Shtuss
Recently, an adolescent said to me that he didn't like a certain rabbi's teaching. In talking with him I realized that it wasn't an issue with the rabbi, who is savvy and beyond reproach. When I asked what it was the young man replied that the rabbi is "just part of the same shtuss - silliness." What fascinates me is that this guy is a rebel. He is from a fine traditional home. He's fresh out of college. Smokes. Doesn't wear his kippah. Wants to be part of another world. And yet he rejects rabbi's teachings as shtuss, which is the same way many of them would reject what he's embracing.
posted by rabbi neil fleischmann @ 1:18 PM
1 Comments:
One man's shtuss is another man's truth. That's the emes. People go through phases, and sometimes need to experiment with different lifestyles or approaches to modern life. If he's unable to articulate what is so "shtussy" about the rabbi's comments, then he's probably just working on self-definition. Which is part of adolesence (although "just out of college" sounds like adulthood, not adolescence, but I won't quibble over semantics).
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