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EXPLORING
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Different ways of looking at traditional beliefs.
RABBI JEREMY ROSEN

CAN JEWISH EDUCATION BE RELEVANT ?

' Education' has become the key word of Jewish communal life because it is, belatedly in Western societies, perceived as being the only way to guarantee survival. But what kind of education do we need? What kind of education works? Can we talk about a Jewish pedagogic tradition?

The Torah establishes a principle which becomes embedded in Jewish Law. In the first paragraph of the Shema is the familiar phrase ' And you will teach these laws to your children' and this is one of the obligations of the Torah. But to teach whom and what? Torah is the priority from a Jewish point of view, both because of its link with God and because of its intensification of Jewishness. Hence 'Rabbi Yochanan said in the name of Rabbi Meir ' One does not sell a Sefer Torah except for learning Torah or to get a wife' ( an interesting balance between the wider issue of human continuity, marriage and having children, and the more specifically Jewish continuity of keeping Torah alive ). To ensure Jewish education, according to later Jewish law ' The community can compel a father to hire a teacher for his son and can even confiscate his property to see that it is done '. The community is responsible for setting up schools too , but here we are talking exclusively about schools for Torah.

What other educational obligations are there? A father is obliged ( by law ) to circumcise his son, to redeem him ( all first born males are dedicated to God and have to be redeemed ), to teach him Torah, to marry him off and to teach him a profession and some say also to teach him how to swim. Rabbi Yehuda says whoever does not teach his son a profession teaches him to become a robber' ( he will end up stealing because he will have no other way of earning a living. Rashi. ). It seems pretty clear from this that a child has to have both a Jewish education, Torah, and a means of support as well. And furthermore , a father should teach his son other survival skills!

This issue of whether one has to teach other skills and expertise is one of the major issues in the Talmud. If studying Torah is the will of God and if doing what God wants is the most important thing , then Torah which is the means of getting closer to God should be the only activity a person should be committed to. And yet the Mishna is very definite about the need to combine Torah with other activity. Rabbi Gamliel the son of Rabbi Yehudah the Prince said 'It is good to combine Torah with work because being busy with both will keep a person out of trouble. And any study that has no work ends up being wasted and causing sin'. Or, as Rebbi Elazar Ben Azaria says ' If there is no Torah there is no work and if there is no work there is no Torah.' As against these positions stands Rebbi Nechunia Ben HaKna who says that the more you take on Torah the fewer wordly matters you will have to be concerned about and vice versa. However his solution to the problem of who will do the necessary work to produce food and clothes, is to suggest that 'others' will do this for you. He does not specify if the 'others' are Jewish or not . This is the argument between Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and Rabbi Yishmael. ' 'And you will gather in your corn ' ( Deuteronomy 18 ) but we have learnt ' The Torah shall never depart from your lips ' ( Joshua 1 ) Do we take this literally? The rabbis have said ' Gather in your corn ' means you should have to work, so says Rabbi Yishmael. Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai said ' Is it possible that a man has to plow at the time for plowing and sow at the time for sowing and reap at the time for reaping and thresh the corn at the time for threshing and winnow when there is wind? When would he have time for Torah?…Abaye said 'Many tried Rabbi Yishmael's way and they succeeded. Many tried Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai's way and did not succeed. Rava said to the rabbis, 'Please do not call upon me during the days of Nissan and Tishrei so that you do not disturb my making a living ( during peak harvest times )' ( which shows that he, himself, worked as well as studying ). A similar point is made after Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his son had been hiding in a cave to escape Roman persecution. They spent all their time studying Torah. When Shimon and his son leave the cave they see people plowing. Shimon declares 'They are abandoning eternal life for transient life'( instead of studying, they are working ). Wherever they turned they looked at people and burnt them ( with the mystical powers they developed through intense concentration on Torah ). A voice came from Heaven and said 'Have you come out to destroy My world ? Go back into the cave'.

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The issue of studying something other than Torah became more complex with the connection between Greek Wisdom and anti-Jewish ideology. The Greek philosophers were also the scientists of the day. Aristotle wrote about ethics and abstractions but he also wrote about scientific experiments and discoveries. We know that Jews took advantage of scientific progress then as now. The question of giving up time from Torah to study other things was another source of debate because this was not just learning to have work but an involvement in a different culture. 'Ben Dama asked Rabbi Yishmael ' Someone like me who has learnt all the Torah am I allowed to study Greek wisdom ?' He replied, 'It says 'And you should study by day and by night' so find a time that is neither day nor night and study Greek wisdom then.' But this disagrees with Shmuel Bar Nachmani who says this quote is intended not as an obligation or as a command but only as a blessing'.

