Editing Baal teshuva (section)

===In the United States===
The ''baal teshuva'' movement began to appear as an identifiable movement in the United States in the 1960s, as a growing number of young Jews raised in non-religious homes in the United States started to develop a strong interest in becoming a part of observant Judaism; many of these people, in contrast to sociological expectations, became attracted to observant Judaism within Orthodoxy.{{citation needed|date=September 2024}}

The Baal teshuva movement was also inspired by the [[Counterculture#Sixties and seventies counterculture|sixties and seventies counterculture]], especially the [[counterculture of the 1960s]] and the [[Hippie]] movement (Rabbi [[Shlomo Carlebach (musician)|Shlomo Carlebach]] tried to channel the counterculture and its music into a Jewish direction through his music and teachings<ref>{{cite web |work=Jew of the Day |title=Rabbi Shlomo Charlebach (1925–1994) |url=http://www.jewoftheday.com/categories/culture/Charlebach%20Shlomo.htm}}</ref>), the [[Woodstock Festival]], the [[drug subculture]], the new interest in [[Eastern religion]]s (Rabbi [[Aryeh Kaplan]] tried to channel that interest into a Jewish direction through his writings) and the spirit of youth rebellion that pervaded{{citation needed|date=May 2018}} US high schools and college campuses. It was in recognition of this phenomenon and in response to it that the earliest [[Shaliach#Shluchim or Shlichim today|emissaries]] of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi [[Menachem Mendel Schneerson]], went out to connect with these people and "recruit" them to Judaism.

According to Rabbi [[Yosef Blau]] the [[mashgiach ruchani]] of [[Yeshiva University]]:

{{blockquote|A baal teshuva movement has emerged with a significant number of Jews from non-traditional homes returning to the observance of grandparents and great grandparents. In fact one of the challenges facing modern Orthodoxy is that many of these returnees are attracted to a European Orthodoxy.<ref>{{cite web |title=American Orthodoxy in the Twenty First Century |work=The Commentator |date=October 26, 2004 |url=http://www.yucommentator.com/2.2843/american-orthodoxy-in-the-twenty-first-century-1.299499 |first=Yosef |last=Blau |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110927145234/http://www.yucommentator.com/2.2843/american-orthodoxy-in-the-twenty-first-century-1.299499 |archive-date=2011-09-27}}</ref>}}

Whereas early Baal teshuva trends were partly related to the prevailing anti-establishment atmosphere of the 1960s, an increase in Jewish pride in the wake of Israel's victory in 1967's [[Six-Day War]] fueled and gave momentum to the beginnings of the ''baal teshuva'' movement."<ref>{{cite web|work=Where What When |title=The Miracle of '67: Forty Years Since the Six-Day War |first=Moshe |last=Goldstein |year=2007 |url=http://www.wherewhatwhen.com/read_articles.asp?id=342 |url-status=dead |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20071212195151/http://www.wherewhatwhen.com/read_articles.asp?id=342 |archive-date=December 12, 2007 }}</ref><ref>Aviad, Janet. 1983. ''Return to Judaism: Religious Renewal in Israel''. Chicago: University of Chicago Press</ref>

Although the effects of [[the Holocaust]] and the sway of the counterculture movement led many to abandon their religious upbringing, others were willing to experiment with alternate liberated lifestyles, and as part of this experimentation it was intriguing to them to explore Jewish [[Shabbat|Sabbath observance]], intensive [[Jewish services|prayer]], and deeper [[Torah study|Torah]] and [[Talmud]] study. Many of these people adopted a fully Orthodox Jewish way of life, and although some eventually dropped out entirely or found their path within [[Conservative Judaism]] or other streams of Judaism, or even joined other faiths, others chose to remain with Orthodoxy:

{{blockquote|... in the 1970s. Orthodoxy began a remarkable revival, spurred on by the missionizing done by the Baal Teshuva movement among other Jews. Lubavitch (also called [[Chabad]]) sent [[Shaliach#Shluchim or Shlichim today|emissaries]] to hundreds of Jewish communities around the country and the world. Among the non-Orthodox, the [[Reform Judaism|Reform]] movement grew, which was due in large measure to the joining of many intermarried couples.<ref name="CambridgeCompanion">{{cite web |publisher=Cambridge University Press |year=2005 |title=The Cambridge Companion to American Judaism |editor=Dana Evan Kaplan |url=http://72.14.205.104/search?q=cache:_U5lFU9Gk5AJ:www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp%3Fisbn%3D9780521529518%26ss%3Dexc+%22Baal+teshuva+movement%22&hl=en&ct=clnk&cd=30&gl=us }}{{Dead link|date=October 2018 |bot=InternetArchiveBot |fix-attempted=yes }}</ref>}}

In 1986, ''[[New York (magazine)|New York]] magazine'' reported:
{{blockquote|The people making this sweeping change in their life grew up in a secular world. They went to good colleges and got excellent jobs. They didn't become Orthodox because they were afraid, or because they needed a militaristic set of commands for living their lives. They chose Orthodoxy because it satisfied their need for intellectual stimulation and emotional security.<ref>{{cite journal|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=w-cCAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA54|title=The New Orthodox|first=Cathryn|last=Jakobson|journal=[[New York (magazine)|New York]]|date=November 17, 1986|volume=19|number=45}}</ref>}}