Over the course of time the things that are important to people seem to change. These changes are not necessarily for the betterment of humanity. To the contrary, we see a trend towards a deterioration of our society. Let's take a look at some of these issues.

Marriage used to be sacred. Many of us remember when you got married, then you stayed married for life. Granted, you may have been young when you got married but you deal with it, you manage it, and if things change in your relationship you didn't think about it seriously enough to break up the marriage.

Marriage is no longer a commitment. There are too many options which are sanctioned by society when you're married and even more for those who are not married. As a result, marriage as an institution has all but collapsed in many parts of the Western world.

Orthodox Judaism used to be known and understood as the way that Jews should behave. There were many who chose not to follow the Orthodox tradition but there was never a question about whether traditional Judaism expects.

Even the other movements within Judaism were seen as a solution for those who chose not to follow the Orthodox tradition and as a way of helping them avoid being excluded from the Jewish world completely.

Major issues such as marriage, divorce, conversion, and circumcision were all part of the Orthodox control.

Today Orthodoxy is seen as one perspective and there are other perspectives such Conservative, Reform, and other forms of Judaism, which are perceived as being equally valid. Thus, one could be a religious Reform Jew or a religious Conservative Jew and this is acceptable.

The entire concept of traditional Judaism has thus collapsed and there are now many different forms of observance which are all accepted and which are all seen and perceived as being equally valid. An outsider is certainly going to be very confused when he asks so what is Judaism and what does G-d expect of Jews?

Another area in which a trend is clear over the past several years is the change in personal behavior and conduct among people.

We now see people following alternative life styles. Those who in the past may have been embarrassed about their personal behavior or may have kept it private have now come out of the closet and they now proudly announce their proclivities to the entire world.

Thus, the concept of a right and wrong way to act has deteriorated as well and anything is now possible as an option. An outsider might ask what is right and what is wrong? And if you follow today's societal trend it may be very difficult to respond to that question.

Another area in which there has been changes is aliyah. But it's hard to pinpoint that. It's more difficult than any of the other categories. Aliyah seems to have its ups and downs. It is sometimes accepted and sometimes accepted less among all but the very idealistic and devoted people.

These ups and downs have little to do with the security, economic, or political situation in Israel, but they have to do with other factors in the region from which the person is considering to make aliyah. These ups and downs will probably continue for a long time despite the fact that the majority of Jews live in Israel and the fact that in other parts of the world the number of Jews is shrinking. The numbers don't seem to be an important issue here.

All of these trends mean that today we are living in a very different world from that of our grandparents.

It also means that it would be very difficult to predict what life will be like in the future for our grandchildren.

Is the world a better place for all of these changes? I don't believe so.

However, I do believe that our grandchildren will look back on our generation as being extremely traditional and perhaps even too conservative.

Unless, of course, the trend reverses itself again.