The awful experiences suffered at the hands of Greek speaking oppressors created a backlash. For example at a time when two Hasmonean descendants, rivals for the monarchy, Hyrcanus and Aristobolus, were fighting amongst themselves, Greek sympathizers gave the besiegers advice on how to undermine Jewish law. As a result the defenders issued 'A curse on anyone who teaches his son the Wisdom of Greece'. As against this 'Rabbi Shimon Ben Gamliel said In my fathers house there were a thousand young men. Five hundred learnt Torah and five hundred learnt Greek Wisdom. They were allowed because they were close to ( non-Jewish ) government'. Yet the Sanhedrin in general was made up of men who were expected to learn other languages and master other forms of knowledge. Indeed one opinion even has them learning about spirits and magic. 'They said of Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai that he did not neglect Torah, Mishna, Gemara, Halacha, Aggadah, deductions of Torah, deductions of the scribes, logical deductions, comparing texts, calendars, signs of the Zodiac, the language of angels and the language of spirits, the language of date palms, laundry parables and foxes parables, important matters and minor matters'. In other words, every area of knowledge was worth studying. And yet clearly the issue was a highly charged one because it recurs throughout the Talmud. However it is not possible to say that there is only one position on it and it is patently clear that some rabbis and students were indeed studying other subjects than pure Torah.

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There was also the issue of whether education should be open to everyone or just the select few. When the aristocratic Rabbi Gamliel was the head of the academy he had a policy of restricted entry. He insisted that any student whose exterior is not matched by his interior should not be allowed in to study ( one assumes he wanted spiritual excellence as well as intellectual ). When he was deposed the poorer rabbis from peasant stock Rabbi Akiva and Rabbi Yehoshua opened the study halls to everyone. 'On that day ( when Rabbi Gamliel was deposed as Head Of The Academy ) they removed the door keeper and allowed all students ( who wanted to) to enter. Because Rabbi Gamliel had said that any student whose inner ( self ) matched his outer could not come in to the house of study. On that day they added several rows of benches. Rabbi Yochanan said that Abba Yosef ben Dostai and the rabbis disagreed. One said they added four hundred benches and the other that seven hundred were added. Rabbi Gamliel grew depressed and said ' Maybe, God forbid, I have prevented Israel from learning Torah'. One can't help but wonder why he had not thought of this before.

Similarly the question of women being taught was debated. Naturally this debate takes place against a certain cultural background but it does illustrate the possibility of divergence. The context is the law of the Sotah . The Sotah is a woman who has been suspected of infidelity and has been warned not to consort with a particular man. In Jewish Law circumstantial evidence is not accepted. So although the actual circumstances point to infidelity, missing is the actual evidence required of two independent witnesses to convict. After a man has warned his wife she defies him by going into seclusion with the other man but, once again, there is only circumstantial evidence. Then the man had the right to take his wife to the priest who would make her drink some bitter water with God's name dissolved into it ( from here the Rabbis learn how important it is to try to preserve a marriage because this is the only situation in which one may dissolve or 'degrade' the Divine Name ). This procedure was actually banned by Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai in the first century C.E. because he felt that men were not on a high enough level to deserve this special right. If the woman was guilty, then, according to the Torah, her body would begin to deteriorate and this would prove her guilt. The Mishna says that a woman's good deeds might protect her from the effect of the waters. ' From this Ben Azai said 'A man has an obligation to teach his daughter Torah so that she will know, if she is forced to drink, what may protect her.' 'Rabbi Eliezer said ' Whoever teaches his daughter Torah will be teaching her immorality'.' I do not want to try to explain or justify Rabbi Eliezer's position here. Just to emphasize the fact that there was a debate and a difference of opinion ( and let us not forget that women were not allowed to graduate from Oxbridge or Ivy League universities until this century ). So the two issues of education, secular as well as religious, and open access to both sexes is an ancient one and one in which, in its day, Judaism was well ahead of its surrounding cultures.

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There is a tradition that the great High Priest and leader Shimon HaTsaddik introduced education to Israel. The Talmud records his visiting Alexander the Great on his way down the coast from Turkey to Egypt. He had been told by the Samaritans that the Jews were against him. They had their own motives for wanting to see the Temple destroyed or at least desecrated. Alexander in general was not interested in challenging local religions, just in getting them to accept his authority. Shimon dressed up in his Day of Atonement clothes and with great ceremony went towards Alexander. Alexander was so impressed, he had had a vision the night before that seemed to predict this encounter, that he granted Shimon's request to leave the temple alone. The Midrash adds that Shimon returned, convinced that only through education could the Jews survive the cultural onslaught of Greece.

