Redefining "Right"

By Joe Roberts
University of Maryland

How is your foot feeling? Wait, don’t answer that yet. Read my story first and it will all make sense:

In a yeshiva, a rabbi was routinely instructing his students: "Deal with it. You have to learn it and stop asking why."

Meanwhile… down the road: "So tell us Shlomo, what makes you Jewish?" "Well… I feel Jewish, my parents are Jewish… and uh.. the Friday night prayers are kinda fun, but I don’t really know what they mean. I guess I like Jewish food and Jewish girls?"

Judaism says to teach the Torah to your children, but it gives us no guidance as to how. These two examples represent two opposing approaches; one strict and uncompromising, the other cute and simple. The question of how to teach Judaism continues to be debated over in the synagogues and yeshivot around the globe.

So now you say: "Thanks, Joe, we already knew that." But did you know that we’re shooting ourselves in the foot by arguing about it?! I know it, but I learned it the hard way. If your foot is as hole-y as mine, you might have too. The goal of education is to help a person be a member of society in a productive, beneficial way. This goes for Jewish education, as well as every other kind of education. An economist won’t make it on Wall Street without the know-how. But what is that know-how? Is it a degree in economics? An amazing talent for stock-trading? Perhaps a family history in the field? The point is that not everyone in a certain group has, or needs, the same preparation and training. This includes the Jewish community.

I think it is almost taken for granted that whatever kind of Jewish education a person wants, it is available. Formal, informal, yeshivot, Jewish day schools, synagogue schools, youth groups and adult education are a few examples. What concerns me, though, is that so many of these institutions think they have developed the "right" way to educate the Jewish people. Of course, this implies that the others are wrong. It seems to me that they are all working towards the same goal -- they want to strengthen and build the Jewish community.

So why does any one of these groups reject another’s ideas, or think that their own is the only right way?

I have sat in classrooms where a teacher said that to learn about Judaism, you have to know Hebrew. Others said you have to live in Israel. But not everyone can build strong connection to the Jewish community through these things. These are simply two more of many ways to gain an understanding of Judaism. They are also examples of how to participate in the Jewish community. If a learned Rabbi rejects a poor tailor from the shtetl because the tailor cannot read Hebrew, where will the rabbi have his suit mended? And if the tailor rejects the rabbi, because the rabbi studies all day and doesn’t live in the real world, who will perform the tailor’s wedding? Both of these men are Jews. They are both in the Jewish community. One leads prayers; the other makes the prayer leader look good on Shabbat. They need each other. They need the training they have. The training of one will not help the other. So why force one on the other?!

This useless assumption of the right education is why I say the Jewish educational institutions are shooting the Jewish community in their collective "foot."

I’m happy to report that an effort is already being made to fix this problem. Several institutions will recommend others that may be more appropriate for potential clients. However, we still have a long way to go. We must recognize that every aspect of Jewish life is a way of connecting to the Jewish community and building upon the Jewish faith. For some, decorating the Sukkah is their "being Jewish." For others, it is nothing short of daily study and prayer. Some may find their connection through enlisting in the Israeli army to defend and protect the land God promised us.

All of these people contribute to the Jewish community. They may have different approaches and opinions on what is important for a Jew to know and do, but they are all right. It just depends on who the student is. I know what you’re thinking; "Joe, you say that the rabbi’s right, and the tailor’s right? They can’t both be right." Well congratulations my friend, you’re also right.

[Posted 5/6/05]