Kosher-Style

Recently, a listener to my show took exception when I said that American Jewry was Kosher-Style. "How", the incredulous listener asked, "could you compare the treif misrepresentation of the restaurants to living in America?"

So please let me explain: American Jewry is not kosher-style, it's American Orthodox Jewry which is kosher-style.

There they are, parading their black hats to everyone, making sure to keep Shabbos, and Kashrus. But Eretz Yisrael? Even though every page of the Siddur mentions it in one way or another, even the Torah seems obsessed with it, the American-Orthodox seem Exile-content.

Is this Kosher? No, its Kosher-Style. It has the trappings of Kosher - looks like a Jew, seems like a Jew, but in the final analysis, not acting like a Jew. A Jew needs to strive to get closer to Hashem, to serve Him, and not to serve himself. Our forefathers gave up everything to live here and they set an example for how we should behave. The Matriarch Rachel cries waiting for her children to come home, but we say "whatever". For American Jews "Next Year in Jerusalem" means "next year… maybe - but definitely not now."

Kosher-style is, of course, treif, a harsh accusation. Is it fair for me to call all those good Jews treif, when they may be very pious? Yes, there is one thing that makes American Jewry totally treif, and it's not only that they don't make Aliyah - rather it's the fact that AMERICAN JEWRY CAUSES YERIDA!

Have you ever wondered why Israelis who make Yerida almost invariably move to the States? The US is of course a great place to live, but it is American Jewry which gives secular Israeli's the legitimization to move there. An Israeli who is fed up with Israel's challenges needs only look to his Orthodox Jewish-American "brother" and ask himself: "Am I frumer than he is? He goes to Shul, he eats Kosher, he lives a Jewish life. So what do I need this Israel for, for ideology? Not. I'm not more idealogical then he is. Let me move to the US where I won't have to send my kids to the army and I'll get to live the good life - Kosher-Style!"

We all know that American Jewry transgresses a sin of omission in not making Aliyah. But the real truth is that American Jewry can be faulted for a sin of greater severity: taking Jews away from the Holy Land. Yerida, going down, choosing the exile. Choosing the Exile.

This sin can be overcome in an instant; this mitzva is beckoning at every moment.