Torah education is flourishing. So many
young people, today, have the privilege of experiencing some form of Jewish
education. The numbers of children passing through Torah institutions is quite
staggering.
Yet, huge numbers of these same people are
being turned off Judaism by these same institutions.
“The fact is, we are witness to literally thousands of yeshiva-educated children (boys and girls) who have left the path of the Torah.”
(Chinuch in Turbulent Times by R. Brezak p
18)
This book was published about ten years
ago, and people estimate the numbers to be far greater today.
What are we doing wrong?
One of the Kotzker Rebbe's most influential
teachers was the Yid HaKadosh (1766-1814). He studied under the tutelage of the
Chozeh of Lublin (1766-1827). The strange thing was that the student was
more learned than the teacher. (Interestingly enough, both were born in
the same year, 1766, and both bore the same name Yaakov Yitzchak.) The Yid came from a non-chassidic family
who traced their ancestry line back to the brother of the famous Taz. The Yid
was an outstanding Talmudic scholar and was highly praised by R Akiva Eiger.
What then was he doing at the Chozeh?
The answer lies in the simple fact that real
learning has nothing to do with the technical transfer of information. True
learning has to do with the transfer of something more subtle and less
tangible. Sometimes the deepest learning takes place without the recipient even
being able to articulate exactly what it was he learned. But he knows he learned something because
his life changed.
The Yid studied under the Chozeh because he
received from his teacher something no one else gave him.
There is a supposition that every third
generation is the hardest generation to teach. This is loosely based on the verse; “When
you give birth to children and grandchildren and have been long in the land,
you will grow corrupt…” (Devarim 4:25) While this verse literally refers to the Land of Israel , it can also allude to a well
established Torah family becoming somewhat ‘corrupt’ as a consequence of over
familiarity with Torah values.
The first person in the family to become
observant is usually fired up about everything Jewish. He can’t wait to raise
his own family in the ways of Torah true Judaism. At least they will lose the
‘stigma’ of being ‘new recruits’. He learned to daven at twenty, now his
child will daven at three. Only thing, though, he forgets that his
child may not be as enthusiastic about all this as he is. The child never
underwent the same process of choice and discovery that the father did. Sometimes it doesn't matter, and the child
turns out just fine. But sometimes it does. And when it does, it matters. The situation compounds itself even more
during the third generation.
Assuming that each generation in this
scenario was given a proper Torah education, still, many children fall out.
Why?
Because too much emphasis is placed on the
technical transfer of knowledge. To put it bluntly: If we only teach our
children because we think they are more stupid than us, we will never transmit
to them that most important intangible aspect of life-changing education we
spoke about earlier. Perhaps we need to start with the hypothetical
assumption that our children know more than us. Yet we are still tasked with
the responsibility of teaching them.
What would we teach them in such a case? Would we have anything to teach them?
Perhaps even the word ‘education’ is the
root cause of the problem of uninspired youngsters. Perhaps we need to stop trying to educate
them so much, and develop within them more of a philosophy about life. An
attitude. An approach. Something they can use
instead of just know.
This is why the Yid HaKadosh went to study
under the Chozeh of Lublin. He
needed to learn how to use what he already knew.