[HANASHIR:13006] Re: Fw:Jewish Education, Jewish continuity...

[sholom <sholom...>]

> I feel as  though I benefited from public school, because it
> allowed my life to be more  open and interesting.  I was introduced to
> other students from all different  backgrounds and religions, and
> through our friendships I was able to really  learn about how other
> people believe and celebrate their heritage.  And that  is so, so
> important.  All too often I find that my Jewish friends who went  to day
> schools live in little bubbles.  Only exposed to Jewish people and
> Jewish thought, they are sheltered from the rest of the world.  Is that
> really what we want as a community?

Frankly, I can't see how _anyone_ can _only_ be exposted to Jewish people
and Jewish thought in the United States -- and this is even _more_ so for
families that have TV's!  There's the National Christmas tree, the White
House Easter Egg roll, Christian radio Network, Pat Robertson, the 700
Club, movie and recording stars that are black, white, hispanic, asian,
and so forth.  In fact a huge number (it must be a rather large majority)
of Jews have non-Jews even as relatives!  So, unless one lives in a
tight-knit Orthodox community and has no TV does anyone even have half of
a chance of not getting exposed to other cultures.

> Private schools, as great as they may be, scare me, in that they foster
> a  sense of isolation.

Let me provide a counter to that.  I went to a after-school religious
school.  I stayed through till 12th grade because I loved it, and the
teachers loved me.

I sure learned a whole lot about ethics, but not a whole lot about
anything specifically Jewish.  When I went to college, I refused my
parents entreaties for me to go to Hillel.  Why?  Because I was scared to
death about how little I knew!  I would never go to a shul, because I
never knew what was going on.  And when I was once invited to go to a
havdallah service, I declined, making up some sort of excuse -- when the
real reason was that I was scared to death I'd be asked to take part. 
And, at the age of 20-something had _never seen_ a havdallah service.

You want to talk about isolation?  I was isolated from my fellow _Jews_
because of my ignorance!

Yes, certainly there are benefits to public schools.  But many of the
costs can be ameliorated by activities the families can choose to engage
in.  But the cost of a rotten Jewish education (which, for many, includes
a Jewish education that *turns them off* to Judaism) is a gazillion times
higher.  Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the UAHC, says that we are *the
most* Jewishly illiterate generation *in history*.  Think about that!  So,
the question is: what are we going to do about it?

The Orthodox, in the 1920's and '30's faced this very problem.  Huge
numbers of their children were moving away from Orthodoxy, and away from
Judaism altogether.  (Indeed, many Reform shuls today are populated by
senior citizens who grew up Orthodox).  The leaders of that generation
took a hard look at the problem, swallowed hard, and determined that a day
school system was the best antidote, even though it might take a
generation to have effect.  They were right.

The other movements need to make that same calculation.  A kid that can
excitedly read, and translate, a few chapters of Torah at age seven, and
can read, and translate, and understand, some passages of Mishna at age
nine, and who loves shabbos and the holidays, *and* is on the same
wavelength as his peer group in this regard (I am referring to my own
children), is more likely to be happily engaged in Judaism, and raising
Jewish kids of their own, than the children who today are learning
nothing, or next-to-nothing in their after-school religious schools -- and
who are tired at the end of the day, etc.

After-school religious schools as day school both have a long and
consistent track record, that we ought not to ignore.

-- Sholom




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