[HANASHIR:12995] Re: Fw:Jewish Education, Jewish continuity...

[sholom <sholom...>]

> The article Shirona refers us to is thought-provoking, but I personally
> don't think that Jewish schools are any more responsible for raising
> decent Jews than regular schools are for raising decent citizens - it
> comes from the HOME. If Judaism is not embraced and perpetuated by the
> family, Jewish education is wasted. No school, day or afternoon, will
> connect a child to G-d.

Of _course_ the home is important.  But, let's not forget, the kids are in
school for more waking hours than they are home.  Furthermore, if most of
their waking hours are spend learning secular subjects, there's not a
whole lot of time (or energy) left for learning Jewish subjects.  More
importantly, if secular school is six to seven hours five days per week,
and Jewish schools is a couple of hours per week, we've already made our
statement to our kids about the relative importance of secular and Judaic
education.

> On the absolute contrary, at my religious school on Manhattan's Upper
> East Side - where parents take their kids out of the synagogue on
> weekends because they are vacationing in the Hamptons - the students
> learn nothing and appreciate nothing. For five weeks I have drilled the
> Chanukah candle blessings. The result? After Bar Mitzvah tutoring a 6th
> grader last night at his Park Ave. penthouse, the mother asks me to join
> them as they light the Chanukah candles. Not only can my student not
> recite a single blessing with me, but the mother is clueless as well
> (The father, who is Jewish but completely anti-Judaism, is not even at
> home).

The case above is amazing.  Perhaps it is a poor
(Judaic-content-wise)school (how can a kid get a passing grade in his
Judaics class when he is unable to recite a simple bracha?), and,
certainly, the parents are reversing whatever he might be learning in
school.  How can the mother not know anything?  Doesn't she help her kids
with her homework?


My own kids are in a day school.  I've learned a *tremendous* amount from
them directly, and also simply by helping then with their homework.  (My
kids are aged 7 and 9).


> How can we address this issue and still keep it within the realm of
> Jewish music, for which this list is intended? Very simple: we must
> understand how IMPORTANT our role is as Jewish music educators. Kids
> love music, and we all know how effective music is as a teaching tool.

Hear! Hear!

Last night, my *seven* year old, after the regular two brachot on the
menora, started singing a "Hanerot Hallelu" song I had never heard.  She
couldn't remember how it went, and so she asked me for a siddur, and asked
me to turn to where the Chanukah stuff was.

She then proceeded to sing the entire Hanerot prayer (with a little bit of
help from looking at the Hebrew in the siddur)!

Whoops -- it looks like I have some more catching up to do!  I _thought_ I
had been keeping one week ahead of them!

-- Sholom





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