Teenage Years
What most young people are searching for is a meaningful cause.They are overflowing with a mixture of adrenaline and confidence — “I want to change the way the world works,” teenagers often think. “I can change the world.” Adults, burdened with the pressures of everyday life, convince themselves that the world just is the way it is, but young people cannot tolerate such resignation. This is the constant conflict between the two groups: young people abhor the status quo, while adults’ lives revolve around it.
Bar Mitzvah: An Unreasonable Source
Thirteen years is the age at which the Jewish male becomes bar mitzvah (“son of [the] commandment”). At this point in his life, his mind attains the state of daat—the maturity of awareness and understanding that makes a person responsible for his actions. From this point on he is a “man,” bound by the divine commandments of the Torah, individually responsible to G-d to fulfill his mission in life.
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Teenagers: The Rebellion of Youth
To satisfy the needs of our teenagers in today’s society, we must first recognize that their restlessness and hunger for meaning is not material but spiritual in nature, and that only spirituality can feed spiritual hunger. To fight a spiritual war, they must be equipped with spiritual weapons. This is a new approach to teenage rebellion.
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