Where’s the Follow-up?

It is now more than a half century since the modern teshuvah movement was ignited with Israel’s miraculous victory in the Six Day War. As a community, we have invested tremendous resources in bringing Jews to a life of Torah and mitzvos. In Israel (upon which I will be focusing) it is estimated that baalei teshuvah and their offspring now number 250,000.

Unfortunately, there has been less success in integrating those baalei teshuvah into the larger chareidi community. Statistically children of baalei teshuvah constitute a disproportionate share of the drop-outs from Orthodox life.

Chareidim, along with the Arab population, are the poorest communities in Israel, and among chareidim, the baalei teshuvah tend to be the poorest of the poor. About 75% of chareidi families own their own homes or apartments. Among baalei teshuvah, the number is about 30%.

Successful integration of baalei teshuvah lags behind kiruv for numerous reasons. For one thing, it is much easier to attract funding for front-line kiruv. Funders are attracted by the instant gratification of the first steps into religious observance and the quantifiable measures of success — e.g., the number who become shomer Shabbos.