Tuesday, June 17, 2014

No longer Off the Derech.

     I am always fascinated when I read about the OTD community as being a community. When do they stop calling themselves OTD and just consider themselves non-religious Jews ? Is it when they stop their internal dialogue and just fade in with  the rest of the less religious Jews? It is true that they have issues that others who grew up less observant do not have when they fade in with the rest of the world, but somehow by calling themselves OTD they are not really assimilated Jews they are still just OTD .  The derech is still in sight. Do they really want to go off the derech or do they want being off the derech to be their identity? Sometimes I really wonder.
   


3 comments:

tesyaa said...

I'm sure some of them wish they could obliterate their past and leave their OTD-ness behind, but life doesn't work that way. As a community, they have a group of people who understand where they're coming from. Think back to your post about hypothetically finding out you're not Jewish. Do you really think you could go live a life as if you had NEVER been Jewish?

Others might use the OTD designation because they still maintain significant ties to the Orthodox community, through their families and friends. Retaining those ties forces them to confront their OTD status over and over again.

Wondering Minds said...

It sounds to me that by keeping the title, they just want attention.

Mighty Garnel Ironheart said...

They stop being OTD's when BT's stop being BT's