USCJ Review - Fall 2006
The Role of Vision in Solomon Schechter Day Schools
Schools, like people, function day by day as school administrators handle the routines, annoyances, and pleasures that make up so much of both individual and institutional life. But, like people, schools work better - educate better, lead by example better, grow better - when they have a vision of what the world should be, and of their place in it. Like people, the complex organisms that are schools flourish when they have a dream to which they aspire.
Solomon Schechter day schools have a vision. They strive to prepare their students to live in the world as confident, knowledgeable Jews who can participate fully in that world, both taking from it and contributing to it. They teach their students more than skills, more than subject matter, more than theology, more than ideology, although they teach those things too, and they teach them well. They teach them how to be good Jews, how to be good citizens of the countries in which they live, and how to be good people. In so doing, they can be leading voices for reinvigorating Conservative Judaism, demonstrating to the wider Jewish world that this path leads to a life of Jewish meaning and connection. This is a challenge shared with the rest of the Conservative movement, and the Schechter schools have a key role to play in furthering a sense of confidence and pride in Conservative Judaism. They can create opportunities for people who have not yet embraced this way of living Jewishly to embark on a journey of learning and discovery.
Schechter schools are able to convey the benefits of anchoring Jewish study and practice in a philosophy that can enable both intellectual and spiritual growth. For example, the MaToK Bible curriculum gives children opportunities to make personal meaning from Torah study. In the unit on Lekh-Lekha, after the children have read that God promised Avram that God would protect him, the students read, in Hebrew: "Sometimes we, too, want God to be our protector. What would you ask for?"
There also are opportunities for parent to become involved. For instance, In the middle of the students' book, there is a page that invites parents and children to discuss what the children have just studied. The parents learn that the children have just read that God says to Avram, "I am your God who took you out of Ur Casdim to assign this land to you as a possession." Then the parents are asked, "If God were to speak to you today, what might God say by way of introduction?" These examples from the Bible curriculum beautifully illustrate what we mean when we talk about the way that a Schecher day school education connects children with Jewish sources and encourages them to be discerning readers and reflective thinkers. They show how an educational vision is translated into the work that students do and how their Jewish education reaches and teaches the whole family.
The Solomon Schechter Day School Association is a network of 60 independent Jewish day schools across North America that are served by the department of education of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism. The SSDSA works collaboratively with schools' lay and professional leaders and with educational and rabbinic leaders within and beyond the school communities, who can be sources of inspiration and enlightenment.
As they write in Visions of Jewish Education, Seymour Fox, Israel Scheffler and Daniel Marom believe that "vision…is not simply ideological preference. It implies both comprehensive understanding and guiding purpose."
Non-Orthodox Jewish day schools once were a rarity on the Jewish education landscape. The committed Jewish parents who chose a Solomon Schechter day school education for their children in the pioneering years of the Schechter network in the 1950s shared a common purpose. They realized that in order to perpetuate the heritage and traditions they held dear, they had to establish independent full-day programs where Jewish and general studies were considered to be of equal importance. They wanted their children to develop integrated identities as Americans and as Jews. These schools, which were founded in small communities and large suburban centers across the country, were committed in equal measure to excellence across the curriculum in general and to Jewish studies in particular, and to creating a caring and nurturing learning environment where students would thrive.
These core principles still guide the Schechter schools today. Through their educational programs, Schechter schools demonstrate a commitment to Hebrew language, a strong identification with Israel, a literary, open approach to the study of Torah and rabbinics, and a rigorous investigative stance that fosters independent learning. They also expose their students to joyful experiences of Judaism. Each Schechter school presents its ideal self to its public and to prospective parents through its mission and philosophy statements. Reviewing a number of them, a reader discovers a number of shared and guiding values that open a window to the school's vision.