But the Gemara also attributes national education to King Hezekia. He had initiated a dramatic religious revival during the First Temple period '( King ) Hezekiah would go round every synagogue and study hall. What did he do? He placed a sword at the entrance to each one and said 'Whoever does not study Torah will be pierced by this sword'. They checked from Dan to Be'er Sheva and they could not find one ignoramus from Givat to Antipars and they could not find on boy or girl, man or woman that was not expert ( in the laws of ) purity and impurity. I have always been struck by two things about this narrative. Firstly that Hezekiah's education program was aimed at everyone including women and secondly that it was both compulsory and aggressive. Perhaps the times required these methods.

The better known tradition attributes the 'national' education system to someone else 'Truly this man, called Yehoshua Ben Gamla, should be remembered for good! Originally whoever had a father, he taught him Torah. Whoever did not have a father did not learn Torah. How did they justify this? ( On the basis of the quote ) 'And you shall teach them' ( Deuteronomy 11. ) And you shall teach, you, yourselves. They instituted ( a law )that they should establish teachers for children in Jerusalem. How did they justify this? ( On the basis of the quote ) 'And Torah shall go out from Jerusalem' ( Isaiah. 2. ) But still, whoever had a father,( the father ) would take him up to Jerusalem and teach him and whoever had no father would not go up and learn. They instituted ( a law ) that they should establish teachers for children in each area for children of sixteen or seventeen. But whenever a teacher got angry he (the pupil ) would reject him and leave. Until Yehoshua Ben Gamla arrived and instituted ( a law ) that they should establish teachers for children in every area and every city and bring in children of six or seven.

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There is also the issue of methodology. How did the rabbis think one should teach? There are few hints in the Talmud, ones that would astound both traditionalists and progressives in our educational academies nowadays. For example 'Rav visited this place and proclaimed a fast but no rain came. The reader passed before ( the ark ) and when he said 'Let the winds blow' the winds blew and when he said 'Let the rain fall' the rain fell. He ( Rav ) said to him 'What is your business?' He replied 'I teach children and I teach the children of the poor just the same way as I teach the children of the rich. And if someone cannot pay I do not take anything. And I have fish ponds and if ( a child ) is reluctant ( rebels ) I bribe him with ( fish from ) them. And I explain ( everything simply ) and I win him over until he comes and reads.' So bribery was considered acceptable but so too was encouragement. There is no tendency to blame the pupil but rather the teacher if things go wrong. Rabba said 'If you see a student who finds his studying as hard as iron, it is because his teacher did not explain things well to him. For it says ( Ecclesiastes 10.10. ) 'If it is as solid as iron [ it is because there was] no explanation [ No faces ], that he went wrong'.

Nevertheless the Shulchan Aruch shows all the influences of a medieval academy. 'One should not beat a pupil with cruel and harsh discipline, not with canes or sticks but with a small leather strap' and 'There should be no breaks from study at all, apart for Friday evenings and the eves of festivals late in the day'. On the other hand consider the ramifications of this statement 'If there is a teacher of children but a better one comes one may remove the first one and replace him with a better one. If there are two teachers, one who teaches a lot of text ( covers ground ) but does not check to see if the pupils have learnt to understand properly and another who teaches less but makes sure they understand. We employ the one who checks more.' Which seriously emphasizes the importance of good teaching.

Nevertheless, none of this really addresses the major issues of Jewish education. On the traditional level the emphasis on covering ground, rote learning and of memorizing large amounts may be effective with some children but too many are left with a sense of failure and with a very limited sense of achievement. Certainly the Talmudic tradition places great emphasis on intellectual skills but within a rather limited framework. For those able to adjust or accept, the traditional methods are great in training memory and powers of analysis with a defined structure. They are also excellent in their methods of getting students to study together because the Chavruta, the partnership of two students set to work out a text together or to review one that has already been taught encourages very different skills to those traditionally taught in western schools. On the other hand they are poor in encouraging open inquiry and of course secular skills.

Yet modern western schools also have grave shortcomings. They suit those pupils able to accept structures and a certain type of curriculum but in general they are not good at stimulating open free inquiry and exploration either. The demands of a national curriculum or of University entrance may suit some pupils but not all. Those pupils who are disadvantaged through the home environment or through internal limitations do not get the support and encouragement they need. While the particularly gifted, tend to suffer in corporate structures.

