I read with interest the impassioned rhetoric of Shmuly Yanklowitz as he discussed Uri L'Tzedek. He frames what he sees as the problem using a somewhat narrow view of Jewish day school activism. And as a Jewish educator for over three decades, I view this program and its promises as both helpful and detrimental to the growth of Jewish day school students.
Yanklowitz declares that: Serving as an Ohr LGoyim (a light to the nations) as teachers and activists for global peace and justice is a lost discourse in contemporary American Orthodoxy. Young religious Jews want to reclaim and reinvent those models in a new globalized interconnected society. Countless students in Jewish day schools are turned off by what they perceive as the irrelevancy of their educations to what they care most about.
I speak from experience in a few Jewish day schools and from knowledge about the teaching practices of some of the teachers in each of those schools. My colleagues and I have taught students to think of themselves as Jews who are both concerned about fellow Jews and concerned about their role as exemplars to the rest of the world. The students Yanklowitz may be referring to, who grumble about the irrelevance of their education, are usually those who find Halacha irrelevant to the way of life they wish to live. These disgruntled students are not searching for a way to link fighting for workers rights with what they are learning in Talmud class.
Yankelowitz continues: How irresponsible would it be to not train a student that is under our tutelage to thrive in the world and not to ensure that they are equipped with the skills of integrating their Jewish values with contemporary issues or that they are trained in methods of creating social change to live their values in a meaningful way.
Mr. Yanklowitz may not have visited high schools where community service hours are required for graduation. Those service hours can be logged for Jewish and non-Jewish causes. He may not have joined a student lobbying group on Capitol Hill, made up of students attending the Panim el Panim Leadership Training Conference in Washington, DC. Jewish day school educators are already providing understanding of civic responsibility and opportunities for our students to see themselves as citizens of their country. As a Jewish educator I have arranged for a group of students to help clean up a local nature preserve; I organized/chaperoned a group of students who helped run a rally and organize a postcard writing campaign for victims in Darfur; I supervised students who served lunch at a non-denominational senior center. Schools where I have worked have raised money for a cancer society, a homeless shelter, and did a book drive for a low income day care center in a depressed neighborhood. These organizations were not run under Jewish auspices. These were in addition to events focused on doing chesed for Jewish causes.
When Mr. Yanklowitz indicates that Orthodox college students have been joining pluralistic organizations to engage as global citizens
but there should also be options grown out of the Orthodox community itself
I believe he is looking at a narrow group of Jewish day schools. Jewish day schools where I have worked have laid groundwork and when students get to college they are continuing to serve.
Mr. Yanklowitz enumerates what he hopes Uri LTzedek can do in Jewish day schools. He says: So these are the challenges we face
My view on the challenges is a little different.
I have reviewed countless community service hours done by students and tallied the proceeds of impassioned fundraising efforts. Truthfully, the majority was for Jewish causes. I often felt that we Jewish educators were doing a good job, teaching our students to care for fellow Jews an outgrowth of the Torah imperative to take care of family/community first. What disappoints me is that when students leave the Jewish day school they dont carry that imperative with them. My collection of anecdotal information indicates that there are not that many on-campus activists for Israel or leaders and volunteers at Hillel. The alumni associations at various day schools lament that they have trouble building a strong donor base from their alumni.
Does Mr. Yanklowitz want to draw Jewish students away from fundamental responsibility to community? First we need to inculcate in our students the basic idea that Jewish activism for Jewish causes is needed, Jewish causes can be glamorous, and they are a way of working towards tikun olam.
Chaye Kohl
