Why Judaism Flourished in America | Freedom, Faith & Jewish History - Rabbi Daniel Glatstein

We'll talk about July 4th and the 250th anniversary of the United States of America. You see I get my tuition's worth in Yeshiva. And there's a lot of discussion now study, analysis about the state state of the Jewish people in America, how Golus America has been for the Jewish people. There's no question that on the one hand it's been the greatest haven that the Jewish people ever had in the Golus. Uh certainly surpasses even the Golden Age of Spain. Both in terms of the spiritual heights that we were able to climb to and even the in a way the economic success we're able to achieve. So the question that a lot of a lot of people are thinking about is how do you account for the great success that America has provided the Jewish people more than like what what were the ingredients of the United States of America that allowed for the success of Jewish communities more than any other place in the world? So >> Spanish community here? >> Yeah, much more than in Spain. Doesn't even compare. The Golden Age of Spain is is basically a misnomer. It was like a few a few years of reprieve between brutal persecution. Obviously the main ingredient in in America is that you have a freedom of religion. Uh in a unprecedented way. Part of that, aside from freedom of religion even though technically speaking the United States of America is a Christian country it has never been a very observant Christian country. So on the one hand we have absolute freedom of religion and there's no official religion of the country. So, we're not really bombarded with uh being persecuted by other religions. So, the first The first ingredient is freedom of religion. But, that only accounts for our ability to observe. But, for in terms of the growth and the explosion of Jewish life, there are some other ingredients of America that I think are also responsible. I think uh capitalism has a lot to do with it. The fact that if somebody has an idea, they could pursue it, they could build it, they could they could grow it, and it allowed for fabulous financial success, which allowed us to build networks of institutions the likes of which we've never seen. You know, you have this Yeshivas on every corner, massive edifices, tremendous shuls, beautiful moist dices. That was uh only only allowed with uh capitalism, you know? In a social socialism, communism, then you're capped, you're taxed, you're you're limited, you're you're mitigated. So, I think the it's not only the freedom of religion that the United States of America provided. I think it's also the capitalism as opposed to I mean, you you could think case in point, I think, would be Eretz Yisrael. Look at the expan- Look at the explosion of Torah in Eretz Yisrael in the last 10 20 years as opposed to from 1948 to 2000. What happened? What happened last 20 years? The Mir Yeshiva and all the explosion. Well, it could be, you know, decades of stability and decades of population growth, but also Israel uh changed from socialism to ca- capitalism. It's a different financial model. You know, through the current Prime Minister was very instrumental in that. But and that's you know, not saying that was his kavana to build Torah, but that may you know, maybe we could observe that that system facilitates greater ability of the expansion of Torah. Here's another ingredient. Another ingredient is 5-day work week as opposed to 6-day work week. You know what 5-day work week allows for? You could keep Shabbos. Cuz you know, if you're not off on Sunday, you need a day off. Or if you're only off on Sunday, so you got But in America, you could keep Shabbos and you can have a day work. If you have a 6-day work week, it's a very big struggle. It's a very big sacrifice. You know, just without doing a full-fledged investigative uh study of the ingredients of the United States of America, how it facilitated Jewish life, coming What comes to mind off the bat? Religious freedom, freedom of religion, capitalism, and 5-day work week. I don't know, what do you say? Huh. In terms of uh where things really changed for American Jewry is the mesiras nefesh. You know, there there was a generation where they had to make a decision. You know, whether to uh And in a way you could boil it down to and this this I personally feel is one of my main as a rav today in 2026, in a way my main responsibility is promoting halachic Judaism over cultural Judaism. In America, people were culturally very Jewish. They wore suits and ties on Shabbos. They spoke Yiddish. But, they didn't observe Shabbos and they didn't observe mitzvahs and observe but because they were focused on the cultural Judaism. And look what happened to their descendants. And look what happened to the descendants of people who recognized that it's Halakhic Judaism that has vitality. It's not about or about the language they spoke or the exact dress that they wore or they or the exact presentation. It's about adherence to the the law, the Halakha, the the Talmud Bavli and the Shulchan Aruch. That was a very major uh uh breaking point when Halakhic Judaism was embraced and those who only uh observed or only maintained cultural Judaism, the verdict of history is they uh they disappeared. And I think in our time as well, there is a tremendous danger of cultural Judaism where people, you know, Now, the the the levels are higher. The the cultural Judaism that you encounter today is a people who are shomer Torah u'mitzvot for the most part. But, the cultural Judaism comes plays out in, you know, Kiddush club or talking by davening where yeah, you know, I'm wearing I'm wearing the clothing and I have the look. Oh, it says it in Shulchan Aruch. It says it in Mishnah Berurah. That's that's, you know, what they say. They have this uh insight. That that's for baalei teshuvah. You know, we do it the way they used to do in the alte heim where everything is governed by what did I see back in the day? How was it how did it used to be done? Where they don't feel answerable to the halakha. They're only answerable to culture. And I think it's very dangerous. It was very It was It was um fatally dangerous for the Jewish people in the '20s and '30s and '40s. It meant the disappearing of families. But, I think it's a very dangerous today because uh it's it's a matter of of focus of what the purpose of life is and what the purpose of Judaism is. Is it just to maintain a certain style of life, which ultimately the next generation will recognize that it's basically empty? If the style of life is certain color of clothing or certain food, the next generation will say that's ridiculous. They'll see the emptiness of it. They're not going to go for it as opposed to adherence to halakha. But, uh those those Jews who were uh showed mesirus nefesh, my grandmother passed away this past Friday. Her father was working in the garment industry, and uh the boss would say, "If you don't come in Saturday, don't come in on Monday." And he would lose job after job after job after job until uh he was able to prove to the boss that he had more value working five days a week than everyone else working six days. And he was zocheh to tremendous uh siyata d'Shmaya that he has hundreds, literally hundreds of descendants who are shomer Torah u'Mitzvos because of that decision to adhere not to cultural Judaism, to adhere to halakhic Judaism. So, you know, the the physical ingredients were religious freedom, capitalism, five-day workweek. But, you know, the spiritual ingredients were the mesirus nefesh that if we're here today, that means our ancestors, our parents, our grandparents, our great-grandparents were mesirus nefesh so that we could be here. Okay, we're going to go to Mincha soon. >> What the most fun