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Beit Midrash
- Family and Society
- Education
- The Education of Children and Students
Yet there are many positive signs to the growth of Jewish education the world over. Hose children who attend a Jewish school in America are far more likely not to intermarry, and to support Israel and have a proud attitude towards their faith and people. And attendance at Jewish schools has been constantly rising in the past decades. High tuitions have served as a brake on even greater enrollments in Jewish schools and the effects of the current severe economic downturn on attendance at Jewish schools in the United States has yet to be measured. In Israel the numbers of children receiving a Jewishly traditional education have also increased. The Minister of Education promises to install a program of Jewish education even in the secular school system. Such a program if properly developed and taught will help minimize the religious-secular divide that exits in Israel. The problem of religion in secular Jewry is no longer antagonism toward Jewish tradition and Torah knowledge as much as it is complete ignorance of that knowledge, tradition and its value system. Judaism can agree with the famous slogan of one of America’s premier merchandiser that "an educated consumer is our best customer." The primacy of Jewish education remains the key to Jewish life and its survival and growth.
The charedi schools system is also bound to change, albeit without ever admitting that it is doing so. An elitist education served up to the masses leads to many children at risk and defections from the religious world. Not giving children the basic tools to earn their living later in life, especially in a competitive and highly skilled work place atmosphere is a disservice to those students. Much is made of the opinions of great rabbis of Eastern Europe and Old City Jerusalem of the 1800’s regarding the place of some secular studies in the context of Jewish education. I have often wondered what the opinion of those great men would be in twenty-first century society today. Torah and halachic norms are unchanging but Jewish societies and conditions of life have changed considerably over the last three hundred years. Children are entitled to be educated according to the realities of our present world and not according to imagined circumstances of different centuries and locales. There is a famous Hebrew statement that what wisdom fails to achieve the passage of time will achieve. The Jewish world, now as ever, requires full-time Torah scholars. But not everyone is cut out to be that full-time Torah scholar and thus changes in education will have to be made in order to produce a society that is able to function and be influential in today’s society. The first day of school is a challenge not only to the students, teachers and administrators of our schools but to the society as well. How well we meet that challenge determines our future.
Rabbis in Midrash
Lessons
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Israel and the Nations A Few Minutes & Many Innovative Ideas on Antisemitism & What to do About It
As we approach the High Holidays, this short lecture (18 minutes) deals with the unfortunate situation of how Israel and the Jewish People stand against antisemitism, analyzing its cause according to Rav Kook, and how to deal with the issue pragmatically & via our prayers.
Ha'azinu PURSUIT is PERFECTION
p. Ha'azinu, Shabbat Shuva
Rav Kook deals with the question of the seemingly hopeless nature of Tshuva. For G-d Himself knows that He created us with free will, which inevitably means we will sometimes make mistakes and choose wrong. This can easily be frustrating, freezing us into inaction and ye'ush (loss of hope). If one sins even once, does he chalila have no choice but suicide?! Moreover, our Godly conscience demands justice, righteousness and perfection, but we all know this is impossible, so what's the solution? Rav Kook's innovative thinking, strongly based on chazal (our sages), offers an inciteful and important aspect to this topic, especially this time of year!
Sukkot Bug-Free Sukkah: Essential Halachic and Practical Schach Guide
How to inspect, clean, and store bamboo mats and palm branches to protect your mitzvah and holiday meals.