There is also the fine distinction between 'studying' and 'learning'. To study is a fine intellectual pursuit but too often it is a means to an end. 'Study' may be no more than the boring grind to amass information to pass an exam. Rarely does one or is one permitted to pursue a line of inquiry as far or for as long as one wants. There is a syllabus. There are exams. The curriculum we have in most countries imposes restricted units of limited information required to pass exams. The result often is that students learn only what is required to pass an exam. Study becomes a game in which the student seeks to outwit the examiner. ' Learning', the Yiddish word applied to Torah study, is study for its own sake. One is allowed to spend as long as one wants to on a page, on an issue, a Sugya. 'Learning' is study for its own sake with no necessary end in mind. This is the ideal of the yeshiva world even 'though there are set folios, masechtot, that are scheduled each semester. Sadly, many Jewish schools have now lost the art of 'learning' and have turned Jewish studies into ' studying'. Of course this is the result of pressure, from colleges and from parents who demand academic results. But it means that thousands of Jewish children are turned off Torah study because if Jewish study is no different to secular study, then the subject with the highest pay off in terms of career or money will always come out on top.

The other old Jewish ideal of a parent being responsible for the child's education is not at all easy in our pressurized society. Yet more and more parents are opting for variations on the home schooling theme as a way of doing better for their children .

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Jewish education is supposed to answer the problem of Jewish survival. Yet we see that many children who have a full Jewish education still show very little interest in Jewish life and in many cases they abandon their tradition altogether. The record of Jewish schools in the English speaking world over the past fifty years has not been that impressive. Why?

First of all, it should be obvious that simply having a school is no answer in itself. Without an appropriate structure and culture and without the right, motivated teachers a school is likely to be no more successful in retaining Jewish identity than a beautiful, empty synagogue. But agreeing on a shared vision is all but impossible in most Jewish communities around the world. What happens is that either a community clubs together to produce a community school which tries to please all of the people all of the time. Or small sections of the community go it alone, stretching financial resources and failing educationally because of inadequate staffing and a broad enough vision.

The problem that the community school Jewish education meets is that most communities cover a very wide range of Jews, all with varying standards and requirements, both religiously and in general. Where a school tries to be too many things to too many people it inevitably fails. The most successful schools I have come across around the world are those where the parents, pupils and teachers all agree on every aspect of the curriculum. This applies to schools of different communities and different cultures. It is, for example, one of the strengths of the very orthodox chedarim. But in a typical Jewish community school there are too many conflicting standards and goals. As a result the declared position of the school may be undermined by teachers, pupils and parents.

In addition we have expectations that Jewish schools will succeed in changing the commitment of their pupils to a more positive or intensive involvement in Judaism. This rarely works. The school is just one element in a range of elements that influence a child. Home, friends and society are as influential as school. In general, a child will be loyal to its parents. If the school sets up conflicting standards the norm will be that the standards of the school will be ignored. It will only be in dysfunctional families that a child may look elsewhere for values.

My criticism of most Jewish community schools is that because they are so financially dependent on their host community they tend towards the safe and the conventional so as not to upset too many clients or donors. To burnish their image they tend to be too focused on results and nominal academic achievement and not enough on real learning and intellectual stimulation. There is a real shortage of good, dedicated teachers at all levels. Teachers are often sub-standard and of such a varied religious background that they themselves often contribute to a conflict of ideas and goals and indirectly undermine the vision of the school. The division into religious and secular departments creates an artificial divide that inevitably leads children to think of the Jewish as inferior or of less importance.

Schools are often judgmental religiously instead of being open. The aim should be to win over by positive reinforcement rather than compulsion. But it takes a great deal in the way of manpower and resources to be able to provide variety and flexibility. Schools are too preoccupied with appearance and because they are so dependent on donations they reflect the very worst aspects of materialism that plague our communities and do so much to create the impression that money is worshipped more than God.

On the credit side, Jewish schools perform important social functions. They give a Jewish child a sense of belonging to a community as opposed to feeling in some ways alienated and different. The confidence that comes from being part of a majority rather than a minority is very important in helping a child cope with the challenges of growing up and finding a place in society at large. Whether then a child can mix freely in an open society depends as much on the circumstances as it does of on the attitudes and values absorbed. We have all met adults who lived in a closed environment when they were young and rebelled against it and now live in an open society. Conversely we often find those who lived in an open and possibly a challenging society, choosing to retreat into a closed and protective one.

The Talmudic approach to education posits these important lessons. For education to work it must be seen as a religious commitment, connected to the reinforcement of Jewish values. Even where secular studies are taught they should not be seen as being in opposition to Judaism but as part of the total picture of a Jewish world that incorporates other disciplines and skills. The home and the school have to be in complete agreement . The parent in handing over the obligation to teach his child must feel confident that the values of the home are the values of the school and its teachers otherwise there will be conflict. If this is not possible the parent cannot leave to the school the religious or the Torah education of the child. The school then has a social function, not a religious one or an educational one in the widest sense of word. Education is the responsibility of the parent. Delegation is a risk. It is up to the parent to try to minimize that risk.