I couldn't agree more with Rabbi Jay Goldmintz, in saying that Israel advocacy is just one of the many challenges that we must prepare students for after high school. Students in college, especially these days, are faced with many theological, halachic, and moral dilemmas that, I feel, are not addressed in high schools. High schools often rely on "the year in Israel" at yeshivas or seminaries to address these issues. One or even two years in Israel is not enough to build the self awareness and commitment to Judaism and Israel, that Rabbi Goldmintz mentioned. While I do agree that high schools should focus on nurturing that commitment in all grades and areas of school life, I believe that only focusing on commitment is not enough. High schools should set aside time to address these issues head on. High schools should have discussions with their students about the types of challenges they might face after high school and then discuss different ways of overcoming them. This might seem to take away from the valuable time of "academic learning," but what is the point of instilling knowledge in students if they will not know how to use it in real life? High schools are also often afraid that their students will not see the relevance of what they teach until they are faced with it in the real world and that might be true. However, I believe that in hindsight the students will be appreciative that they had those discussions that helped them develop the skills necessary to deal with the challenges that they are facing after high school. I am not saying that high schools, in the least bit, will be able to prepare their students for all situations and encounters that they might face after high school, but by nurturing the commitment to Judaism and Israel alongside discussing the challenges that lie ahead, high schools will be able to build the foundations that students need in order to live both religiously and zionisticly committed Jewish lives.
I would also like to share an inspiring story about "commitment" that I heard this weekend. This past shabbos I was fortunate enough to be an advisor for students on the Yeshivah of Flatbush High School Junior Seminar. The shabbaton was being held at a hotel in Stamford Connecticut. All the students and most of the faculty had made it to the hotel early that Friday. Due some car accidents and heavy traffic on the highway, some of the faculty members and advisors that were driving up were forced to leave their cars alongside the road because shabbos was starting. After walking 8 miles to the hotel, one of the faculty members shared his experience with the whole group. As shabbos was rapidly approaching he decided to leave his car and other possessions alongside the highway, hide his car keys, and walk the 7-8 miles to the hotel. As he was walking, he met another family in the same situation that was walking to their destination. The other family had not hid their keys yet and were deciding what to do with them. They finally decided that they would knock on the door of a random house and ask if they could leave their keys with the owners until after shabbos. After knocking on a random door they were greeted by a non-Jewish older gentleman. After explaining their situation with the awkwardness of explaining what shabbos is and the restrictions pertaining to it, the gentleman gladly agreed to hold onto the keys. As they were leaving the house, the gentleman said to his son, that was sitting on the couch, "That's what I call commitment." We are not always faced with these dilemmas; but I hope that if and when were are, we will have the skills, knowledge, and of course commitment to deal with them.
David Galpert
DGalpert@gmail.com
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