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May 20, 2013

Richard A. Serrano: Is Meir Kahane's assassin now a changed man?

Hannan Adely: Town raises Palestinian flag at City Hall

Melissa Healy: Genetic copies of living people from embryos no longer science fiction
Morgan Housel: When smart investors do stupid things

Sharon Saloman, M.S., R.D.: Hunger games: Eat more, weigh less, without starving

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Jews Inducted into Rock Hall of Fame; Anton Yelchin co-stars in New "Trek" film; Kutcher (but not Kunis) visits Israel; Jewish TV Star Praises Jewish Rap Star

The Kosher Gourmet by Cathy Pollak: WARNING: This WALNUT CAKE WITH PRALINE FROSTING, perfect for afternoon coffee, is addicting
May 13, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Why the giving of the document that would permanently change the world could only be done in desolation

David G. Savage: Church-state, literally? Supreme Court weighing public school graduation in a church

Emily Alpert: Recession dragged down birth rates for less-educated women
Morgan Housel: The deep downside of home ownership

Peter Teffer: Will Dutch police soon be stalking cybercriminals on your computer?

Heidi McIndoo, M.S., R.D.: Meatless 'meat' can have its own set of problems

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Celebrate! This must-try appetizer is delicate yet has depth of flavor: Corn-Leek Cakes with Caviar, Smoked Salmon and Creme Fraiche

May 10, 2013

Rabbi Berel Wein: Be all that you should be

Caroline B. Glick: The dirty little secret about Israel's Arabs

Mona Charen: Hawking's Moral Calculus: The man and the movement he embraces
Morgan Housel: The biggest retirement myth ever told

Sandi Doughton: Eyes may provide new insight into brain problems

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : The Great Gatsby's Jewish Ties; Jews in the "Time 100 list" List; People's Most Beautiful Women

The Kosher Gourmet by Linda Gassenheimer: A sweet-hot meal: Pear salsa spices up salmon

May 8, 2013

Peter Ford: Why China is welcoming both Israel's Netanyahu and Palestinians' Abbas

Warren Richey: Obama administration quietly backs out of appeal over new contraceptive mandate

Fred Weir: At Kerry-Putin meeting, US-Russia relations thaw --- a tad
Amanda Paulson: Study reveals sad truths about community colleges

Harvard Health Letters: Evidence weak that zinc, echinacea are beneficial

The Kosher Gourmet by Leela Cyd Ross : Almost too pretty to eat, this colorful salad with Sicilian inspiration will tickle the taste buds and delight your visual sensibility

May 6, 2013

Edmund Sanders and Patrick J. McDonnell: Think Israel's objective in Syria is to weaken Assad or embolden the rebels? Think again

Brian Bennett: Israeli airstrikes may show weakness in Syrian defense

Michael Ollove: Millions of ex-felons, parolees and those on probation are about to be entitled to tax-payer paid health coverage
Karen Kaplan: Most men can skip PSA test for prostate cancer, urologists say

Kimberly Lankford: How to track down a lost life insurance policy

Dream of Mars exploration achievable, experts say

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan M. Selasky: EGGPLANT WRAPS are an easy, sumptuous and scrumptious meal

May 3, 2013

Rabbi Nathan Lopes Cardozo: Human Courage and the Unavoidable, Disturbing Text

Steven Emerson: Attorney General Fights CAIR in Court, Lauds it in Public

Mediterranean diet helps beat dementia: study
Harvard Health Letters: When to be screened for a hearing problem

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom : Iron Man's Jewish Connections; Marc Maron's New TV Show; Martin Landau Grows Up with Israel; Shalom, Allan Arbus

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: A sweet surprise for Mother's Day dessert

May 1, 2013

Jonathan Rosenblum: An Improbable Journey to Orthodoxy

Jonathan Tobin: Blame Obama, Not Israel for Syria Push

Kids, kittens the Same? With employee perks at struggling Internet pioneer Yahoo! it's hard to tell
Halena M. Gazelka, M.D.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: What you need to know about implanted pain relief devices

Sandy Kleffman: Artificial kidney offers hope to patients tethered to a dialysis machine

Jessica Shugart: When it comes to math, MRIs may be better than IQs

The Kosher Gourmet by Mario Batali: The celebrated chef on how high-maintenance ASPARAGUS RISOTTO need not be

April 29, 2013

Roy Gutman: Poland's new Jewish museum celebrates life, doesn't revisit Holocaust

Mark Clayton: Terrorism in America: Is US missing a chance to learn from failed plots?

Kim Murphy: Boston Bomber's 'Svengali' Revealed
Morgan Housel: He's rich, smart and old: Listen to him

Thomas Salinas, D.D.S.: Mayo Clinic Medical Edge: The safety of amalgam fillings

Harvard Health Letters: Tomatoes and stroke protection

Pete Spotts: Tiny satellites + cellphones = cheaper 'eyes in the sky' for NASA

The Kosher Gourmet by Diane Rossen Worthington: Swing into spring with lemon cream pie

April 26, 2013

Rabbi Abraham J. Twerski: The world is a mirror

Caroline B. Glick: Time to confront Obama

Clifford D. May: Defense in the Age of Jihadist Terrorism
Kimberly Lankford: New strategies ease pain of paying for long-term care insurance

Howard LeWine, M.D.: Ask the Harvard Experts: Too much ibuprofen?

