I once sat at the Shabbos table of a very wealthy man who I'm thankful to say I got to know as a generous man, as well. It was a few years ago already, but during that meal he shared with me a piece of information about himself that has been on my mind ever since. He told me about his admiration for the industrialism of the Chinese and their ability to erect skyscrapers in a fraction of the time it takes other countries to do so. He is a man who funds kiruv projects around the world and his signal was clear; he wants the same industrialism when it comes to building Torah.
Let's compare this to perhaps the first kiruv project of all time, the construction of Noach's ark. During the days of Noach the inhabitants of the world were immoral in virtually every facet of humanity. Hashem employed Noach to build an ark that would save him from the flood that was destined to cleanse the earth of the filth of mankind. On that section of the Torah, Rashi asks a piercing question: "There are many means through which Hashem can bring about salvation, why then did He bother Noach with this construction?" Rashi answers, "So the people of his generation should see him engaged in building the ark for 120 years and ask him: "Why are you doing this?" Did you catch that?! 120 years! For what? Rashi concludes: "[Noach would tell them] Hashem is ready to flood the world! Maybe they would repent" (Rashi; Bereishis; 6,14). Productivity is important, nobody could argue that, but seemingly Hashem wasn't concerned about time.
Millions upon millions of dollars are put into kiruv each year. And the money is often accompanied by stiff demands from the donor. It's their hard earned money and they have every right to demand results, but as someone who is loosely affiliated with the industry I feel the need to ask, are the pressures of building skyscrapers overnight taking away from creating formative relationships with people coming through the door? Has all the money turned kiruv into a numbers game? And with all the statistics being thrown around in the kiruv world does it not make you wonder if we're focusing too much on quantity and not enough on quality?
A Rebbe of mine began his teaching "career" at a yeshiva known as a pioneer in the kiruv industry. He once shared with us how he was approached by the Rosh Yeshiva who asked him: "Nue, have you made your students into Talmidei Chachamim (Torah scholars) yet?" He responded "Talmidei Chachamim are like fine wine, they take time." His Rosh Yeshiva asserted "But today they have special chemicals and systems that speed up the process." "True," my Rebbe conceded, "but they never taste the same." There's a noticeable difference between quantity and quality. Authentic kiruv is connecting Jews to Hashem and His Torah and that takes time.
The industry recognizes that the Jewish people are in a state of emergency. There is a real need to save Jews and "safety nets" are being put out to catch them. But how are we measuring our success? Should kiruv institutions be viewed as conveyor belts? How many are "passing through?" One of the biggest lessons I've learned through my little experience is how much relationships matter in bringing out the best in people and I'm beginning to wonder if in our race against the clock the relationships are being sacrificed, or at least compromised.
Are there other ways to measure productivity?
As a baal teshuva, I agree with the comments made in this article. I started keeping shabbos as a teenager and at this stage in my life, having already graduated a bit over two years ago from a bais yaakov high school, I have encountered at various points in my journey certain people affiliated with certain kiruv organizations that have turned off a number of people. Some of the people they turned off were people who were experiencing shabbos for the first time. Luckily, when I had my short encounters with these kiruv organizations, I already was solidly frum and committed to keeping shabbos so I just know not to be near them. The thing though is that I feel that the kiruv world should put a stronger emphasis on encouraging genuine interest, warmth and passion for Yiddishkeit. There are many paths that an Orthodox Jewish person can take and its important to recognize that not everyone is always on the same page after X shabbosim and Y shiurim. If you are not sabbath observant and are genuinely interested in making that lifestyle change, it is going to take a significant amount of time to make such a drastic lifestyle change in a healthy manner. And it also impacts many facets of life, not just the baal teshuva themselves.
Its gonna sound like Zionism (Chas v'Shalom !!) but a wise statement was once made that of the 5 million assimilated Jews living in America, its only possible to bring back a handful especially in todays technology world. In Eretz Yisroel, the 5 million unaffiliated Jews are at least marrying Yidden (over 99%) and living a life of Jewish Culture with high hopes of them or at least their children returning to Yiddishkeit completely. Its about time we focus all of our energy into thee most sustainable and efficient kiruv "organization" in the world: Eretz Yisroel !!!
Tough question.
Setting tangible goals for kiruv is a challenge. I am working on a new website designed to interest people of all backgrounds to connect to the Torah, and hopefully pursue it. It will be possible to measure the number of newsletter sign ups, facebook likes, and such, but will it be possible to measure quality? Probably not.
Thanks for the article.
Rav Yisrael Salanter, z"l, taught that one blesses on a small whole challah before blessing on a large incomplete challah, thus quality is preferable to quantity. There are other proofs. Many proofs. There is also the reality of those who make tsheuvah and then later fall away. The Torah is a remedy for the Jewish soul when the soul is connected to it strongly. If the deeper parts of the person are connected to the Torah and to Hashem, Yisborach he will flourish and contribute untold to the improvement of his and of the world's lot. But if he is connected only superficially, not only is he prone to fall away, also his contribution is miminal...of course every small connection is also good but unless the connections are built in a way that will lead to a deeper and deeper commitment, there is also danger the the Torah will be a סמ מוות and not a סם חיים, Heaven forbid.
I would think that Kiruv organizations and schools would conduct studies every five years to tabulate results. This involves some work - and expense - but would be more more scientific than anecdotal stories. The kiruv stories make for good inspiration, but the full results need to be shared in detailed manner.