schmoozED

A recent discussion on Lookjed focused on the need – or appropriateness – of teaching our children to turn to Rabbinic leaders on issues of personal choice. The discussion of Da'as Torah – whether to view Rabbinic Sages (or specific ones, at any rate) as having unique insight to which a committed Jew is obligated to hearken – has a long history, much of which is readily available on-line (as Jonathan Marvin pointed out). In many ways it is a discussion that already has had its lines drawn.

My concern is related, but a different one. I believe that we can all agree that students need role models, people who they can look to as inspiring personalities to emulate. Ideally, they should find them at first in their homes and local communities.

Given the role of the media in contemporary society, role models often are figures in the world of sports and entertainment. This brings with it certain challenges. While there is great value in bringing happiness to people, I am not certain that today's entertainment world is an embodiment of true joy, or if it offers an ephemeral "high" that passes for happiness today.

As our children grow and become more aware of the world around them, such models of leadership should be people who have made their mark on the larger community. Depending on a child's interest, it probably makes sense for us to direct our children's attention to a scientist whose work has made people live longer or better, a developer whose buildings house thousands or a visionary whose ideas have made the world a better place.

My greatest concern relates to leadership figures who are truly in a position that calls for role-modeling. Someone who enters the public arena in a position of leadership – say, the President, Prime Minister, Chief Rabbi, Justice Minister, etc. – is, by definition, someone who we should be able to point to as a model for our students and children. If we would like to encourage them to take initiative and responsibility as adults, it just seems logical that such figures should be people who inspire respect. Unfortunately, such is not the case today – and while I am writing from the perspective of someone who lives in Israel, I believe that recent events concerning public officials in Israel are covered by the media around the world, and are of concern to everyone who feels connected to the Jewish State.

How are we to inspire our children to want to lead and impact on their community, when it appears that the people who fill so many of those types of positions today are the living antithesis of the values and aspirations that we hold out for our children?

Labels: Israel, leadership

I’ve been living in the States—a temporary abode for studies—for about a year now, and I still haven’t gotten used to the reaction of other members of the tribe when I tell them I’m from Jerusalem. The response is often a momentary look of utter confusion that reads “What? Why?” which is quickly replaced by a smile and a “How nice.” This has happened too many times for me to write it off as a rarity.

Last year, when Ariel Sharon fell ill, I was glued to the Internet, watching Channel One news. I could talk about nothing else. And my American Jewish friends, well, they shrugged. It didn’t really touch them. When I returned from my three-month stay in Israel over the summer, I was asked about the war, but the conversations died quickly—either they could not find anything meaningful to say or just did not find the topic of serious interest. While the people I am referring to donate hard-earned money to Israeli causes, participate in Yom Ha’atzmaut festivities, and visit when they can, they are unable or unwilling to engage in higher-level conversations about Israel—the good, the bad, and the ugly. Sadly, it seems to me that for them Israel is almost a fictitious Never-Neverland—whether a spiritual utopia, a punching bag, a sunny holiday destination, or a war-ravaged country that they can do without.

Israel was a serious priority in my high school. For instance, instead of offering standard Hebrew language classes that focused on grammar, they had two options: Sifrut and Itonut—that is, classes where students studied classic and modern Israeli literature or analyzed modern Israeli newspaper articles, so that we were introduced to the challenges Israeli society faces. A subtle message that we were somehow connected to Israel and Israelis was channeled through school programming—hearing Hativka on the PA system in the mornings, discussing various Israeli inventions in Science classes, staging a mock debate of the first Zionist convention, etc. I’m not on the Jewish Agency payroll here, but shouldn’t basic knowledge of Israel be part of Jewish literacy taught in our schools/camps? Shouldn’t our students be able to answer elementary questions about Israeli history and modern politics? Don’t we want Jewish citizens who can transcend the role of tourists?

