I read a fascinating article recently in Tablet online magazine, entitled, “Baal Teshuva: The Next Generation,” by Israeli writer Dana Kessler. She tells of an interesting phenomenon that occurred in Israel in the 1970s: In the wake of the psychological upheavals of the Six Day War in 1967 (with its staggering victory) and the Yom Kippur War in 1973 (with its devastating near defeat), some secular Israeli celebrities turned “ultra-Orthodox,” to the shock of their friends. They include popular comedian and movie star Uri Zohar as well as a few prominent scientists, such as chemistry professor Doron Auerbach. The trickle became a flood. “Thousands of Israelis became chozrim beteshuva in the late 1970s and early ’80s,” writes Kessler, and “most of this first wave joined closed-off chareidi communities, believing that the light shines brightest in the world of the ultra-Orthodox.”

The Tablet article explores what happened to the children those newly chareidi Israelis who tried to integrate and become “real” chareidim. It found that the picture was not all rosy. “Now their oldest children are grown up and have children of their own, and they can testify to the fact that for many, their cultural, financial, and social assimilation into the chareidi world can be deemed a failure,” she writes. “Many of the children of the original chozrim beteshuva have since left the chareidi communities where they were raised. And while their parents have, by and large, not returned to the secular world, many have changed their relationship to the chareidi world.”

Rochel glanced at the posters on the wall while her daughter quietly played with the toys in the doctor’s office. One of the posters seemed to jump out at her. The poster, whose title was obscured, showed a path similar to the one found on the Candy Land game board. The path, which was separated into colorful rectangles, contained information that gave her the validation and peace of mind that she had been seeking.

The first box contained two statements: The first was “Turns his head when you call his name.” Now, although this didn’t always happen, it did happen sometimes.