Tuesday, January 23, 2007
A Career in Learning
A friend of mine was recently approached by a relative of his, concerning the financial plight of a young couple. The couple, both orphans, had just had their third child in five years. The oldest child was forced to sleep on the floor, as the parents could not afford a bed, as the father was in full-time learning, making only 1,000 NIS (around $230) a month. The friend bought a bed for the child, as she could not bear the idea of the three year old sleeping on the floor. Nevertheless, before she made delivery of the bed, she made her feelings known to the relative that it was unacceptable for the father to be neglecting his family in such a way. She felt that it was a disgrace that he sat and learnt while his family was left starving.
I feel the same way but do not have the nerve to express this to the people suffering. Often, people knock on my door asking for financial help. I never say no, but I always get irked when after telling me his sob story, the person says that he’s in kollel, as if he is doing something so righteous that I have a duty to support him. I always want to shout out: "So get a job then instead of coming round begging!" It is for this reason that for a few a years now I have stopped donating money to Kollels – I see them as the biggest perpetuators of poverty (possibly after certain Israeli political parties) amongst our people.
As you can imagine, those collecting for kollels often challenge me, saying that the learning their students do helps sustain our people. The problem is that I do not believe that to be the case. Most people are in Kollel because they do not know what else to do. Very few actually learn all day long, many double dip, going to different kollels in the morning and afternoon, claiming an allowance twice, (many also go to a further evening kollel and get a third allowance) and many, do not even bother turning up to their kollel, yet still claim their stipend. Very few are in it for the sake of heaven.
I remember a conversation I once had with a young kollel student. He told me that because his wife worked and they only had one child, he did not need to bother with evening kollel.
However, what bothers me most is the way that many educators not only encourage their students to be kollel learners (and female students to marry those in learning)--they actually look down on those who choose a career, as if they are only second best or have somehow failed.
It is time that our religious leaders and educators look about and see the damage that this policy is doing to young families. Poverty is not an ideal; it is an evil. I really have no problem with a select elite of brilliant people choosing this lifestyle and being supported by the community. However, career learning, in its present format is creating and perpetuating tremendous suffering.
Coincidentally, I notice that Sephardi Lady also tackles this subject this week, though from a slightly different angle, see http://orthonomics.blogspot.com/2007/01/propping-up-ailing-system-charlie-hall.html.
I feel the same way but do not have the nerve to express this to the people suffering. Often, people knock on my door asking for financial help. I never say no, but I always get irked when after telling me his sob story, the person says that he’s in kollel, as if he is doing something so righteous that I have a duty to support him. I always want to shout out: "So get a job then instead of coming round begging!" It is for this reason that for a few a years now I have stopped donating money to Kollels – I see them as the biggest perpetuators of poverty (possibly after certain Israeli political parties) amongst our people.
As you can imagine, those collecting for kollels often challenge me, saying that the learning their students do helps sustain our people. The problem is that I do not believe that to be the case. Most people are in Kollel because they do not know what else to do. Very few actually learn all day long, many double dip, going to different kollels in the morning and afternoon, claiming an allowance twice, (many also go to a further evening kollel and get a third allowance) and many, do not even bother turning up to their kollel, yet still claim their stipend. Very few are in it for the sake of heaven.
I remember a conversation I once had with a young kollel student. He told me that because his wife worked and they only had one child, he did not need to bother with evening kollel.
However, what bothers me most is the way that many educators not only encourage their students to be kollel learners (and female students to marry those in learning)--they actually look down on those who choose a career, as if they are only second best or have somehow failed.
It is time that our religious leaders and educators look about and see the damage that this policy is doing to young families. Poverty is not an ideal; it is an evil. I really have no problem with a select elite of brilliant people choosing this lifestyle and being supported by the community. However, career learning, in its present format is creating and perpetuating tremendous suffering.
Coincidentally, I notice that Sephardi Lady also tackles this subject this week, though from a slightly different angle, see http://orthonomics.blogspot.com/2007/01/propping-up-ailing-system-charlie-hall.html.
Labels: Kollel, universal Torah study
Thursday, January 18, 2007
Torah study for all
In three provocative op-ed pieces that have appeared in the Wall Street Journal this week, Charles Murray, a scholar at the American Enterprise Institute, a conservative think-tank, argues that -
1. we should recognize - and accept - that about half of the students in our schools are of below average intelligence whose potential for academic success is limited
(see http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009531 )
2. too many students are being encouraged to continue their formal education in four-year colleges, when other professional tracks might be better for them
(see http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009535 )
3. gifted students deserve special attention in the course of their education, since their talents require them to shoulder greater responsibilities to the community at large
(see http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009541 )
Although his arguments with regard to general education deserve a serious response (and I encourage such discussions here or on Lookjed), I will limit my comments to their logical implication were we to apply them to day school students and Torah study. According to Murray's arguments, it would make sense for Jewish schools to recognize the limitations of a large proportion of its students and direct them away from serious academic settings, focusing resources instead on those gifted students who have the potential to contribute the most to the Jewish community.
