Do We Stand a Chance in an Age of Flashing Screens?

“For many years, I was discouraged by the challenges facing the frum community, especially Anash. The struggle to compete with the instant allure of movies and media felt overwhelming, and we stood no chance. I have since realized that nothing can be further from the truth.“

By Rabbi Aharon Lindenblit

For many years, I would get discouraged or disheartened by the challenges confronting the frum community, especially the Anash community, as the obstacles seemed overwhelming and the path forward unclear.

The issues appeared to be numerous and insurmountable. Haggard balebatim going through the motions with little visible inspiration, and the slipping standards in tznius and conduct implied that few were paying attention to the slow decay of spiritual life. Denial and complacency abounded, and the few who understood me were themselves in deep despair. What does the future hold? What will the next generation of Anash look like?

Can a black and white Gemara with 3000 tiny words per page, most in Rashi script, compete with a fast-paced, action-packed, colored movie? Can achievement, which necessitates effort, contend with the dopamine release engendered by a ping of a social media message or advancing a level in a video game? Can we win against the billions of dollars poured by Silicon Valley and Hollywood to ensnare us into their web (pun intended)?

History doesn’t offer much hope in this case. We have a precedent for apathy serving as the context for mass abandonment of Yiddishkeit. At the time the Rebbe Rashab was born, the vast majority of Russian Jews were frum. By the time he passed away, that was no longer the case.

In his letters, the Rebbe Rashab decries the apathy that set in, especially among the youth. We must not minimize the tremendous effort and success that the Rebbe Rashab had in mobilizing youth, but the reality remains that Klal Yisroel then didn’t rise up to the challenge of the time. Today, we see that the result of that abandonment is utter assimilation.

To deal with this hopelessness, I threw myself into my shlichus, family, and avodas Hashem, ensuring that at least I do the most that I can in my little corner. Being preoccupied with positive matters left me with little time to worry and wallow in despair.

In the past few years, I have come to realize that holding onto this bleak outlook is both strategically dangerous and inaccurate.

When heading out to war, soldiers sing a joyful victory march. If the soldiers were to deem at the outset that they would be defeated, how much morale would they have?

The large multi-volume set of Likutei Sichos contains the fundamental ideas the Rebbe transmitted to our generation and for eternity. It is highly providential that the first sicha in the whole series contains the Rebbe’s sweeping vision that sets the tone for how to handle our generation’s challenges.

Chazal say, “Bereishis – bishvil Yisrael ubishvil haTorah,” the entire universe was created so that a Yid should serve Hashem. If that is so, can anything truly interfere with a Yid’s mission in this world? After all, that very thing was created for his mission! If something appears to be a challenge, it is merely there to be overcome, not inherently a problem. Nothing can be stronger than a yid, since it only exists for the Yid to serve Hashem!

When feeling small and weak against the forces of liberalism and wokeness overtaking the Western world, we must remember Who we are working for. Netzach Yisrael lo yeshaker, The Eternal One of the Jews will not fail! 

We are not merely talking about the spiritual situation of a few Yidden. We are at the end of what all of history has been working towards. We are marching towards our destiny and the destiny of all of history. We are dealing with nitzchiyus – eternity! 

As dwarfs on the shoulders of hundreds of generations of Yidden who fought for Torah with blood and tears, we realize that truth isn’t bound by time or location. We are in the employ of the Master of history, Who directs everything that occurs, and it is He who gives us strength from His unlimited power to prevail against any limited finite challenges that cross our path. 

What are a few dollars compared to Hashem’s resources? What challenge is posed by a think-tank comprised of several men and women wise in their own eyes when we’re talking about the retzono v’chochmoso, the will and wisdom, of Hashem? 

Torah and mitzvos are eternal and more powerful and precious than any imaginable challenge in the world.

Several years ago, I was at a beautiful farbrengen with a group of university students on Chai Elul. The shliach farbrenging related a story about a bochur, Naftali, who lived a double life. During the day, he learned diligently with fervor. But at night, he served as a drummer at various bars and nightclubs that, needless to say, are not the place where a bochur belongs. 

It seems that he was a talented player, and one evening, after watching him play for a while, a well-dressed gentleman approached and handed Naftali his card, inviting him to try out playing for the band he directed. On the back of the card, the man had scrawled a date and time. Naftali glanced at the name on the card and couldn’t believe his eyes. The fellow was the director of one of the most famous bands in the country. Joining would mean celebrity status with all the glitz and glamour that goes along with it.

When he returned to yeshiva, he checked a calendar to see when the appointment was scheduled, and to his dismay, he realized that it fell on Shabbos. Now, Naftali was a rebel with a wild streak that included hobbies that extended beyond the sheltered world of his yeshiva friends, but he wasn’t a mechalel Shabbos. He was torn. On the one hand, this was an opportunity unlikely to present itself again. On the other hand, his conscience wouldn’t allow him to play on Shabbos.

Plagued by uncertainty, he approached his rosh yeshiva in the latter’s office and poured out the whole story. If the rosh yeshiva was shocked to hear the admission of one of his prized students, he did a good job of hiding it. Apparently, he was an open-minded and understanding individual, and did not berate Naftali at this juncture. He knew that Naftali didn’t need a lecture on the importance of Shabbos and had to come to the correct decision on his own.

The rosh yeshiva suggested that Naftali take a blank sheet of paper and draw a line down the middle. On the left side, he should write all the benefits he would obtain by joining the band, and on the right side, he should write down all the advantages of keeping Shabbos. He instructed Naftali to return in the morning, and they would discuss the matter further.

The next morning, the rosh yeshiva looked at Naftali and saw that his eyes were red from crying. Naftali related that he had spent a sleepless night agonizing over the paper and showed the rosh yeshiva the result. The left-hand side had a list of over twenty gains – wealth, fame, admiration, a luxurious life, material comforts, and so on. On the right side, there was only one word: eternity. He had made up his mind. 

The shliach went on to emphasize the contrast between momentary and fleeting pleasures versus the deeper and lasting significance of serving the Creator. During a pause. During an interlude, a girl came over and told him that she had walked out after hearing the story and called her goyishe boyfriend and broke off the relationship. It had bothered her that her boyfriend wasn’t Jewish, but she wasn’t resolute enough to actually call it off. After being inspired by the story, she didn’t want to wait, in case she would lose her resolve.

Keeping that one Shabbos, perhaps didn’t have the glitz and glamour of joining the band, but somehow, for Naftoli, it prevailed. Sometimes we need to be reminded of the power of truth. We can’t compare with the graphics and special effects of Hollywood, but we have the emes, the truth. Emes has real appeal and doesn’t require the same amount of marketing as sheker, vanity.

From the outset, we know that we, as the ones carrying out Hashem’s plan, will ultimately prevail. We are on the winning team. Nothing is stronger than us, nor can anything hold us back.

At times, we imagine that money is what gives influence and makes the world go round. The Rebbe is the perfect example of how this is not correct. The Rebbe built Chabad and the army of shluchim and chassidim not with money or power, but with the ultimate unwavering truth and mesiras nefesh.

Being cognizant of these truths frees one from despair and worry about the future and motivates us to rededicate ourselves to our avodah, as part of the selected few that Hashem chose to bring Moshiach now mamash!