Someone in her forties said: When we were growing up, the Holocaust was very much a part of our lives. We were children of survivors and survivors lived all around us. My children have no particular interest or involvement in the Holocaust.
We were also very aware of the plight of Soviet Jewry. We read stories about life behind the Iron Curtain in Olomeinu and sang songs like JEP's "Dear Nikolai" and "Let My People Go." Then Russian Jewry began to come out of Russia and they were all around us. We saw them babysitting, taking ESL classes and we invited them for Pesach.
The person I quoted earlier bemoans the lack of idealism in her children. Their concerns and involvement include doing well in school, getting married, having a family, and paying the bills.
That's not to say there is no idealism in our youth, but it is not within her children's world. It gave me pause for thought.
The generation that is now raising children is less idealistic than the previous generation. I don't see most of these people reaching out to those around them like the previous generation did. They are very self involved.
ReplyDeleteAnd yet, I read of dozens and dozens of gemachs, the likes of which never existed before (referring not to money-lending gemachs but all sorts of chasadim).
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