Such a suggestion would hardly be a new idea. From what I can tell, it was a system that was commonplace throughout Jewish history, up until pre-war Europe. Students with unique potential (or from families of significant wealth) would be encouraged and supported as they continued their Torah study. The expectation was that when these young men (and they were, invariably, men) were of appropriate age and maturity, they would take on leadership roles in the community. The movement of universal Torah study in the Orthodox world beyond elementary school – for the commandment of Torah study ensured that virtually all Jews were literate and knowledgeable on some level – is relatively new, probably the outgrowth of our living in one of the most prosperous ages in world history.
While many argue that the movement today in certain circles towards universal Torah study into adulthood carries with it many dangers, I am not interested in discussing the Kollel phenomena. My question is whether all of our students should be encouraged to continue learning in formal settings post-high school, or if such study should be viewed as the domain of an elite few.
Let us recognize that Torah study is not first-and-foremost about Torah knowledge. It is about the experience of learning; the attempt to be part of a conversation that spans generations from the time of Moses (and before) until today. It is the effort to understand God and His will. Every Jewish student (and every Jewish person – child and adult – should aspire to remain a student) should aim to reach his or her highest level of this experience and understanding, but there is no objective achievement that should be the goal for all students.
Recently programs have been opened in two prestigious Israeli institutions that have programs that cater to American high school graduates, whose purpose is to allow special-needs students to participate – on their own levels – in the post-high school Israel experience. These types of programs should be a model for all students, recognizing that what is important in Yeshiva is not only the amount of Torah memorized or analyzed, but the experience of being involved in Jewish life to one's own, personal, utmost.
Aside from this issue, we should recognize what Howard Gardner taught the world of education some years back. There are multiple intelligences out there. The academic scholar may very well not make the best community leader. With the dearth of leadership in Jewish education – and in the Jewish community in general – it makes a lot of sense to recognize the different strengths and intelligences of all of our students, recognizing that it is not only the intellectual elite that will be driving the future of the Jewish people. We need to educate and encourage every Jewish child to aspire to make a difference in the future of the Jewish community.
1. we should recognize - and accept - that about half of the students in our schools are of below average intelligence whose potential for academic success is limited
(see http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009531 )
2. too many students are being encouraged to continue their formal education in four-year colleges, when other professional tracks might be better for them
(see http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009535 )
3. gifted students deserve special attention in the course of their education, since their talents require them to shoulder greater responsibilities to the community at large
(see http://www.opinionjournal.com/extra/?id=110009541 )
Although his arguments with regard to general education deserve a serious response (and I encourage such discussions here or on Lookjed), I will limit my comments to their logical implication were we to apply them to day school students and Torah study. According to Murray's arguments, it would make sense for Jewish schools to recognize the limitations of a large proportion of its students and direct them away from serious academic settings, focusing resources instead on those gifted students who have the potential to contribute the most to the Jewish community.
Such a suggestion would hardly be a new idea. From what I can tell, it was a system that was commonplace throughout Jewish history, up until pre-war Europe. Students with unique potential (or from families of significant wealth) would be encouraged and supported as they continued their Torah study. The expectation was that when these young men (and they were, invariably, men) were of appropriate age and maturity, they would take on leadership roles in the community. The movement of universal Torah study in the Orthodox world beyond elementary school – for the commandment of Torah study ensured that virtually all Jews were literate and knowledgeable on some level – is relatively new, probably the outgrowth of our living in one of the most prosperous ages in world history.
While many argue that the movement today in certain circles towards universal Torah study into adulthood carries with it many dangers, I am not interested in discussing the Kollel phenomena. My question is whether all of our students should be encouraged to continue learning in formal settings post-high school, or if such study should be viewed as the domain of an elite few.
Let us recognize that Torah study is not first-and-foremost about Torah knowledge. It is about the experience of learning; the attempt to be part of a conversation that spans generations from the time of Moses (and before) until today. It is the effort to understand God and His will. Every Jewish student (and every Jewish person – child and adult – should aspire to remain a student) should aim to reach his or her highest level of this experience and understanding, but there is no objective achievement that should be the goal for all students.
Recently programs have been opened in two prestigious Israeli institutions that have programs that cater to American high school graduates, whose purpose is to allow special-needs students to participate – on their own levels – in the post-high school Israel experience. These types of programs should be a model for all students, recognizing that what is important in Yeshiva is not only the amount of Torah memorized or analyzed, but the experience of being involved in Jewish life to one's own, personal, utmost.
Aside from this issue, we should recognize what Howard Gardner taught the world of education some years back. There are multiple intelligences out there. The academic scholar may very well not make the best community leader. With the dearth of leadership in Jewish education – and in the Jewish community in general – it makes a lot of sense to recognize the different strengths and intelligences of all of our students, recognizing that it is not only the intellectual elite that will be driving the future of the Jewish people. We need to educate and encourage every Jewish child to aspire to make a difference in the future of the Jewish community.
Labels: day schools, universal Torah study
