Zechor yemos olam, binu shnos dor vador

Teacher commenting to Sue Fishkoff gets her hands on Footsteps:

Speaking as a teacher in the [Crown Heights] system I would say the problem is this: we do not present enough options for kids. Shlichus is the Lubavitch version of Kollel: if you don't do it, you're a failure. This is not realistic, nor is it in keeping with what is emes. Understanding and more importantly accepting that there are many ways to be a frum erlich yid (and Lubavitcher, if one wishes) is the way to keep our kids 'in'. We don't live in the same world as yesterday, we need to give our kids the right tools and weapons to defend themselves against the outside world -- and that means assessing those dangers and responding appropriately. There are too few models shown (especially to boys) of what a respected figure looks like. There are plenty of businessmen, etc., in chassidus' history. Not everyone is going to be a rebbe or shliach, and making that the only truly acceptable choice is going to cause us to lose our future, chas v'shalom. Telling a bright kid who is not a learner "become a car mechanic" is not right, in my opinion.

In hashkafa classes I tell those who are struggling -- find your chelek in Torah! Some ask "how about non-frum Lubavitchers?" I always ask: if a chosid is someone who goes lifnim m'shuras hadin, how can someone not keep the din and still go lifnim? The fact that many teens believe in the idea that one can be Lubavitch and not frum means that we are doing something wrong somewhere.

It was never easy to remain frum, there have always been challenges. The heimishe life in the shtetl never existed in the fantasy-like image of 'everyone was frum...' Zechor yemos olam, binu shnos dor vador...