I think it is a Israel issue. Being in the army with secular Israelis, working with secular Israelis etc. It is very different than being an OJ in the US.
Aviad did not go cold turkey, rather through continued exposure to the secular he slowly realized that his OJ lifestyle does not work for him (Yes I am projecting!) and was moving closer and closer to the pool and finally jumped.
BJ,
It's a strange thing in Israel. There are folks who will adhere to virtually no ritual observance but will still be adamant that the Torah is God's word and that God gave the land to the Jews.
I think the sense in Israel itself, where there are so many non-observant Jews, is that being observant or not is simply two different valid ways of being a Jew. Especially in the army where you get very close to non-observant and non-religious Jews, it can be a matter of peer pressure.
In many ways, a non-observant Jew in America is like a goy because he will, in all likelihood, intermarry and his children or his grandchildren will have no real knowledge of their Jewish heritage. This is not so in Israel where a non-observant Jew is very much still a Jew.
In Gil Manns' wonderful little book he states that ones Judaism is validated in many ways. This does not neccessarily include ritual observance. What Rabbi Mann omitted is that ones Judaism is validated as a result of putting ones life on the line for the Jewish nation- as well.
BJ, I'm with you, It's hard to understand that. I would have to say that exposure to the army and being with lots of non-religious people who are having a blast, and seemingly none the worse for it, must be very tempting.
But still, it's not someting to admire. Then again, maybe we're just jealous of his easy break from it.
bj
there are so many jews who rationalize away various averios and they all are frum.
youre telling me you were perfect jewess when you believed?
an easy list
gambling
lying
stealing
going to movies or having tv(in a society that frowns on it)
not being 100% tznius on vacation
etc. im sure we can come up with many more.
its actually very normal for people to believe and still do aveiros.
nearly every week the rav will say a dvar torah pointing out this or that weakness in observance.
Rick: Good point that it wasn't really cold turkey, although it may have appeared so.
Orthoprax: Yeah, I think a lot of this might be a comment on Israel. It's a land of extremes.
Felix: I agree with this. And of course, as a non-believer I don't think that anyone should "have" to be religious. But I like to see people acting on their convictions. (BTW, I don't think I've met you. If not, welcome!)
BHB: Maybe we are just jealous.
Happy: Have you posted here before? If not, welcome and thanks for stopping by.
I was not perfect by any means but to my coimmunity's standards I was pretty good. Davened 2-3 times a day, learned, covered my hair (still do), didn't really break any bein adam l'chavero apart from lashon hara I guess.
You're right it's normal to believe and still do averot. But most people do OK most of the time. It's the complete break that has me puzzled.
i think ie commented before.
yeah youre right a complete break is unusual.
Although it’s not admirable to do something that you don’t believe is ‘right’, the believer-that-dropped it is more popular than the non-believer-that-kept-it.
Many people that do not believe at all still stick to their community traditions because they have too much to loss. On the other hand you can find a lot of people that ‘frey’ out while being convinced that they’ll go to hell for it.
It’s called being tempted by sin.
Happy: Well, welcome back, anyway! 
Shpitzle: Welcome! Thanks for your comment. I guess all I'm saying really is that I couldn't live with myself if I believed and didn't keep anything. Slipping up occasionally is one thing, but nothing...
bj
david g has interesting post on how sfardim view non observance vs askenazim.
http://yediah.blogspot.com/2007/
...nfortunate.html
I think this is the post Happy's talking about, if anyone's interested.
It was interesting to me, at least. Elsewhere I'm sure I've read about Sfardim generally being more knowledgeable (about how to daven and layn, for example) than Ashkenazim: they might not keep everything, but they know how to if they want to. Which is kind of where I'm moving.
maybe its going back to how it was before the talmud. i suspect the elite practiced everything and the hamon am were simply jews taught parents to child, without all the minute details. if one gains spiritual value from practice, and intellectual exercise from the minutia, then gezuntaheit.
Quite possibly. My antecedents who went through the Holocaust, and therefore didn't have the "opportunity" to learn are/were the same. They keep kosher mainly by reading ingredients, keep Shabbat but use the hot water. They're not troubled by the fine print and consider themselves 100% religious.
bj
exactly. my parents are the same. completely frum (by their standard, and couldnt care less what rabbonim say). very heimish. daven in a half chassidish shul. but thought we were nuts when we brought home measuring charts for kiddush or pesach.
>At a Shabbat meal five years ago he dropped the bombshell on his family with no prior warning. Aviad Givon, then 23, told his family he’d smoked pot and was no longer religious.
I find this amusing that he opened up with the fact that he smoked a joint which is 100% permitted according to Halacha
>up with the fact that he smoked a joint which is 100% permitted according to Halacha
Roofus, it is? Now you tell me!!
BJ, as far as haloscan comments from blogger, are you saying you copied each and every single comment, one by one?
BHB
>Roofus, it is? Now you tell me!!
pardon?
I thought the comments under the article in the link were interesting. Several expressed the sentiment "he'll come crawling back."
Thoughts on the responses to the article?
Roofus: Welcome.
BHB: Well, it's not explitly forbidden, is it? And the harms of marijuana use are debatable, so not harming yourself isn't necessarily an issue.
One of the Lubavitch rebbes used to smoke opium. I forget which one though.
And yes, I copied and pasted manually. What a job but it got easier as I went from newer to older posts, as there were less comments!
http://www.haloscan.com/help/
Mov...vingfromBlogger
Morgan: yes, they were interesting. I'll have another look at them and comment in more detail...
bhb
another option is copy all the comments to a post (you can back date it so it doesnt show in the normal flow).
then in the haloscan of the original post, put a link pointing to that post.
BJ & Happy, Either way it's pretty cumbersoome, but Thanks!
BJ & Roodus, I was kidding about the joints, sorry I thought it was obvious, I should have included a wink 
bj
an announcement about something the orthoskepto world needs is shortly coming.
stay tuned.
In yeshiva I saw an interesting teshuva (which i still have)of R' Moshe Feinstein re yeshiva students smoking marijuana. He said that the problem is addiction and related it to the issue of the wayward and rebellious son. So according to him smoking pot is not permissible.
well according to that logic, smoking isnt any better
I think smoking is worse for you anyway.
Commenting by HaloScan
