"And in order that you tell into the ears of your son and your son's son how I made a mockery of the Egyptians, and that you tell of My signs that I placed in them, and you will know that I am the Lord." (Shemos 10:2)

The Chasam Sofer explains that the whole Egyptian saga was to mock the wicked. It appeared that the evil Egyptians were doing quite well. Money was pouring in from the entire world because of the famine. The Jews were enslaved while the Egyptians were living the high life filled with immorality and corruption. Yet in the end Hashem made a mockery of them. They were destroyed and the Jews left Egypt with all their possessions.

Hashem will soon redeem us and reveal the vanity, immorality and facade of our modern society. The question is: How much do we buy into, and accept the values of today's world?

Application:
1. Ask yourself, how can I strengthen my Jewish values and disconnect from the false values being promoted by the media?
2. If I had true Torah values I would ...
3. The media is causing me to ...

Have a great shabbos!

Thank you, Rabbi!

I keep trying to tell people at my temple that the reason we're loosing youth to christianity, especially "new-christianity: christian youth organizations which are 'hip' or 'fun'" is because we're teaching the traditions, but not the core. We are trying to make young-adults learn like adults. It doesn't work. Teenagers are in the middle. They are neither adults, nor children. They are young-adults. It's a middle category and deserves a program all it's own. This is where judaism is failing the youth of our religion. We either try to cram them into the hebrew school, or have them lead the younger children who are pre-b'nai mitzvah, or we leave them with the sterile adult programs. There is nothing for them.

How does this relate to your post? Directly with #1 - "how can I strengthen my Jewish values and disconnect from the false values..."

Converts to Judaism learn the difference between the Messiah and the Christian Savior. Funny thing is, they already know or have an inkling of it.

Our children and youth do not get educated in this way. While learning the Torah, there is no comparitive study to educate them on some core beliefs. They may know traditions and parshas very well, but with 4 kids in the various stages, I can honestly say the program(s) is/are deficient. I have lived on the East Coast of US, the Rocky Mountains and West Coast now. #2"If I had true Torah values...." Why is there no YOUTH mitzvah program? Just like Elijah 'turning the hearts of the children to the fathers and the hearts of the fathers to the children' we should foster mitzvah between congregational youth and congregational seniors.
I really don't know about #3. I haven't let the media cause me to do anything in some years.

1.I am trying to strengthen my Jewish values by constantly striving to purify myself and to learn more of what I need to know to be as good a Jew as I can be at each step along the way.

This is just the bare bones of it. It does not go into the details. They are a learning curve in themselves.

If I do what I just said, I am strengthened against the influence of the media. But also I choose what and how much media I expose myself to. I try to be constantly vigilant and aware and to exercise my right to say no, which includes turning off or away from unsuitable media input.

2. If I had true Torah values I would do some things differently - and some very differently. I think I would rock some "boats" even more than I do now. And I might be less inclined to be invisible.

3. The media is causing me to not have much to do with it.

quote:

Hashem will soon redeem us and reveal the vanity, immorality and facade of our modern society. The question is: How much do we buy into, and accept the values of today's world?

Application:
1. Ask yourself, how can I strengthen my Jewish values and disconnect from the false values being promoted by the media?
2. If I had true Torah values I would ...
3. The media is causing me to ...