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I am plenty educated. I have listened to their speeches and read their articles, and I know people who have used their services. Fact: if you take a look at their website, you will see they focus exclusively on helping people with issues that are not at all in conflict with Torah. They offer assistance with education, careers, unique needs for families, as well as opportunities for socializing. NOWHERE do they say: “we will help you be mechallel shabbos, or teach you how to eat treif.” NOWHERE do they say: “stop being religious.” They offer assistance for people who have felt that the charedi world is no longer for them, and now need to figure out how to survive in the world.
I have no doubt there are some individuals there who have deep-seated pain, which is expressed with anger toward their former communities. But that shouldn’t be an excuse to tarnish the organization as a whole. And we might also find a little compassion for those individuals (even the leaders) who come from our world but must’ve felt so much pain that they gave up families, friends, and communities in trying to find happiness. That’s not a thing to take lightly.
This will be my last comment on this subject. May Hashem help us in these trying times to only judge and be judged favorably. ?????? ?’ ?????? ???? ???? ?????.
Is there any evidence anywhere that Footsteps “pull others away from Torah”? I haven’t seen that. According to what I know, they do no such thing. In fact, from what I heard, several of their staff members are religious (MO). If we’re going to be maligning other Jews, we should have the evidence to back it up. Anything else is beyond disgraceful and a tremendous chillul hashem.
The leaders are also yidden, and as far as I know, they are simply providing resources to people who would otherwise struggle with basic needs. I also happen to know that several prominent frum organizations and individuals are supportive of their work. I don’t believe they are the evil reshoiim they are made out to be. It is really very disheartening to see some of the attitudes here, especially in a week like this one, when we should be especially avoiding sinas chinam against other Jews, even if they are unfortunately not on our level in yiddishkeit.
P.S. I don’t know why my comment was edited with a mod note tacked on. I am new here, so maybe this is standard, but it strikes me as very authoritarian by whoever is running this site. Who’s the rav approving what goes on here?
I can’t believe what I’m seeing here. How can we call fellow yidden ??? ???? If they chose not to be shomrei Torah Umitzvos, that’s terrible and unfortunate, but who are we to judge? Is this the ???? ????? our community is famous for? I think not. Better we should try to be understanding of people who have been through a lot of pain. Not only are they still human beings, they are still our brothers and sisters, regardless how far they have fallen. I wish I could invite all the Footsteps people to my Shabbos table, and simply show them love, nothing more. That’s what our frum world should be doing more of. Just my opinion.
The comments are toward the leaders in the organization who are helping the members leave Torah behind, not the people who are suffering.