By: Rabbi Elly Merenstein  -Anti-hypocrisy charged -craving authentic connection.  – A penchant for all matters deep and meaningful.  The above description can aptly express the teens of all stripes and our day and age.  These are our kids, and we love them. They are the ones pushing us to be honest and to keep our growth at maximum capacity. We do get constant paradigm shifts as they continue reminding us of what it is that we tend to forget. And that is just how how deep, piercingly aware, and just how sensitive they are.  The  extensive range of their various feelings they so eloquently express and is so easily validated by an unprecedented generation of adults who, to our credit, have dug deep to navigate a world of both facts and of feelings we simply never knew existed.  While so much has changed, and we are constantly [Hashem] provided with many life-changing resources, the air is thick with genuine excitement and boundless hope. You see, I believe that we are merely scratching the surface, and I sincerely feel that we are just on the brink of a bright new era. The best is undoubtedly yet to come.  הִנֵּה אָנֹכִי שֹׁלֵחַ לָכֶם, אֵת אֵלִיָּהו הַנָּבִיא–לִפְנֵ יום , הַגָּדוֹל, וְהַנּוֹרָא. וְהֵשִׁיב לֵב-אָבוֹת עַל-בָּנִים, וְלֵב בָּנִים עַל-אֲבוֹתָם. But something irks , niggles and lurks. At this point- Something still seems so off the mark. What appears so fascinating is also quite scary. While the kids do exhibit such depth and sensitivity, there is much to consider and much we must probe regarding their  at times -shocking -fleeting nature of giving in and so quickly giving up. The vast forums and endless growth /learning opportunities are staggering. Sharing , forwarding are chosen tools for myriads of Yeshiva/Chessed fundraisers, and a dazzling array of quickly available learning offers.  Musically set background chizuk clips provides so much meaning and a non stop opportunity to carry hope. A means so unprecedented and to have likely impacted our national quest for Kvod Malchus by a million fold.  We seem to have everything, and yet something is missing.  What is missing?  -Thinking Life Is Forever- ” It is the youth who are drunk with youth.” Kids of all ages and in every generation are in the default mode that life is forever or at least is theirs to enjoy for few million years.   A timeless problem that kids have struggled with throughout the ages but must certainly be more blinding in good old USA.  When living in Eretz Yisrael, I noticed that the bitter reality of nearly war and skirmish every few years and with little rhyme or reason creates by default, a “country culture,” if you will. In Eretz Yisrael, there is hardly a native family that takes life, living daily, and being with family in peaceful times for granted in the slightest.  How many families have needed to dig deep into savings of the high dosage Emunah needed to bury many of their children,  fathers, mothers, brothers, sisters, and cousins?  Kids in America are wont to think that life is a right and not so much a gift.  -Mesiras Nefesh -There seems to be a strange dichotomy. There is a thirst to grow, and opportunities are being taken seriously. Yet, the kids cannot handle the idea of […]

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