Jewish Education: The Jewish Child's Birthright
As Jews, we always have been taught that a parent’s greatest responsibility is the education of his or her child. The obligation is clearly stated in the Torah and in a prayer that we recite twice each day: “You shall teach them unto your children.” That our ancestors fulfilled that mitzvah diligently is, in fact, greatly responsible for the continued vibrancy of Judaism over thousands of years.
In North American society, most Jewish children who receive a religious education do not receive it from their parents but from a synagogue-based supplementary school. Although we have continually improved the way we deliver Jewish education to our children through the religious school, we understand that we are not entirely effective. We accept that truth as a given – as if it’s a fact of life. But it is not immutable. As we accept the fact that there is still room for improving the quality of the education that our children receive, we must also accept our own responsibility for improving it. I want to suggest a four-step agenda that will help us assume that responsibility.
Synagogues and religious schools must transform parents into partners. There are no guarantees in Jewish life, but we owe it to parents to make certain that they understand that if they want their children (and future grandchildren) to be Jewishly committed, they need to take a share of responsibility for their children’s learning. Children do not learn to be Jewish through osmosis.
We spend significant energy and resources on educating children. Unless and until we also educate (and convince) parents to transmit the priority of Jewish education for their children, we will not be maximally successful.
It is intuitive for parents to avoid fighting with their children, who may not want to attend religious school; to avoid struggling with balancing the priorities of children’s extracurricular activities; to avoid the inconvenience of carpooling. We must help parents choose that which is counterintuitive in order to make certain that their children learn about their heritage and how to live as Jews. Their birthright really is their Jewish education.
We have to be honest with parents and tell them the truth: We cannot do more with less. We must find ways to increase their children’s engagement with Jewish learning. We must reorient parents’ thinking to understand that learning opportunities begin in preschool, with early childhood education, and continue at least through high school.
We must make certain that Jewish education is a worthwhile and meaningful experience. It must be more than a preparatory course for bar or bat mitzvah. We cheat the student if the primary result of five years of religious school is just the ability to lead Shabbat services and chant the haftarah. Our students are entitled to gain knowledge that will enable them to live their lives as committed Jews.
As important as the bar or bat mitzvah ceremony is, we must understand it as just one day, albeit a big one, in the life of a young Jew. If we focus our education primarily on preparing for that one day, we shortchange the student. We must prepare the student for living as a Jew.
We need to attract and retain the best educators, even though that will require increased funding and support. Without great educators, we are cheating our youth. We do not tolerate mediocrity when it comes to our children’s secular education. Why should we accept it in connection with their religious education?
For us, the phrase “and you shall teach them unto your children” must be more than a goal or an ideal. It must be the core value shared by parents and synagogues as we commit ourselves to strengthening Jewish life.
Rabbi Jerome M. Epstein is executive vice president of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism.
