Have A Coke & A Smile....

I am a very big fan of Rabbi Horowitz.  This man is a visionary in these radical and fanatical times. He has a new post up on his website that I think is eerily prescient.  He compares the state of education today with a Coke Classic vs. New Coke analogy.

A very small excerpt here [Coke analogy excluded]:

(please read the whole thing... it is so worthwhile)

I think that you and your generation followed that sage advice when you passed on the Torah values of your parents and grandparents to us. You kept things simple. In fact, I could probably fit all the instructions you gave us on the back of an index card. Be a mentch. Learn and master our Torah. “Farbreng nisht der tzeit -- make the best use of every minute of every day. Make a kiddush Hashem wherever you go – don’t ever forget that you are wearing a yarmulke. Get an education, be self-sufficient, and give something back to the community. Yet these simple themes encapsulated all the major components of our tradition.

At our Pesach sedarim, you didn’t distribute ‘matzoh cards’ to make sure that we had the proper shiurim or share profound divrei Torah with us, but your eyes brimmed with tears when you spoke to us about our gloriousmesorah. You didn’t speak much about your generation’s extraordinary success in rebuilding your individual and collective lives after the Holocaust, but you taught us by example, what it means to sacrifice for Yiddishkeit and how we should treasure the gift of freedom you were denied. You didn’t deal much with segulos for parnasa like ‘chai rotel’ and‘shlissel challah’ but always stressed the importance of ehrlichkeit in our financial dealings, living below one’s means, and scrupulously givingtzedaka.

I am tempted to draw further parallels on his exposition (please read his Cola analogy before reading my comments).  In my own community, there is a move afoot to create a "New Coke" - it will surely fail but will the recipe and the machinery and the means to return to the "Classic Version" still be available after the destruction?  I am sure that the people attempting these changes have only good intentions... but they will be no less culpable in the aftermath.......

P.S. Actions speak louder than words.... you cannot say you are not making changes when your very actions belie your assurances.....