Adult Education

By Shira Novack
KOC Assistant Editor
Binghamton University

For a number of years I have been involved with Jewish education, both as a student and as a peer teacher. If you think about it, these formal years of Jewish education are just the tip of the iceberg. People say learning never ends and it is fairly safe to say that one’s Jewish education is included in this statement.

Jewish education can take place in a variety of locations and can take a number of shapes. These do not necessarily involve children or a formal classroom setting. Indeed much of my knowledge has come to me this way. My Hebrew School was a wonderful place, but there was not always time to go into depth about various aspects of Judaism. Jewish learning can take place in a conversation, come from books, synagogue or other places. As I’ve explored my own Jewish identity and what being Jewish means to me, I’ve gained a lot of Jewish knowledge, both from conversations with people and from books. Right now I have been learning in a more formal manner, because I have been learning how to be a gabbai and about the various responsibilities that go along with it.

I do believe that Jewish learning and education are a life-long process. Personally, the best example I can think of is my mother. As a child, my mother never went to Hebrew school and never had a Bat Mitzvah celebration of her own. My mom took classes at our synagogue, where she increased her knowledge of Judaism and learned how to read Hebrew. It was a reversal of roles -- instead of my mom helping my siblings and me with our homework, we would sit and listen to her read Hebrew.

After three years of Hebrew classes and a Bat Mitzvah class, all her hard work culminated in being called to the Torah as a Bat Mitzvah. That day, she formalized her identity as an adult in the Jewish faith, so I guess I was kind of an adult before my mom was! From the bimah my mom and her classmates led the service, chanted Torah, and each gave a dvar Torah. My mom finally got to celebrate becoming a Bat Mitzvah, and it was probably more meaningful to her than it would have been when she was thirteen. I thought learning all of these skills as a child was hard, but I am sure that it was infinitely harder for my mom.

There is no one right time and it is never too late for a person to start or further their Jewish education. It is a process that never stops and each of us can begin or return to it whenever we feel a hunger for knowledge of our heritage and religion.

[Posted 12/16/09]