(idea submitted and written by E.)
There comes a time in every Jewish Young Adult’s life in which science ultimately triumphs over religion. Usually this occurs about two years after a JYA makes a commitment to Judaism at a Bar/Bat Mitzvah. Around this time JYAs start to experience the outside world, and spread their wings beyond the coddling of their Jewish Elders. They finally start thinking about what the Torah actually says and implies, only to find that some of the content seems dubious.
JYAs approach this denial in various forms. Some decide they will keep their denial to themselves. Other, bolder JYAs, will openly discuss their feelings of confusion from years of brainwashing. Still others take a more subtle approach. For example, look at the case of JYA “Ari”, from Atlanta. He grew up in an conservadox home, and his way of rebelling against the dark forces of his religious parents was to temporarily declare atheism. Rather than openly tell his parents, he waited for his mother to edit his college essay on Nietzsche, in which he discussed his newfound religious beliefs and his mother discovered an integral part of her son’s angst-ridden college identity.
No matter how deep one’s denial goes, most JYAs will ultimately come to the conclusion that although they do not believe in all of the Torah’s stories (because they are scientifically impossible), they still consider themselves a “cultural Jew” because they are characterized by other things aforementioned in this blog. Ultimately, when the JYA reaches adulthood and becomes less rebellious, they will subject their children to the same boring Sunday Schools, Jewish private schools, or youth groups, that they were forced to attend as a child. And thus the circle of rebelling against doctrine will begin again.