Sharon Palmer, R.D.: How to feel your best -- with plenty of energy, a healthy weight and optimal mental and physical function -- without driving yourself batty

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Jewish Major Leaguers, 2013; New Movies and Comedy Show; Shalom, 'Lumpy' (Leave it to Beaver)

The Kosher Gourmet by Emily Ho : A bright and cheerful salad to herald the warmer months ahead

April 24, 2013

Steven Emerson: Boston Bomber Exposes Islamist Secret

Morgan Housel Admit it: No one has any idea what's going on
Harvard Health Letters: Can you get headaches from headache medication?

Kerri-Ann Jennings, M.S., R.D.: How to easily get more Omega-3s in your diet

Melissa Healy: Pot in a pill: All the pain relief without the smoke

The Kosher Gourmet by Susan Russo: Chipotle Chili Butternut Squash Soup is bold, zesty, hot

April 22, 2013

Ken Dilanian: Counterterrorism's future is unclear

US man departing country arrested on terror charges
Barbara Williams: An unorthodox but growing treatment in a 9-year-old's battle against cancer

P.J. Skerrett, M.D.: How to recognize a good whole grain product

Jewz in the Newz by Nate Bloom: Teen actor Jonah Bobo in New Flick: Hunky James Wolk on Mad Men; Erich Segal's Daughter Writes Prize-Winning Jewish Novel


Jewish World Review April 21, 2005 / 12 Nissan, 5765

A Nation of ‘Fourth Sons’

By Jonathan Tobin


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How do you educate Jews who don't even know how to ask a question?



http://www.JewishWorldReview.com | I've spent a lot of time around my house lately playing seder.


With the aid of some very neat toys, my daughter Moriah, and my wife and I have been practicing for the big night when we will sit and tell the story of the Exodus.


This involves a lot of singing of "Dayenu," playing with the toys that represent the 10 plagues, hiding and finding the afikoman, rehearsing the recitation of the preface to the four questions in Hebrew and English, a lot of mock pouring of grape juice and the recitation of blessings, some of which are already familiar to her from Friday nights.


For my soon-to-be 4-year-old, it's an entertaining game that dovetails nicely with the barrage of Passover books we've been reading to her. But for us, the fun and games have a serious purpose: We're trying to turn a little girl into a Jew who not only takes her heritage and faith seriously, but who will ultimately draw the right conclusions from all of this, and make Jewish values and identity the keystones to decisions she'll make about her life.

DEMOGRAPHIC FACTS
Living in a secular world where we are a tiny minority swimming in a sea of non-Jewish popular culture, it takes a nonstop conscious effort to ensure that Moriah knows who she is and what that means.


The demographic facts of life in this country tell us that not only are Jews a shrinking, aging population, but one whose children are often not receiving the sort of instruction that would enable them to make informed Jewish choices.


In Philadelphia, the news is worse than in most places. A smaller percentage of children here attend Jewish day schools — the best possible educational venue for combining intensive Jewish knowledge with a superior secular education — than the national average. More than 80 percent of our kids are instead getting their Jewish education at part-time congregational schools. And of these, the overwhelming majority are not continuing their Jewish education after their Bar or Bat Mitzvah.


That means that just at the moment their identities are being formed, their exposure to Jewish learning ends. This is a recipe for disaster.


And that's what we've reaped as American baby-boomers have come to maturity as perhaps the most accomplished generation in Jewish history in terms of secular knowledge, while simultaneously achieving the distinction of being the most Jewishly illiterate. We've earned that title with growing rates of disaffiliation and dropping rates of concern for Israel, Jewish observance and donating to Jewish philanthropies.


American Jews have become a collection of fourth sons, the character in the Passover narrative who is not even able to ask a question about the holiday. Many of us are as clueless as the slaves of Egypt about what it means to be a Jew. It took Moses — the greatest of teachers and prophets — to teach those slaves the meaning of freedom.


But we must teach ourselves again to choose to be Jews.


One answer is clearly to try and make the synagogue Hebrew schools better since the reason why so many young Jews are uninterested in learning more is that their initial experience was so unsatisfactory.


To that end, programs are being put in place to try and raise the standards for teaching in these schools and to give them more resources and better programs.


If we accept, as unfortunately we must, that many Jewish parents will not send their child to a day school no matter what the cost, then we must do something to transform afternoon Hebrew schools from being a symbol of Jewish communal failure into beacons of excellence.


But is that a panacea for all that ails American Jewry?


Clearly not. Day schools remain our best investment in Jewish continuity, and making them more affordable for the middle-class must also receive priority funding and attention.


Jewish camps and trips to Israel are other vital tools in this battle that are also battling for scarce funds. But unfortunately, the process of changing communal policy to give education the greatest share of our resources is far from over.


Yet even the best of schools or camps cannot make up for a lack of interest in the home and on the part of parents, many of whom are themselves Jewishly ignorant. If children are merely dropped off at these schools with no follow-up by their families, then the quality of the school will, in the long run, won't matter much.


As it so happens, a few nights ago, at bedtime during my reading of a Passover book, my daughter interrupted me to say that she now wanted to do something. Inspired by the story, she said she wanted to go to Israel to see the Burning Bush and meet Moses. But that wasn't all! We also needed to go with Moses to see Pharaoh and take him to see the bush, and that maybe then he wouldn't be so mean to the Jewish slaves.


While her grasp of the timeline of Jewish history will improve in the years to come, I don't think she'll do better in getting at the essence of Jewish values, even if I fear she is a trifle optimistic about unhardening the hearts of the wicked.


Let's hope the rest of her generation will do as well in the future.

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JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Philadelphia Jewish Exponent. Let him know what you think by clicking here.

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