Ladies and Gentlemen, may I present my first foray into blogging: “The Fifth Child”.
We’re familiar with the 4 sons of Passover: the wise, the wicked, the simple and the one who doesn’t even know how to ask. These characters are meant to teach us that we must recognize the different types of learners that cross our paths. I think that many of us (including yours truly) fits into a fifth category – a combination of all of the above. Sometimes I know something and want to find out more. Sometimes I revel in questioning authority. At times I really don’t know what’s going on. And then every once in a while I don’t even know how to ask. Ergo “The Fifth Child”.
I’ll be writing about questions I have that touch upon how the modern world interfaces with the Jewish past, present and future. With answers that you can provide, together we can explore ways that will enable us to transmit what we know (or think we know) to the next generation.
I start with a couple of (my) "givens":
1) Technology, such as twitter, Second Life and iPods, is poised to be the connective tissue that links tomorrow's Jews to Judaism and the Jewish community today.
2) Learning and teaching need to be experiential. The effectiveness of what has been dubbed “formal education” has been exposed to be a myth, especially in supplementary Jewish education. We understand that learning must involve doing, experiences.
Does anyone out there have other "givens"? Anyone disagree with mine? Let's start the conversation.
I think it’s time for tachlis…what works and what doesn’t. As a Jewish educator in a congregational setting, I am fascinated by how we can engage our students with their Jewish heritage. I’m not talking about ideas that can be applied the day after tomorrow (like my friend, Adrian Durlester’s idea of divorcing supplementary schools from synagogues. Check out his blog at migdalorguysblog.blogspot.com.) I want to know what we can do this afternoon, and tomorrow. What can we do to keep our students interested? What can we do to get the parents to park their cars and to come into the building? What works? What doesn’t?
The next question, of course, is what I mean by the concept of “our Jewish heritage”? Well, that’s the 64 thousand shekel question. I maintain that it is time for us to reevaluate what we are teaching. What (if any) role does the modern State of Israel play in the lives of 21st century American Jews? Do denominations matter? And when you get down to it…what in tarnations IS a Jew anyway? In a world made up of what Joey Kurtzman of Jewcy.com called “Frankenjews” (www.jewcy.com/dialogue/2007-06-11/joey1), what does it mean to be a Member of the Tribe? How does it impact what we teach about ourselves and about the idea of Klal Yisrael?
I’ll stop here for now. If anyone is reading this, please respond – let’s start a discussion about what are the practical steps in creating a meaningful Jewish future.
wow, Peter-you sure do know how to cut through the mustard and get to the heart of things. I believe all the questions you raise are valid.
ReplyDeleteYou and I agree about the "myth" of formal Jewish education, though there will be plenty who disagree.
I do question how easy it will be to define your tachlis matters of what works and what doesn't. What works for some doesn't work for others and v.v. All situations are, well, situational.
The very nature of the technology, and how it strives to allow for individuality (and frustrates when it doesn't allow for enough or make it easy enough) is a clue to why a quest for "what works" will not lead to any sort of rigid set of guidelines. The next generations are going to craft their Judaism their way. Perhaps we should focus less on how they will craft it, and more on giving them the underlying knowledge to build their Jewish identity as they see fit, and not according to some mold determined by synagogue, movement, ideology, etc.
The supplemental school independent of the synagogue is, for me, the only place where this can effectively happen. Synagogues as they now exist cannot eliminate he need for self-preservation from their equation and perforce might not be able to step outside some vague movemental boundaries or ideologies. However, I'm open to a discussion to see how and if what we both see as the future for Jewish ed can happen in extant synagogue supplemental schools.
Hi Peter,
ReplyDeleteYou raise the questions manyof us struggle with every day. I see it in my own children who see no need for institutional education and Judaism. I see it in the number of people dropping out of synagogues following their children's Bnai Mitzvot; and I see it in the community at large with Jews choosing not to affiliate with any type of institutional Judaism. I don't have the answers, just questions. I'd be curious to see what others have to say on this subject.
OK - another given, at least for me. While teachers should always learn from their students and students should be able to share and teach others, we each need a partner/guide as we move along our Jewish learning journey. Technology and active learning may change the nature of tools and settings that provide the gaining and integration of new learning, yet these do not replace the need for interaction and wrestling with text and concepts in chevruta.
ReplyDeleteI will pick the fight with Adrian here after congratulating you on your first posting. Well. said, Peter.
ReplyDeleteAdrian, I have to argue that separating the school from the shul is a major problem. I do not accept the argument (often said loudly by George Hanus) that the synagogue has an ulterior self-preservation (read financial) motive for maintaining the schools.
Simply put, the synagogue, when meeting its own ideals, is a community. It needs to meet the needs of its members from cradle to grave. Turfing the religious education to a separate agency/school is a cop out and eliminates the connection to community for the kids. If done right, the young learners encounter adult role models, living out the life of the congregation. Are we there? No. Separating the school out eliminates the possibility of success.
Look at the number of Day School students who see themselves as tourists in the synagogue. Yes, they have a superior Jewish knowledge base, and may even have a higher degree of praxis. Unless their parents were also day school products, that knowledge and connection exists only in relationship to other children in Day Schools. There is insufficient enculturation to a larger community of adults.
And separating the school does not mean you will get more time out of their families. You only unplug them.