NEW YORK (VINnews/Rabbi Yair Hoffman) – Tonight is Pesach Sheni. And although many people eat Shmurah Matzah tomorrow, unfortunately, few people understand its internal message — a message most powerfully articulated by the very first Gerrer Rebbe, Rav Yitzchok Meir Alter (1799-1866), the Chidushei HaRim.

He writes that this particular day, Pesach Sheni, is a tikun for those who are perceived as beyond the pale — “B’derech Rechokah” in his words. They are seen as outside the scope of assistance.

To them, to those who could not develop the closeness and Dveikus to Hashem that was emblematic of Pesach, is granted this second chance. The Sfas Emes, his grandson, expanded the point: no Jew is ever truly far. The distance is in our perception, not in the reality of the soul.

The Psukim in Bahaaloscha tell us: There were men who were impure of the dead, and therefore, could not make the Pesach Korban on that day. They approached Moshe and Aharon. Those men said to him, “We are impure [because of contact] with a dead person; [but] why should we be excluded so as not to bring the offering of Hashem in its appointed time, with all the children of Israel?” Moshe said to them, “Imdu — Wait, and I will hear what Hashem instructs concerning you.”

The Chidushei HaRim writes that Imdu does not mean wait. It means stand — stand in Teshuvah and stand in Tefillah. It is not too late. Pursue these two Avodahs and Hashem will help you along the way.

And note carefully who created this holiday. These men were not passive. They did not accept their exclusion. They advocated, they pressed Moshe Rabbeinu, and a new mitzvah entered the Torah because of them. The lesson of Pesach Sheni is not only about second chances. It is about refusing to accept that anyone is lost.

The Chidushei HaRim writes that this is the day for the off-the-derech kids that are now in every single one of our communities.

Each community among us, whether it be chassidisha, litvisha, or modern orthodox, has children that have left the fold. Look around. They are hanging out on the street corners, at the late night Dunkin Donuts — hechsher and sans hechsher — and worse.

They are everywhere: on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn, in Lakewood, leaving Williamsburg in droves. And their parents toss and turn at night worrying about them. To echo a Pesach theme: ein bayis asher ein bo mais — there is not a home that has not been affected.

But before we describe symptoms — the tattoos, the piercings, the substance abuse — we must be honest about causes. Practitioners in this field, including Rabbi Yaakov Horowitz, have noted for years that the markers we see on the outside almost always trace back to deeper sources: undiagnosed learning differences, abuse, family trauma, mental health struggles left unaddressed, mismatch between a child and an institution that could not bend to meet him, and the corrosive shame that follows when a child is labeled rather than understood. “Kids don’t leave Yiddishkeit,” as Rabbi Horowitz has put it.

They leave the pain they associate with it.

The Chidushei HaRim is telling us that we need visionary leaders who can revolutionize what is not working. We need leaders who can ensure that the off-the-derech children do not find their solace in places foreign to Torah.

We need leaders to keep our youth enthused in their Yiddishkeit.

We must conceive of not merely a stop-gap measure, but something more. The Sefer Chasidim (siman 308) rules explicitly that even at significant communal cost, separate frameworks must be created for children whose needs differ — because forcing every child into one mold loses children we could have kept.

We need to research the largest risk factors.

We need to develop programs and institutions that reduce them. Concretely: a community fund earmarked specifically for at-risk youth and the rebbeim who reach them; training in adolescent mental health for every mechanech before he steps into a classroom; mentorship pairings organized at the shul level so that no struggling teenager is anonymous; and alternative yeshiva tracks for boys and girls who are drowning in the standard one. An FDR social security program for our children. A Marshall Plan. A GI Bill.

True, there are the Rabbi Tzvi Glucks, the Rabbi Silvers, the late Rabbi Zechariah Wallersteins, the Rabbi Yaakov Horowitzs, the TOVA mentoring programs. But we need to support them and replicate what they do on a massive scale. We need someone to step to the plate and make a profound change that will save generations. And we need to put our money where our mouths are. We sweep this under the carpet and do not talk about it, but this issue, hands down, eclipses all others.

How can we attend gala bar mitzvahs and weddings, yeshiva dinners and functions, while knowing there are children out there we have failed? How can we not cry for thousands of holy mothers in Klal Yisroel whose every thought and prayer centers around a lost son or daughter?

And time matters. The longer a young person is in that lifestyle, the harder the road back becomes — though it is never sealed, and practitioners can name many who have returned. But every additional month is a month of pain that did not have to happen. Our Rabbonim, our leaders, and our wealthy askanim need to hear from us. Our voices need to be heard so that this issue receives the prominence it demands.

We can all do something. We can build happier homes and happier classrooms. We can reach out to the people we see and smile at them. There are a myriad of reasons these things happen, and we cannot chalilah ever be judgmental. We need to be that resource, that Rock-of-Gibraltar, that genuinely cares about the neighbor’s child with that missing or divorced parent.

So, let’s return to those men in the wilderness. They stood. They asked. They refused to be written off — and Hashem answered them with a mitzvah that endures forever. That is the message of Pesach Sheni according to the Gerrer Rebbe. These forgotten souls must be placed once again on our agenda. Imdu. Let us stand for them, and let us not stop.

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