Pure Oil - Part II (2005)
My three year-old daughter goes to a Chabad nursery school with a little girl named "Michal". Michal's mother is Jewish and her father is a devout Irish Catholic. Fortunately, Michal has a caring Jewish grandmother who sucessfully convinced the Irish Catholic father to send Michal to the Chabad nursery school by explaining that it was considerably cheaper than other nursery schools in the area.
Although Michal attends a Chabad nursery school, she returns home to a house full of Christmas decorations and is fed ham and cheese sandwiches by her parents. One day as Michal got ready to leave school, she turned to her teacher and said, "My daddy is going to pick me up now and take me to go sit on Santa's lap."
Michal's story, like the story of Binyomin, makes me want to scream. Although the parents may have the best intentions, they are raising their children in a manner that will ultimately obscure the essence of the child's being.
With Chanukah approaching, may Hashem have rachmonus on children like Michal and Binyomin and help them so they will not be lost in the great American melting pot.
6 Comments:
It does hurt the heart. A difficult, sad situation. They say a family only goes three generations before someone does teshuva and returns to the fold, but the generations have to be Jewish for that to happen...
Yes. It makes me think about the fact that in the golus of Mitzrayim only 1/5 of the Jewish people were redeemed.
Mirty: Indeed. One of the best things about Chabad is that they embrace Jews like little Michal.
Why two people who practice totally different religions would marry is beyond me, but I take religion seriously and many people don't. The thing is these situations can be super complicated. What if one or both of them really started to take his/her religion seriously AFTER they got married. Should they divorce? This really happens and is a serious dilema. Would a divorce be more harmful to the child than 'practicing' two religions? (I know, I shudder at the thought.)
Alice: You raise some excellent points.
Of course the child could have parents who are divorced and still be caught between two faiths, which would be even worse.
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