A Short Summary of One Family's Religious Journey

Just recently I connected with a family that has been through so much as far as religion goes.

Here's a short summary of this family's religious journey:

From being "secular" with no religion, they got involved with evangelical Christianity.  From being just "plain evangelical," they got involved with a pentecostal denomination.

From there, they became involved with Messianic Judaism.

Then from there, they became Orthodox Jews!

And...apparently they jumped right into being Orthodox.  The mother and daughters could not wear pants anymore, the kids went to Jewish  schools, they celebrated Shabbos every week without fail, the entire family dressed with extreme modesty and the mom covered her head with a wig.  They also lived in a community where all the neighbors were Orthodox Jews and I've been told they felt like they were being watched all the time. They had to follow strict rules on how to live and behave.

But...almost four years ago their oldest daughter got engaged to an Orthodox Jewish boy in the New York area.  The boy and the girl were not introduced in the customary Jewish way, so the family moved from the midwest to the east coast to check on the situation and also be closer to their daughter.

They did question the marriage.   Then, a restraining order was filed against them by their daughter.  There was a concern that they might disrupt the wedding.  Their daughter did get married and of course they were not invited to the wedding.

This family has not seen or heard from their daughter for almost four years now!  They have no idea how their daughter is, if she is happy, or if she has any children.

After being estranged from their daughter, the family decided to return to the place where they were the happiest and returned to the midwest to begin a new life.  They love their daughter and miss her being a part of their life. 

They are no longer Orthodox Jews and I've been told they "quit" being Orthodox just as fast as when they jumped into being Orthodox.

There are six kids total in this family,  I think their ages are 27, 25, 22, 20, 12, and 11.  I have been told that the three older children besides the estranged daughter have been burned out on Judaism and religion.  I've learned that that is very common when parents who were once not observant become religious Jews. 

The younger kids were suddenly pulled out of the Orthodox Jewish community which was all they ever knew.  (I imagine they may be very confused, but maybe they have adjusted to the drastic change in their lives after almost four years since children do adapt to change.)  The parents still believe in God and are now going to a church, so the younger kids are now going to church too.

I think this is a very sad story.  When I first heard about the estrangement of their daughter, I could not sleep.  It seemed it was all I could think about.   I do hope more than ever that the family does reunite with their oldest daughter.