being expelled from school for minor infractions, such as hanging out with a member of the opposite sex, or listening to "offensive" forms of music. One girl who said she was close to killing herself claimed that only after his death was a Boro Park boy who died of a heroin overdose treated with sensitivity rather than as an embarrasment. (That girl was incorrect; in fact the boy's parents tried desperately to help their son.)

Not only does the moderator deal patiently and supportively with each of these kids (he reminds them, for example, that Joshua married Rachav, a former prostitute), he does not hesitate to criticize the schools and teachers for causing and/or worsening many of the problems. He points out that throwing out kids is in almost all cases a violation of Jewish law, and is done because teachers do not like to deal with difficult kids. He also correctly ridicules the approach to "at risk" kids, which is to isolate those kids while ignoring the reasons why the problem is growing. As he puts it, it is as though a city reacted to the problem of an unstable bridge by building a hospital for victims when the bridge falls.

Anyone who reads some of the thousands of anonymous postings will learn alot about the shortcomings of the community, of the fact that the problems mentioned above really do exist, and will (hopefully) gain an understanding of, and a sensitivity toward, the pain and challenges these kids face. Obviously these kids often created their own problems, but the consequences often outweigh the transgression. At the very least, any educator or parent dealing with an "at risk" child should review frumteens.com.
posted on 8/01/2003