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March 2005

SEARCHING FOR A NEW BIRTH
By Rabbi Aaron Kriegel

Our culture is failing. We have lost all semblances of morality and truth, and that sad fact is evident in all that we say and in all that we do. In the America of another time, people who committed criminal acts and were caught never claimed to be not guilty. In the America of today, even if a crime is caught on videotape, the perpetrator almost always will deny his guilt. There is always a reason why he or she will not accept responsibility for his actions. There is always a reason why somebody or something else is guilty. Poverty, as if it were a new invention, is often the reason for murder. Of course if one is wealthy the reason can be an inability to handle wealth. Sometimes people kill because they take drugs, and sometimes because they are alcoholics. Sometimes they act violently because their parents abused them, or they are the product of spousal abuse. In modern America people are never responsible for the deeds that they do.

People are never responsible for the words that they say. Once we understood that four letter words were ‘curse’ words. That was in the old America. In the new America there are no curse words, only rough language. In the new America parents speak that rough language in front of their children, and children speak that rough language in front of their parents. Language itself, once a bastion of values, is testimony that we have no values of worth left in society.

You do not need to listen to the patter of people to learn that America has lost its values. Just turn on the television set. All of the reality shows only prove that all America is concerned with is facing danger. All America cares about is risk and the personal shame that failed risk brings. Why there is even a new reality show that sells itself on the ability of people to make a big heist—on the ability of people to steal. Other reality shows display our ability to kill and eat the strangest of animals for the fun of it. We have lost any sense of the worth of life or the environment in those shows. They are as unredemptive as pornography.

Even the purpose of schools is not to teach the great ideas, but to supply ‘A’s’ so that students can get good jobs. Parents never call up complaining that their children are learning nothing in class. They are only concerned that whatever the child is doing in class, he only gets an ‘A.’ And the purpose of education is to prepare children for the adult world where they can make much money—even if they do not add anything worthwhile to society. Some have created private schools to protect their children from the ‘bad elements’ of society, never realizing that by their choices the parents are creating the next ‘bad elements’ in society.

For many even the purpose of religion is but to feel good. Services are for singing—not prayer. The art of prayer and of exploring the interior life is a forgotten art. The modern synagogue and church does not emphasize deeds. Religion is only as important as the picture it presents to others who do not attend our particular house of worship. All that matters is the show. The only knowledge that is important is that of privilege.

Yet, until we learn to look deep within ourselves to uncover the worth of life, life will remain empty and valueless. Reality shows will bump the reality of existence. Rough language will replace Shakespeare. Crime will remain an alternative way of saying ‘The devil made me do it.’ People will continue to refuse responsibility for the deeds that they do.

We are not the first people who have lost our way, and we shall not be the last who will be lost. Life itself can always be defined as finding one’s way. However, usually we have the opportunity to follow the paths that have been cleared by those who came before us. That is a luxury lost to a generation that thinks that the past has nothing to say.

When realize that life is precious and becomes more precious by the choices for values and culture that we make; when we understand that words have meaning and there is right and wrong; when we recognize that the most important moments are hidden from the camera, then we shall find the ruins of the past in the lives we lead today, and we shall have a rebirth of life.