We often rush to our our old solutions, oblivious to the fact that our problems are the new ones.
-Rabbi Shraga Silverstein (A Candle by Day)
Modern Uberdox
“I write not because I have the strength to write, but because I do not have the strength to remain silent.” -Rav Avraham Yitzchok Kook zt’l
Are the new solutions?
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I thought so, too. At first.
I actually spent about 20 minutes of “meditation”/hisbodedus thinking about this. I came up with two ideas.
A) We create our own problems by our old solutions. The best example I came up with is the parents who live an average non-inspirational frum live of halachicly getting by. They send there “by rote orthodox” child away for their “year in Israel” to get inspired before gooing to college. The kid comes back “frummed out” and causes friction at home because he “flipped out”. The parents’ solution
me the problem. The new solution is to be more inspired as parents and be open to growth.
B) We try to solve new problems with old solutions, not realizing/accepting that the new problems demand new solutions. Case in point: Half-Shabbos. I’ve posted before about my view of this, but the fact that kids/adults are willing to openly text in public on Shabbos is a new showing of brazenness. We can’t deal with this the same way we would approach someone at a Discovery seminar or the “typical” at-risk teen.
I am leaning towards B.