Raising our kids to be knowledgeable Jews

Raquel Kaplan Goldberg

 

The conversation about Jewish day school and its affordability is becoming deafening these days, and I’m glad.

I am glad because parents are struggling to pay, and school boards and administrators need to take that struggle seriously. I am glad because the demand for new models is producing innovative ideas that can enhance Jewish education in general. But most of all, I am glad because the conversation is prompting us, especially those of us with day school-age children, to seriously examine the question of what we consider essential to Judaism and whether we think it’s important to play a role in the development of Judaism.

In his Feb. 6 editorial about the costs and benefits of a day school education, CJN editor Yoni Goldstein wrote that he is “fairly confident [he] can, with a little help from family and friends, bring up a good Jewish daughter without day school.”

Assuming “a good Jewish daughter” is a woman with a rich spiritual consciousness, a connection to Jewish rituals and an ethical sensitivity consistent with Jewish values like tzedakah (justice), kavod habriyot (respect for human dignity) and tikkun olam (repairing the world), I can only agree. I have always believed that one’s ethical values are more strongly absorbed from family role models and home life than anyone or anywhere else, and most Jewish rituals occur in the home or synagogue in any case.

But is that the extent of the goal when we speak of raising Jewish children? Or is success measured in part by the degree to which our children are knowledgeable Jews?

It is hard to imagine children home­schooled in Judaism having even a passing familiarity with the Book of Kings, let alone tractates of the Talmud. I like to think Theodor Herzl would be mentioned, but Joseph Trumpeldor might be pushing it. Most parents simply do not have the time or pedagogical training to effectively transmit the extent of the material covered in a day school.

And knowledge of this material is important in Judaism.

For those who believe in the Divine nature of the Torah and Jewish law, there is religious value in studying the primary sources and understanding how Jewish law is developed. It is a means of knowing God and enhancing one’s ritual observance.

For those who don’t, there is still the strong notion that we are the People of the Book – that part of being Jewish is valuing the foundational Jewish texts for their own sake.

But beyond the intrinsic value of knowing and being able to study Jewish texts is the fact that doing this creates a platform from which to speak about Jewish matters. Simply put, this knowledge and skill set, along with an ability to contextualize one’s views against the backdrop of Jewish history, are critical if one wishes to have a voice in the contemporary Jewish conversation.

Looking at the debates following New York’s SAR High School’s decision to let two female students wear their tfillin during female prayer services in the school, it is immediately clear that each side constructed its position out of textual building blocks in historical context. Whether pro or con, every argument I read referred to one or more of the Talmud, the Sefer Hachinuch, the Rambam and so on, and considered how the respective sources would apply in light of changed societal norms.

To the extent that this episode raised possibilities “in shaping the future of Judaism,” as Goldstein put it, only those equipped with textual knowledge, textual skills and knowledge of Jewish history as it relates to the texts and practices in question, were able to meaningfully participate.

And this is by no means only true in Orthodox circles. While different denominations of Judaism take varied approaches to what can be done in the face of traditional sources, the sources are still the shared starting point.

So Goldstein’s conclusion is right: day schools play a critical role in empowering our children to participate in the development of Judaism, but not only by exposing them to Jewish issues that arise in a school environment, or even by providing them with a training ground in the form of a mini-Jewish community of their own. Just as importantly, day schools provide our children with the textual and informational tools that will enable them to articulate and advocate coherent Jewish positions on whatever issues matter to them. They give our children the chance to have a say in what Judaism should look like.

Raquel Kaplan Goldberg is a day school graduate and the mother of two young children. She lives in Toronto.