The schools encourage each student to achieve his or her fullest potential academically, socially, and spiritually, and to embrace the preservation of Jewish tradition and values while fully engaging the complex world around them. Some make explicit their commitment to the egalitarian practice of Conservative Judaism while all foster respect for Jewish diversity. Some variation on the following sentence appears in the mission statement of several Schechter schools: "Our goal is to teach our students to become educated, committed, and ethical members of both their Jewish and American communities. We challenge our students to learn and to seek knowledge with confidence and enthusiasm within a challenging and supportive environment." The religious vision is expressed in language like this: "The relationship between God and ourselves is expressed by observing mitzvot and by studying Torah, in daily tefillah, as well as by developing the ability to reach beyond ourselves."
Experiencing Jewish life and studying Jewish texts are as important as investigating the other realms of knowledge and skill that children encounter in school. Schechter schools are inspired by Abraham Joshua Heschel's vision of creating "text people."
The day schools that are affiliated with the SSDSA always have reached out to a wider constituency of families than those affiliated with Conservative congregations. They are pluralistic by design and rely on students from different backgrounds to grow their enrollments and remain strong. Schechter schools have added significant value and contribute to the strengthening of many Jewish communities in North America.
The wide spectrum of affiliations can lead to conflicting perceptions -- some prospective families say that Schechter is "too religious" while others say it is "not religious enough." It isn't surprising, then, that the schools respond to that situation by attempting to avoid ideological language. Instead, they appeal to parents' desire to belong to a community. Parents want a safe, nurturing educational environment for their children. They want their children to excel as learners and to experience Judaism as positive, even celebratory. Therefore, the schools' religious policies, standards, and practices are aligned with Conservative Judaism but the connection isn't necessarily emphasized.
When Schechter schools set standards of religious practice, they often speak about building a respectful community and enabling allchildren to participate equally. This approach has worked for many years and has drawn families closer to living a more highly engaged Jewish life. Schechter schools long have championed the values of pluralism and respect for diversity as core characteristics, and this message must be reinvigorated in today's changing Jewish climate. Parents who are happy with a Schechter education often cite the positive Jewish experiences of their kids, saying that they enjoy a sense of community and are pleased by the school's excellent academic program.
Until very recently, the Conservative movement required that a child either be Jewish through matrilineal descent or be converted within a year to be admitted to a Solomon Schechter day school or Camp Ramah. United Synagogue's document about edud - reaching out to intermarried families -- Al Ha-Derekh, calls for bold campaigns to motivate intermarried adults to provide their children with both formal and informal Jewish education. Rabbi Jerome Epstein, United Synagogue's executive vice president, says that we must be far more welcoming to families where conversion has not yet taken place. "In order to welcome these children, we call upon congregational and day schools to develop policies that promote the Jewish education of the children of intermarried couples," he wrote.
Although our goal remains the conversion of not-yet-Jewish children before they reach the age of bar or bat mitzvah, Schechter schools now are encouraged to engage with intermarried families in new ways. We believe that a non-Jewish parent is more likely to choose Judaism after having enjoyed many positive experiences of Jewish learning and celebration as part of an inclusive, welcoming Schechter community.
In Visions of Jewish Education, Moshe Greenberg develops an agenda for an ideal Jewish education. That education, he says, must develop in students a love for learning Torah and for fulfilling the commandments between human beings and God. It must develop as well an acceptance of the Torah as a moral guide, with a concomitant understanding that the Torah's moral precepts have undergone constant revision and refinement. The education must show children a way of life that creates community and helps them appreciate the relationship that all Jews share with each other, across all the lands of our diaspora.
Solomon Schechter day schools incorporate these components into their curriculum and strive to build the schools' culture upon these fundamental values. They try to nurture these essential qualities in all their students.
Greenberg's vision is of a Jewish education that cultivates identification with Judaism through its sources and will nourish, inspire and fulfill its students. While the means to achieve this overarching goal will vary across schools and communities, the idea that study will lead to habits of engagement, virtuous behavior, a relationship to God, and a meaningful and just life are widely shared and held as common principles.
Elaine Shizgal Cohen, EdD, joined the executive staff of the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in August 2003 as the associate director of the department of education, and is United Synagogue's primary resource person to the network of Solomon Schechter day schools. She served for six years as the head of school of the Solomon Schechter Day School of Essex and Union in New Jersey.
