The Charlotte Jewish News - November 2013 - Page 13
Beyond Identity: Day Schools Deliver Jewish Literacy
By Dr. Marc Kramer
A great many articles about day
schools take as their starting point
the assumption that the main argu
ment in favor of day school - the
main reason parents should send
their children there - is its impact
on Jewish identity. Jewish day
schools exist because they are the
most effective shapers of strong
Jewish identities. Want your chil
dren to be Jewish and raise Jewish
children? Your best odds lie in
day-school education.
I beg to differ. “Jewish iden
tity” is a flimsy shingle to hang on
a school door. These authors ac
knowledge as much when they
hedge their bets: Jewish summer
camp has been shown to be like
wise a powerful force for molding
Jewish identity, and no force is
stronger than a Jewish home
where Judaism is practiced con
sistently and lovingly. As dis
cussed in the literature, Jewish
identity is understood to be idio
syncratic and fluid, highly per
sonal, beyond critique, and
subject to change.
The real argument is that Jew
ish day schools uniquely make
possible authentic Jewish literacy.
Camp, great. Youth group, great.
Israel trips, great. But none of
these experiences give our chil
dren the skills, tools, role models,
information, exposure, and posi
tive dispositions to personally en
gage with Jewish sacred texts -
ancient to modem - in ways that
leave a lasting imprint on their
hearts and souls.
Too many American Jews have
little more than a passing acquain
tance with the treasures of Jewish
tradition. They can neither read
nor write, let alone speak, their na
tional language. They do not un
derstand the laws of Judaism and
have little sense of the aura of ob
ligation and sanctity that the
mitzvot engender. They
fundamentally understand
their own calendar, holi
days, history, and culture
through the lens of another
society - secular American
norms that are strongly col
ored by Christianity - so
much so that are more likely
to pass cultural litmus tests
of Anglo-Protestantism than those
of Anglo-Judaism. (Consider:
How many US Jews know more
about Valentine’s Day than
Shavuot? They cannot name three
kings of Israel yet know the
names and habits of every British
royal.) They mistake acceptance
into Western society as proof of
the superfluousness of Jewish
mores and values.
And yet, most American Jews
still “identify” as Jewish. They en
counter Jewish moments and “feel
Jewish.” They partake in certain
foods and feel they are “eating
Jewishly.” They do good and just
and charitable deeds and think
that are “acting Jewishly.” They
don’t go to church or hunt because
these are “not Jewish.” In short,
they have personally defined a
sense of what being Jewish is and
as such, have a “Jewish identity.”
Jewish identity is fuel-efficient:
Just a little juice and it mns. As
such, the small jolts of energy that
supplementary schools and camps
and youth groups and summer
trips to Israel provide are enough
to fuel “Jewish identity.” (Full dis
closure: I am a product of all of
these enterprises.) I am reminded
i
CIDS
Charlotte Jewish
Day School
of the classic third grade science
fair project of wiring a nightlight
bulb to a halved lemon: the ion in
teraction of citric acid, iron, and
copper creates enough electricity
to light the bulb. It is relatively
cheap, easy to do, easy to explain,
and the fact that little light is pro
duced is accepted and acceptable.
Jewish literacy, on the other
hand, is a real gas guzzler. It takes
a great deal of fuel to power Jew
ish literacy, especially when Jew
ish literacy and Hebrew literacy
are intertwined (as I believe it
must be). The engines of Jewish
literacy - engines that drive Jew
ish citizenship, peoplehood, spiri
tual meaning, ethical living and
intellectualism - cannot simply
sip from Sunday school and sum
mer camp; they need full tanks
and ample refills at the pumping
stations we call day schools. Here
I think of an atomic power plant:
it takes a great deal of expertise,
time and energy to make fusion
possible, but the result is an ever
more powerful, energizing source
that can light 100,000 homes. It
isn’t cheap, it isn’t easy, it comes
with risks, it comes with contro
versies, yet the results are unpar
alleled.
Day schools likewise require
tremendous resources and demand
sacrifices from parents and the
community. But they are capable
of generating a Jewish light that
no other source can remotely
equal. Judaism is a difficult reli
gion, with a great deal to learn just
to achieve a baseline of profi
ciency. It is easy to “feel” Jewish;
it is just as easy to feel less Jew
ish. For the hard work of achiev
ing competency, the confidence to
take ownership over our heritage
and translate it in ways that it con
tinues to be resonant and mean
ingful for Jews today and in the
future - for this, there is no sub
stitute for day schools. ^
Dr. Marc Kramer is Executive
Director at RAVSAK.
Federation’s
Main Event with
Rabbi Shmuley
Boteach
(Continued from page 1)
people in need, rescuing people
in danger, and keeping Jewish life
strong. The Jewish Federation be
lieves in the power of community
and in working together to make
the world a better place. Please
visit our website www.jew-
ishcharlotte.org to learn more
about the Jewish Federation of
Greater Charlotte.
The mission of the Jewish Fed
eration of Greater Charlotte is to
raise and distribute funds to sup
port and enrich the lives of Jews
locally, nationally, in Israel, and
worldwide. Through education,
planning and community build
ing, the Federation’s mission en
sures that Jewish values, goals,
traditions and connections are
preserved for current and future
generations. ^
The two most precious things we can
give our chiidren are Roots and Wings --
to be firmiy rooted in our rich Judaic
heritage, and to be inspired to reach
one’s fuiiest potentiai.
— Rabbi Joseph H. Lookstein
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