By the way, how many of you who read the article were offended by it, and how many of you who read it pitied her?
I pitied her. I felt sorry for her. She obviously had a rough life, and from the profile she presents, she was almost certainly molested at some point. she was given the opportunity to live a meaningful life–the life of a frum jew (lets leave chassidus out of this) and she unfortunately never saw the positive side of judaism. So she went off the derech.
Everyone here blasting her, and getting defensive, knows someone like her. What’s unfortunate is not the fact that she isn’t frum, but the fact that her childhood was awful. Her lack of religion would be more tragic if she ever had a good reason to be religious, but she didn’t. She obviously never understood or saw the beauty in a shabbos, the jubilation of a purim, the peace of a pesach, or the togetherness of a succos. She must never have heard the beauty of zemiros, felt that satisfaction in hearing a good vertel, or been enraptured by a very good teacher.
I say this because I work with people like this every day; I AM someone like her. I know what it feels like when life stinks and you feel like you’re living a lie. Were it not for one rebbi I had, I’m not sure I’d be frum today. And none of you would be able to judge me because none of you would understand what that feels like. But I do understand her, and I understand that I could never be angry at her or with what she says or does. I can only love her as a fellow jew and hope that one day she DOES see the beauty in judaism, and that one day she DOES decide to rejoin our fold.