With the conclusion of both the annual Agudah convention and the Chabad lubavitch kinnus hashluchim that took place over thanksgiving weekend, It seems both are headed in the opposite direction. What used to be the focal point in the frum yeshiva and baal habatish circles the Agudah convention has somewhat become just another event among many taking place throughout the year. It used to be the event of the year covered by all newspapers an event not to be missed. It was followed by all, Thousands flocked to the motzei shabbos keynote session in the Catskills , the Rye town Hilton and recently in new jersey. The convention though is still the same in regards to the gedolim in attendence the rabbanim and community leaders and activists. However it has lost its luster as the event of the year.
On the flip side the kinus hashluchim over the last few years is getting bigger and much more publicity. Credit in large part to social media and online publicity . It got coverage even among so called litvish yeshiva websites that are more in line with Agudah than Chabad. In fact this weeks AMI magazine ( while still establishing its identity which covers a broad audience from modern orthhodoxy to chasidim) featured a front cover story on the shluchim.
Not to minimize the need for agudah and the work they do on behalf of the Klal. The yeshiva community has grown tremendously and many of the newer generation did not grow up with the agudah as the previous generation did. Where pirchei, tzeirei and camp agudah were an active part of life. The reliance is not what it used to be. The yeshiva world today has a system of its own too. what used to be at the time The jewish Observer has now been taken over by many weekly newspaper and magazines that are not Agudah affiliated thus people are not reading only about the Agudah news as used to be. Or maybe the Convention is not what it once was.
The convention has been taken over by people with Agendas. what used to be an enjoyable evening with uplifting derashos from the gedolim has now become a platform for anyone with an issue to bring it to the public.
ReplyDeleteOr maybe the Agudah is simply less relevant nowadays. People are fed up with the "Daas Torah" baloney.
ReplyDelete1. Chabad understands that this generation needs warmth and love. Not fire and brimstone.
ReplyDelete2. Agudah is an 'old-man's club' and does NOT care about the younger generation. This ensures that within 10 years, they will be completely irrelevant.
Anon 7:27
ReplyDeleteThe Agudah has recently reached out to the younger generation they have a young leadership association so yeah uts an olds mans club but there are new younger members getting involved.
I think the Agudah has lost many would-be members (sounds like they realize this and are trying to rectify it).
ReplyDeleteAs a teenager in the 1990's, I read the JO religiously (including all the back issues my parents had dating back to the 70's), ordered tapes of Agudah convention speeches,read the Mike Tress book several times, looked up to their leaders and spokesmen very much etc but over time have become somewhat disillusioned with it. Like somebody posted above it has become the Establishment, ironically so since when the American Agudah began back in the 1920's it was trying to be an alternative to the Establishment.
Some of it may be complacency, or maybe it's just an inevitable result of any successful organization. In any case, I feel that it's just really out of touch with the pulse of frum society nowadays.