תינוק שנשבה
A captured infant who never experienced Judaism

People's knowledge of Judaism is certainly deteriorating.

Many of us don't seem to know the basics. This is becoming increasingly evident by some of the questions that are raised in the Jewish Groups.

However, the participants in these groups do show a thirst for additional knowledge. This is good because we are rapidly approaching the depths evidenced by a tinok shenishba.

That infant who was held in captivity has no way to know about his heritage or about Jewish practice. We can expect much less of his Jewish behavior than we can from a person who was born in a home or a region in which Judaism is a vibrant, living religion. As a result of this growing problem, we have an obligation to train this child in the basics of Judaism when he is "released from his captivity" and in our care.

This tinok shenishba represents a special category in Jewish life. He is given every possible opportunity to improve his situation.

In the past, we may have expected the tinok shenishba to come from a faraway location, or distant from all culture. However, the areas that exhibit a lack of knowledge seem to increase all the time. Think about it as youwould a map of our growing infertile deserts. By today, even some of the larger, previously Jewish areas, still have pockets that can be home to a tinok shenishba.

Those barren areas may need to be redefined as they grow in size. Today, perhaps someone who comes from a nice, Jewish neighborhood, such as New Jersey, would require a new name. Instead of tinok shenishba perhaps we could call him Teaneck shenishba.