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Baal teshuva (Hebrew: בעל תשובה; for a woman: בעלת תשובה, baalat teshuva; plural: בעלי תשובה, baalei teshuva) is a Hebrew term referring to a person who has repented. Baal teshuva can be translated idiomatically as "one who has done repentance." The term has historically referred to a Jew who had transgressed the Halakha ("Jewish law") and completed a process of introspection and "returned" to the straight path. Also, Jews who adopt Orthodoxy later in life are known "baalei teshuva" or "chozer b'teshuva" (חוזר בתשובה, more common in Israel).
Origins as a movement
Appearing in the 1960s, a growing number of young Jews who had previously been raised in non-religious homes in the United States started to develop a strong interest in becoming a part of observant Judaism; many of these people, in contrast to sociological expectations, became attracted to observant Judaism within Orthodoxy.
This trend was partly related to the prevailing anti-establishment atmosphere of the 1960s, and also to a great rise in Jewish pride in the wake of Israel's victory in 1967's Six-Day War. Although the effects of the Holocaust and the sway of the counterculture movement led many to abandon their religious upbringing, others were willing to experiment with alternate 'liberated' life-styles, and it was intriguing to explore Sabbath observance, intensive prayer, and deeper Torah and Talmud study. A great many of these people adopted a fully Orthodox Jewish way of life, and although some eventually dropped out entirely or found their path within Conservative Judaism, others remained.
Roots for this movement can also be seen in some pre-1960's organizations whose goals were not oriented towards attracting the non-observant to observance, but were more concerned with simply stemming the trend away from observance. These included the establishment of Young Israel in 1912, the rise of Chabad-Lubavitch in the 1940s, and youth organizations like the National Conference of Synagogue Youth (NCSY) and Yeshiva University's Torah Leadership Seminar in the 1950s.
In the former Soviet Union
This baal teshuva movement also appeared in the former Soviet Union, which at that time had almost completely secularized its Jewish population. The rise of Jewish pride came in response to the growth of the State of Israel, in reaction to the USSR's pro-Arab and anti-Zionist policies, and in reaction to the USSR's anti-Semitism. The return-to-Judaism movement was a spontaneous movement from the ground up; it came as a great surprise to the Soviet authorities, and even to the Jewish community outside the USSR. Young leaders included Yosef Mendelevich, Eliyahu Essas, Herman Branover, and Yitzchok Kogan, who all later moved to Israel and are now actively teaching other Russian emigres in Israel, aside from Kogan, who leads a community in Moscow.
Rabbi Yosef Yitzchok Schneersohn, the 6th Lubavitcher Rebbe, had a core of dedicated Hasidim who maintained underground yeshivos and mikvaos, and provided shechitah and circumcision services. They served as the rabbis who jump-started the teshuvah movement and had these services in place so that the new baalei teshuva had whom to turn to for their religious questions and needs.
The Israeli victory of the Six Day War in 1967 ignited the pride of Jews in the Soviet Union, particularly in Russia. Suddenly there were hundreds of thousands of Jews wanting to go to Israel, although they dared not express their desire too openly. Several thousand applied for exit visas to Israel and were instantly ostracised by government organs including the KGB. Many hundreds became refuseniks (known as otkazniks in Russian), willing to suffer jail time to demonstrate their new-found longing for Zion. In the middle of this there arose a new interest in learning about and practicing Judaism, an urge that the Communist government had long attempted to stamp out.
Many Russian Jews began to study any Jewish texts they could lay their hands on. Foreign rabbis came on visits in order to teach how to learn Torah and how to observe Jewish law. Jewish ritual objects, such as tefillin, mezuzot, siddurim, and even matzah, were also smuggled into Russia. Now there is a rich resource of Russian religious texts that flourishes and caters to Russian Jews living in Russia, America, and Israel.
In Israel
During this time there was a movement among secular Israeli Jews that was essentially a search for spirituality. At the time, most Israeli parents were secular Zionists. While some Jews were hostile to traditional Judaism, a spiritual quest in the 1960s and 1970s caused some Israelis to seek answers in Jewish tradition.
In Israel, schools have flourished for the intensive study of Torah especially designed for the newly religious students who wanted to devote time to intensive study of classical texts with the ancient rabbinic commentaries. These schools opened in the early 1970s, mainly based in Jerusalem. Two significant institutions have been the Aish HaTorah Yeshiva headed by Rabbi Noach Weinberg, and the Ohr Somayach Yeshiva headed by Rabbi Nota Schiller. Both of these rabbis had degrees from American universities and were able to speak to the modern mind-set.
Chabad, with its dozens of Chabad houses throughout Israel, and yeshiva programs for Israelis, Russians, French, and Americans, reach out to thousands. Followers of Chabad can be seen attending to tefillin booths at the Western Wall and Ben Gurion International Airport as well as other public places, and distribute shabbat candles on Fridays. There are also Chabad houses in almost every location that Jews might be located, whether as permanent residents, on business, or tourists.
See also
External links
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- Full-time baal teshuva yeshivas
- Yeshivat Bat Ayin, Gush Ezion, Israel
- Mayanot Institute of Jewish Studies, Jerusalem, Israel
- Machon Meir Jerusalem, Israel
- Yeshiva Aish HaTorah, Jerusalem, Israel
- Yeshiva Hadar HaTorah of Lubavitch, Brooklyn, New York
- Yeshiva Tiferes Bachurim Rabbinical College of America, Morristown, NJ
- Ohr Tmimim Kfar Chabad, Israel
- Yeshiva Ohr Somayach of Monsey, Upstate New York
- Yeshiva Kol Yaakov of Monsey, Upstate New York
- Yeshiva Shor Yoshuv Far Rockaway, New York
- Ohr Somayach Jerusalem, Jerusalem, Israel
- Yeshivat Darche Noam Jerusalem, Israel
- Yeshivat Hamivtar-Orot Lev (Ohr Torah Stone), Efrat, Israel
- James Striar School of General Jewish Studies of Yeshiva University, New York City.
- Lev Yisrael, Ramat Beit Shemesh, Israel
- Marbeh Torah Bnei Brak, Israel (yeshivish-chareidi)
- Diaspora Yeshiva Jerusalem, Israel
- Machon Yaakov YeshivaHar Nof, Jerusalem, Israel
- Machon Shlomo YeshivaHar Nof, Jerusalem, Israel
- Part-time yeshivas