I get it. It’s a vice that doesn’t tempt most adults, so we get to feel virtuous

MY association with this magazine is a couple of decades old, baruch Hashem, and one of the nicer features of the relationship is the lack of a journalistic agenda.

In the wider world, media has discovered its own power. The theory of “media salience” proposes that some issues are not so important to the public, but by consistently focusing on them, the media gives them significance. So, for example, even if readers don’t have strong feelings about global warming, the media can make them believe that it is a pressing problem, and this will affect how they vote, or where they allocate their energy or resources.

At this magazine, the starting point of any position is that it is firmly rooted in Shulchan Aruch, mesorah, and the viewpoint of contemporary gedolim, but outside of that, there is no agenda. Still, sometimes there is a sustained focus on a particular topic, and that itself — even if it’s not exactly an agenda — can turn a small problem into a much bigger one.

Before I continue, a serious trigger warning: I know this topic is sensitive, and that it provokes people, so I want to make clear that I do not believe vaping is safe.

Let’s talk this out. A few months back, the magazine ran a story about a boy who sustained a collapsed lung as a result of vaping, by a mother in distress writing to spare others a similar ordeal, chas v’shalom. A few weeks ago, in the popular Family First health section, there was a piece by a respected pediatrician cautioning readers about vaping: It’s not just a little unsafe, it’s very unsafe, was the conclusion.

Then, a couple weeks ago, there was an op-ed in the main magazine, with a bigger headline and more space allocated to the very same cause. I know it’s not an agenda, and I also know that the data is real and it is concerning. But running articles like these will not achieve any goal, unless the goal is to cause more hand-wringing and fearmongering.

Mimah nafshach, as they say in yeshivos: The mothers already believe this, as did the fathers, so they don’t need more information. The bochurim already know this, and yet, for whatever reason, they are nevertheless vaping. So the added two or three or ten articles won’t change anything. No bochur is waiting for just that one more statistic to find the strength to quit.

Ela mai, what will happen? What will happen is that the poor mother will be even more upset about it, and when her son has his brief, well-deserved off-Shabbos from yeshivah, she will be hounding him. Nothing will change, except that it will be a little less pleasant for both of them.

Bochurim are low-hanging fruit, though, so readers get to be strong and assertive by taking a position that is universally accepted, agreeing with one another and nodding along, regardless of what ideological or communal differences they might have.

I don’t know why bochurim vape. It is disturbing. But they do. Perhaps it’s because they bear the hardest workload of any demographic in the frum world — a workday, even in an average yeshivah, of about ten to twelve hours of toiling over and mastering Aramaic words and sophisticated concepts, along with the intense effort required to become bnei Torah, training themselves to safeguard hearts and minds. They are teenage boys, struggling with the changing reality of their very selves, with restlessness and too much energy and the usual adolescent struggle for self-worth and a clear identity.

Now, if you’re still reading.

Everyone — unless he is an AI-generated version of a human, or a serial liar — admits to facing challenges and temptations, and bochurim are no different. A lot of stuff has to happen between the ages of 17 and 22 for them to be successful adults, and the pressure is great. If you don’t see a vice, that doesn’t mean it’s not there. It just means it’s less visible.

If they were looking for vices — real ones, the sort that have the potential to destroy a person — they could find them without having to invest too much resourcefulness. It’s not like when we were teenagers and sinning took ingenuity.

The “you guys are the most heroic generation ever” speech is not just a cliché, but actual real life.

Now, imagine some rich sponsor looking to make a mark on the world. He decides to sponsor huge, eye-catching signs that will hang in bungalow colony shuls this summer. In oversized letters, kiddush attendees will be cautioned about the fact that pickled herring is high in sodium and very not recommended by the Pulmonary Hypertension Association, or that too many shots of whiskey can lead to cognitive decline.

I don’t predict great success for that sort of campaign.

It’s just noise, you know? Like, the donor gets to pat himself on the back for being proactive, but anyone who is a little geribben knows it will not change a thing, except to maybe force people to have one more shot.

(Hey, lay off our kiddush! We work hard all week, trying to support our families, help our married children, stay current with the daf and just keep it all together! Bug off. L’chayim!)

And these are adults!

Another magazine article on the dangers of vaping achieves nothing toward the goal. It just further riles up the ones who were already riled up.

But I get it. It’s a vice that doesn’t tempt most adults, so we get to feel virtuous.

Ayy, you’ll ask, it really is dangerous. How dare we remain silent?

Okay, then, let’s at least alternate topics in the new “Family Perils” column. We can talk about the effects of the skinny latte and the research connecting the use of artificial sweeteners with stroke or heart disease, or about how the acesulfame potassium in your diet drink triggers an insulin release, leading to cravings and actually stalling fat loss. Not geshmak, eh?

So here’s my plea, dear editors who display great moral courage and self-confidence in having allowed this piece to go to print. If you need to stick vaping into the roster just to maintain balance, add an extra disclaimer on those weeks, like the surgeon general’s warning, something about the positive effects that learning Torah with toil and exertion has on the world, or a note about how much brachah is generated for all of us when a bochur who isn’t that strong in learning pushes himself to chazzer the Gemara one more time.

Not as dramatic, but this effect of what they are doing is not speculation or conjecture; it’s fact, proven again and again, generation after generation.

Legends! Torah gives life and they — our heroes in black and white — are the ones keeping us alive.

So before the Shabbos off or bein hazmanim, consider clipping that last line and leaving it lying around for them to see. If you are proud of them, maybe they will appreciate their own role as well.

And then, who knows what kind of smart decisions they might make?

(Originally featured in Mishpacha, Issue 1020)