From Jewish Action
Perhaps it is time to put aside the philosophical clichés, to remove the blinders from our eyes, to look at the facts on the ground realistically, and to start again from the beginning. For let us bear in mind an obvious truth that we have not imparted successfully to our students: the inculcation of religious values differs substantially from the standard educational process. While secular studies are a normal part of the physical world, and an intelligent and studious child feels an inherent connection to the subject matter that he naturally relates to, Torah can not be acquired in the same manner, for it addresses the otherworldly soul. An attachment to religious studies can flower and develop only with vision, sensitivity, and care. For this reason, many of our students find Talmud “so boring”, for they cannot relate to a world that is higher than their own. To be religious in the modern world demands enlightenment and inspiration, while to be an ordinary scholar, one needs only to excel at his studies. Unless we are keenly aware of this difference, and respond appropriately in the classroom, we will never succeed in motivating our students to rise above themselves. Religious studies alone will not anchor our students to Judaism, nor will guilt hold them steady after they leave our environments.
Consider the following example: In certain institutions, teenage boys and girls learn Torah together in the same classroom. The administration waxes on about equal access, equality, and women’s right to learn, but is completely oblivious to the fact that the average teenager is simply thinking about the opposite sex most of the day. This is symptomatic of our all too common naiveté. Witness one respondent to a recent symposium in a prominent Orthodox journal, who writes that the greatest failure of Modern Orthodoxy is that we have not produced enough artists and poets. They should do more than learn just Torah, but study “the poetry of Rilke, or derive spiritual nourishment…from Viennese painting and that of Paul Klee.” Would that this were our problem – that our students know only Torah. One wonders: to whom are such idealists talking to? Do they know the true interests of today’s youth? For most of my students, the only literature they know is People magazine, and many consider a good Stephen King monologue to be fine poetry. They care nothing about Mozart, and probably never heard of him; their musical tastes run from Metallica to Snoop Doggy Dogg. We are teaching our students beautiful words, but their hearts and minds are elsewhere. Should we be surprised when their commitment to Torah begins to unravel?
