American Reform Judaism: An Introduction

Chapter 7: New Challenges in Reform Jewish Education

132 Chapter 7 Jewish education is not limited to the classroom by any manner or means. It must penetrate every other room and activity of the temple’s life. In the sanctuary, prayer and study must be intertwined . . . all temple activities—from committee meetings to conversation within the temple’s halls, from social events to the letters and bulletins we send out—should be seen and seized as means to further the Jewish educative process. —alexander m. schindler, 1988 In the post–World War II period, Emanuel Gamoran served as director of the Reform movement’s Joint Commission on Jewish Education and is credited with transforming the approach of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations (UAHC) to teaching Judaism in religious schools. Shocked that tots were being taught abstract theological principles they had no hope of understanding, he urged the movement to focus on concrete expressions of Jewishness that could create tangible memories of religious living. He believed that learning must be based on experience. In 1952, Gamoran summarized what he saw as the most important goals of Jewish education: “We include as a minimum a rich series of Jewish experiences such as holiday celebrations, music, dancing, arts and crafts.” Influenced by Mordecai Kaplan, Gamoran hoped that children would come away from the Sunday school experience feeling connected to the Jewish home, the Jewish school, the synagogue, and the Jewish community. They should have an appreciation of Jewish spiritual, New Challenges in Reform Jewish Education Reform Jewish Education 133 cultural, and aesthetic values and be equipped to develop “creative Jewish personalities” that could help mold future American Jewish life.1 Gamoran was not the first to express high hopes for Reform Jewish education. Since the early nineteenth century, Reformers have debated how to teach their children effectively about Judaism while avoiding chauvinism and ghettoization. Because enthusiastic Jewish commitment developed most readily among those raised in an all-encompassing Jewish environment, the task of Reform Jewish education would prove challenging. What is an educated Reform Jew? How can we judge the success or failure of a particular Sunday school or of the entire movement? Michael A. Meyer argues that “within the sphere of Jewish education Reform Judaism sets for itself a task that is both unique and exceedingly difficult .” What makes it difficult is that the movement is committed to personal autonomy, and therefore educators do not see themselves as teaching a revealed religion that requires absolute obedience. Neither is there a normative body of laws that are taught as binding in their entirety. On the other hand, Reform Jewish education cannot simply teach historical information. That may create a generation with knowledge but without commitment. Rather, Reform Jewish education must influence the choices that the younger generation will make by teaching “core Jewish values.” But what those values should be and how they should be manifested is a difficult question. Meyer argues that the movement must aim to create “Jewish religious lives that stand under the authority of an obligating God.”2 Reform Jewish education must create, Meyer believes, “a strong sense of the Jewish self securely grounded within the Jewish community and within the Jewish religious tradition.” This requires emphasizing Jewish particularity. Children have to be raised to see themselves as part of an ethnic group and of the Jewish people. Only then can Jewish education help the student to “reach outward to the human community and forward to the universal goal.” Particularism and universalism can peacefully coexist, creating an educated Reform Jew “knowledgeable in the past and of the present Jewish people and immersed in its spiritual life.”3 The sentiment is beautiful, but the reality is jarring. Assimilatory pressures “dumb down” Reform afternoon schools, and educators face many challenges. 134 american reform judaism An Uphill Battle Jews face an uphill battle raising their children in the Jewish heritage while participating fully in an increasingly diverse and pluralistic American society. The passing on of the Jewish religious tradition from generation to generation has become a difficult and uncertain process. Whereas in previous generations continuity was assumed, today even deeply committed Jewish parents cannot be sure that their offspring will follow their paths. Most American Jews are not strictly observant; they rely upon social mechanisms to reinforce their Jewish identities and those of their children. Loyalty to community has formed a key component in the Jewish survival strategy, as Jonathan S...