A Teenagers View on the Asifa ~ By Gavriel Guttman

Gavriel , 3-L

Preface by: Dovid Teitelbaum

Some people think I blog because I’m seeking praise and attention; they obviously don't know me. Others make accusations that I have a personal interest or agenda, I don’t. I started blogging for one reason only- our youth.

I began writing my first blog after a girl told me her story. Her teacher was giving over her views on how the Internet is the yeitzer horo. She raised her hand to challenge this assumption and asked about all the torah websites one can view online. I think we can all agree that that was a legitimate question. But the teachers response was awful. If the teacher would have told her she was wrong, I wouldn't have cared that much. If she would have thrown her out of class for asking the question I wouldn't have started to blog. But this teacher did the worse thing possible. She gave the entire class an assignment because of her question. Whether she meant it or not, she trained those girls to never ask again. Instead she and the rest of the class will keep all their questions inside and when they graduate from school they will throw everything they learned in the garbage.


When someone asked me if I will go the the Asifa, I responded, sure, but only if we put teenagers on the dais as well. Adults should make the rules but only after we listen to what the children have to say. Instead we stifle their opinions and we don't allow them to ask questions. I started a Facebook group where teenagers can express how they feel. I hope for it to be a place where kids can be free to ask questions and not feel intimidated about it. Below is the first of many articles that I hope to post. It was written by one of my campers. A camper who won a middos award this past summer for his excellent character traits. He is 16 years old and lives in Woodmere, NY. He takes a much more positive view on the asifa than I would have, but that isn't the point. It comes from his heart and that's all that matters. We must listen to our teenagers because they will be the future parents, rabbayim and even our future leaders. Its takes a lot of courage these days to speak up and say how you truly feel, especially for a teen. Thank you Gavriel for taking the time and writing for us!

A Teenagers View on the AsifaGuest post: By: Gavriel Guttman

Taking the F train to Mets-Willets Point on Sunday, May 20, was an amazing experience. The subway car was jammed packed with all types of Jews; Chasidish, Yeshivish-Litvish, Modern Orthodox, and of course my friends and I, who are somewhere in between. I’m not a big fan of categorizing people as I believe in the old adage “don’t judge a book by its cover” and that each person is internally different from the next, but nevertheless I see it befitting to at least say the group of people on the train certainly did not conform to one dress code. It was truly an amazing sight. Everybody was happy and casual conversation was taking place amongst everyone on the train. A few people were giving out extra tickets to those that lost theirs or did not purchase one in the first place. Even the non-Jews on the train seemed to sense that there was something exciting about to take place. This “something exciting”, which all of us Jews on that train were attending, was the Internet Asifa at CitiField. My friends and I were not attending the main Asifa rather we had tickets to Arthur Ashe Stadium which is where the people who did not manage to obtain tickets to the sold out Citifield event were going to watch from a live hookup. They even had a few speakers that were scheduled to speak from Arthur Ashe stadium. Needless to say, everyone was excited. I personally had been reluctant to attend the event but after some coercing finally decided to make the trip and participate. As the train pulled into the station and we all hurriedly got off, I couldn’t help but feel excited that so many Jews were gathering together at one time, regardless of the reason. Then, as we walked onto the boardwalk that connects Citfield with Arthur Ashe Stadium, I saw a scene that I will never forget.

Thousands of Jews, dressed mostly in black and white, were crowding to enter both stadiums. There were buses pulling in, whole Yeshivas lining up, and those (like me) who had opted with taking public transportation. It was unbelievable. I had never seen so many Jews at one time before. We were all happy and eagerly walking toward the stadiums and everything was going great. We then arrived at the Stadium, where, after a brief wait and thorough security check, we finally made it inside. Little goodie bags that contained a Danish, bottled water, a cup, and a Tefilah card were handed out and the view from our seats was phenomenal. There were other kids from my Yeshiva who had already arrived at the event and we all greeted each other happily, after which we davened a nicely paced unified Mincha. And then the Asifa began.

The two English speeches that I heard that night were very inspiring and were delivered with amazing expertise. Rabbi Wachsman was especially motivational with the amount of emotion he put into his drasha. The Yiddish speeches did not have much of an impact on me and from the little I understood and the parts that I had translated, these speakers were more opposed to Internet as a concept while Rabbi Wachsman seemed to be saying that it is only bad when used wrongly.

What bothered me was that I had heard nothing about a new approach and innovations for better kosher internet usage. The advertisements had been using slogans like “A Huge Crisis Demands a Huge Solution” and “We can’t live with it and we can’t live without it” and many of us had attended the Asifa expecting the advertised solution. Unfortunately, the only solutions given were filters and complete avoidance of the Internet, with filters being pretty effective but old news and complete avoidance being impractical.

The Asifa was very successful if looked at as a gathering of Jews to hear Mussar, but in terms of guidance and new plans for advancement I believe it was a failure. But maybe I misunderstood the ads and all the hype; maybe the Asifa was meant all along to be a Mussar gathering. But if that is the case, then maybe the money should been spent on providing free filters for those who need it. Who knows? I still think the event was amazing and that everyone should have attended; it was truly an unforgettable experience. I don’t understand why there are those who are “anti-Asifa”. What is there to be against? I see where one can disagree with how the money should be spent but the internet is indeed a precarious issue and hearing mussar and divrei chizuk on the topic certainly Is a nice thing. The implications I got from the Yiddish Droshos upset me a little but not enough to ruin the night and I went home thinking about the amazing mussar shmoozen that I had just heard.

Sure, there probably was a bit too much publicity for a simple gathering for droshos and maybe there should have been more English, but is that enough reason to be against such an historical gathering of our people? I think not. But then again, I am just a lowly teenager and what do I know about the Internet?

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