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Jewish World Review June 12, 1998 / 18 Sivan, 5758
Jonathan S. Tobin
Families, communities need to invest more
HOW NECESSARY IS Jewish education to the Jewish community as a whole? While
holdouts who question the importance of education still exist in the Jewish
world, they are diminishing with each passing year. American Jews have, by
and large, returned to the traditional Jewish notion that the foundation of
Jewish life is study.
But the question remains just how much we are prepared to invest in
education.
The answer involves more than just allocations of funds by community
institutions. As often as not, the key decisions are taking place at
individual synagogues and around the family kitchen table. And it is there,
as much as on the battlefront of Federation boardrooms, that the future of the
Jewish community is being fought.
The good news about day schools is that enrollment continues to increase
both here in Connecticut and around the country. The bad news is that these
schools are often filled to capacity and would be unable to take in more. In
addition, tuition at Jewish day schools which remain the best bet for
Jewish continuity we have remains prohibitive for most parents. While a consensus
is building to prioritize day schools, it has not yet gotten to the point
where Jewish communal decision makers are prepared to create an education
"safety net" which would ensure that all children who want a comprehensive
Jewish day school education can get one.
That's a tragedy.
A year ago, we were told that insufficient funds existed
in Connecticut to duplicate a successful Seattle experiment in which day school
tuitions were capped. That experiment increased enrollment significantly.
The fact that another year has passed without such an experiment being tried
elsewhere.
Supporters of day schools are also working to gain access to the Jewish
resources of the generation which is passing on. The Chicago-based National
Jewish Day School Scholarship Committee has now called for rabbis and Jewish
leaders to urge individuals to leave at least 5 percent of their income to
Jewish day schools.
This "Jewish estate tax," seeks to create a "moral mandate" for giving via
estates and foundations. It deserves support.
Will it merely have equal status with Little League, ballet lessons and the
Girl Scouts (as is so often the case with Jewish families who send their
children to get a "dose" of Judaism)?
If so, it won't matter how much money we put into such schools. If the home
is not a place where Jewish learning is respected or practiced, then it won't
matter how good the school is. "Pediatric" Jewish education which ignores
parents who are as ignorant as their kids, hasn't and won't work.
How do we create a community where Jewish learning is respected? A slim book
on one case study is illuminating. Educator Joseph Reimer's recent book,
Succeeding at Jewish Education: How One Synagogue Made it Work (Jewish
Publication Society), is must reading.
In it, Reimer traces the progress of the programs at one Reform synagogue
(which he aptly dubs "Temple Akiba" the names are changed in the book to
protect both the innocent and the guilty). It is important because "Temple
Akiba" is a large "classic" Reform temple. It is exactly the sort of place
where many Jews (and intermarried couples) without strong foundations in
Jewish learning come to find a place in the Jewish world.
The challenge the temple's rabbi and educators face is how to create a
Jewish learning environment for both adults and children. "Temple Akiba" succeeds
in large measure because although its "distinctive Torah" is far more "liberal"
than some of us might personally accept, it is still rooted in Jewish
tradition and text. At "Akiba" the goal is to reach Jews where they are and
make them see that Torah and Jewish study is directly relevant to their
lives.
This is a concept which is no more Reform than it is Orthodox.
Though much effort is put into reassuring the protesting parents, in the
end, the synagogue sticks to its guns and the "no Hebrew" option is ended. The
rabbi had to explain to these parents that a Judaism without Hebrew (and
thus without serious study) "cannot insure the Jewish continuity of their
children." The moral is that educating the Jewish children of a Jewishly
illiterate generation requires educating the parents as well.
The message here is that the continuity struggle isn't along denominational
lines. It is being fought at Reform as well as Conservative and Orthodox
synagogues. And though day schools remain our best option (and thus deserve
a greater share of the funds), we cannot abandon the children in the afternoon
schools.
There is, as Reimer proves, some hope for them,
What price Jewish education?
Everywhere I go in the Jewish world, I see more recognition that Jewish
education and study of sacred texts is not something that Jews impose on
their children so that their posterity will remain Jewish. Study is something that
Jews do because they are Jewish. And it is in study itself and not merely
political activism or philanthropy (let alone ethnic foods or the study of
Yiddish) that our Judaism is best expressed.
Today's Jewish schools aren't like they used to be
Day school "safety net" still needed
At the same time, the community must struggle to keep up its separate but
unequal system of Jewish education: excellent day schools and often less
than adequate afternoon synagogue schools where the majority of Jewish kids will
go.
Aid for afternoon Hebrew schools
But as the battle for more funds for day schools goes on, the overwhelming
majority of Jewish children remain in the afternoon synagogue schools. And
despite our best efforts even with the "safety net" we must have the
plurality of Jewish children who receive any sort of Jewish education will
remain in the afternoon schools. These schools need more, too. But the key is
to avoid reinforcing failure. And that is what all too many synagogue
schools still are.
How do we help? On this score, some local initiatives are promising as
region wide Jewish education leaders struggle to provide aid and direction to the
synagogue schools.
Educating families, not just kids
But the commitment to Jewish education is going to mean a fundamental change
in the way Jewish parents think about educating their children Jewishly. As
important as the question of Federations prioritizing education is, it is
just as much of an imperative for each individual household to make the same
decision.
Fighting the "no Hebrew" option
Yet at Reimer's "Akiba," conflict and failures are still present. An example
is when the rabbi and the Hebrew school committee seeks to end the option
whereby parents might send their children to "Sunday school" only, and thus
learn no Hebrew. This creates a firestorm of protest from parents who came
to "Akiba" specifically to escape rigorous Jewish learning while retaining a
smattering of Jewish identity. This is similar to fights at local synagogues
over how many hours or days Hebrew Schools will make mandatory.
JWR contributor Jonathan S. Tobin is executive editor of the Connecticut Jewish Ledger.