Labels: day schools, Israel

On occasion I am asked whether the Lookjed discussion list is different because it is based in Israel, rather than in a Diaspora setting (North America generally - and New York specifically – seems to be where people seem to assume that it would have been housed, were it not based in Israel). I think that having the discussion's foundation in Israel lends a number of different angles to it, but the main one is that I try (when appropriate) to focus on issues having to do with Israel. By chance, two of the queries that appeared in the last Lookjed asked about Israel issues, but I will also direct attention to such topics when I have the sense that it is what Diaspora teachers should be discussing with their students. At least part of this stems from my sense that although Israel was front-and-center in the Jewish education that I had as a student in the 60's and 70's, today there is less of an emphasis on it, in day schools of all stripes and sizes.

I may have begun this unintentionally (or, perhaps, subconsciously) in the beginning, and I recall receiving an email some years back from an irate Lookjed subscriber who wrote to me saying that he did not sign up to the list to read about the political situation in Israel, which he perceived as being removed from the core subjects of Jewish education that a list like Lookjed was supposed to be discussing. My response was – and still is – that Israel is central to the Jewish people, and part of a basic Jewish schooling should include educating students to be aware and concerned with what is going on here.

Having said all of this, I would like to introduce you to a personal hero of mine – Ken Stein of Emory University. I have never met Professor Stein, but have made extensive use of his work – both academic and pedagogic – in my own teaching about Israel. Stein directs the Institute for the Study of Modern Israel at Emory University in Atlanta, which runs seminars and workshops about teaching Israel. Don't miss the newsletters that the institute puts out as well as the other resources that appear on the ISMI website.

The very fact that Professor Stein is passionate enough about the subject of teaching Israel to make sure that his work does not remain in the academic ivory tower - laboring to ensure that it is translated into classroom pedagogy - is enough to make him a hero to the community of Jewish educators who care about Israel. What drives me to write about him today is his resignation as a fellow at former President Jimmy Carter's think-tank following the publication of Carter's recent book Palestine: Peace Not Apartheid.

When the former President of the United States says on record that Israeli policy is worse than that of South Africa's apartheid regime, it is essential that a scholar can get up and respond to him in a forceful way. It is also essential that Jewish educators learn how to respond to the misinformation that appears about Israel on a daily basis in the press. Visiting the ISMI website, making use of the materials that appear there and signing up for Ken Stein's workshops, is a good way to start.

Labels: Israel

Am I wrong, or are our schools missing the point in their pastoral care of our children?

I was recently informed that at a parents' evening in a prominent Israeli school, the principal discussed his new initiative on how the school and parents would work together to create an environment of mutual respect within the school. A noble and important task, I thought, and so I listened intently to what the principal had suggested.

To my disappointment, the whole proposal was the principal’s desire to introduce a dress code for parents (aka mothers) when they came to pick up their children from school.

Who was this principal trying to kid? Were his students so respectful to the teachers, fellow students and the environment, that this should be his priority? The contrary appeared to be true: a visible number of students often spoke disrespectfully to their teachers, students also regularly treated each other discourteously, recess incidents were noticeable, the restrooms seemed unsanitary while their walls were painted with graffiti and broken pieces of school property were noticeable on the school grounds.

From what I understand, this phenomenon is quite common in dati leumi schools in Israel.

While it is obvious that an initiative to rectify the above issues would be far more appropriate, by insisting on a dress codes of the mothers, isn’t the school really saying that “it’s not important how you behave (we say its important, but we don’t really mean it), but how you dress” or even worse “how other people dress”. The students will learn one of two messages: either s/he can do what s/he likes, but as long as they’re dressed appropriately they’re fine, or that their schools are hypocritical institutions that just don’t get it.

And isn’t that what is happening to our kids today?!! We have many who dress the part but lack the required middot and many who just drop out.

I don’t really want to knock Israeli schools. To begin with this information is all anecdotal and secondly, my kids know a lot more than I ever did at their age. Furthermore, from the discussions I’ve seen recently on Lookjed makes feel that this issue is universal.

Maybe, I’m misinformed, and please tell me if I am, but when implementing pastoral policies, are our schools focusing on the minutiae and not on the big picture?

Labels: Israel, school policy