The Threefold Cord: Inspiring, Engaging, Relevant Education
A threefold cord is not readily broken,” taught the writer of Kohelet, the biblical book of Ecclesiastes.
The Da’at Miqra commentary on that phrase elaborates: “One should not be isolated; rather one should seek the camaraderie of others.”
The message of the threefold cord has been taken to heart in the greater Dallas Conservative community, where last year the rabbis and educational directors of the area’s three congregations unified around an educational vision for our community’s 11th and 12th graders. Each had run its own post-confirmation program, each with varying degrees of retention and success. But we realized that we each could do better.
We all know that as teenagers get closer to college visits, applications, and decisions, their time becomes all the more precious. As the rabbis and educators sat around a conference table at the local Solomon Schechter school last winter, we dreamt about a program that would energize our teens to spend a few hours with us each week in a program that would be engaging, inspiring, and relevant to the transitions and experiences that soon await them. The program we envisioned would prepare them to enter college and then adulthood with sophisticated, positive Jewish learning experiences to consolidate their Jewish identities. Spending those few hours with other teens from different schools, youth groups, and synagogues would build a critical mass and a magnetism about the program that would be greater than any one congregation could offer. As we gained support from lay leaders we set out to develop a curriculum, and we established a host of committees to think through the details of our proposed collaboration.
In October we opened the doors of ATID; the Hebrew word means future and it is the acronym for Academy for Torah in Dallas. The school is housed at the Ann and Nate Levine Academy, our local Solomon Schechter school. So far, more than 60 high school juniors and seniors from several different synagogues, not all of them Conservative, have registered to study with Conservative rabbis and educators. The school year is divided into four modules: Living in the Diaspora, God, Intimacy, and Israel. Each week begins with a one-hour beit midrash, a group study session. Gathered around sacred texts, the students directly encounter traditional sources that illuminate these topics. Following a breakfast break and an opportunity to hang out with friends, the students break into several smaller discussion groups, each facilitated by a rabbi or educator, where they delve into different subtopics. The conclusion of each of the modules is punctuated by a social action project in the larger community. A Shabbaton is in the works as well.
In the September 2007 issue of Commentary magazine, Professor Jack Wertheimer wrote that the Conservative movement is “hemorrhaging” Jews – some go to the left, some to the right, and some fall off the spectrum entirely. Dr. Wertheimer attributed some of the drop-off in Conservative affiliation to a missing “sense of common purpose on the national level.”
I believe that Dallas provides a model for what a clear common purpose and the sharing of talent, resources, and creativity can produce. Today, all the rabbis serving in the city’s Conservative congregations – Anshai Torah, Beth Torah, and Shearith Israel – teach in ATID. A host of qualified, engaging guest speakers, ranging from the regional director of the Anti-Defamation League to the local federation director, also make regular appearances and presentations. We have the generous support of our day school, its campus rabbi, and its head of school. We have lay committees representing all the local Conservative institutions, contributing time and resources to the school. A wellknown local Jewish educator was hired as program director, and each congregation has undertaken a fundraising commitment to ensure the program’s success. The sound of our 11th and 12th graders studying Torah together in the beit midrash and the level of discourse in the small group discussions certainly give us hope for our kids’ future Jewish commitments and their awareness that Conservative Judaism has something meaningful and relevant to contribute to their lives.
“A threefold cord is not readily broken” (Ecclesiastes 4:12). With the success of this collaborative venture, my colleagues and I anticipate more opportunities to foment exciting Conservative Jewish life in our community and beyond.
Rabbi Adam J. Raskin is spiritual leader of Congregation Beth Torah in Richardson, Texas.
