By Leon Cohen
of The Chronicle staff
At the very beginning of the Six Day War in 1967, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, decreed that Lubavitch Chasidim could help Israel by encouraging Jewish men to perform the commandment of putting on tefillin.
A student named Yoseph Samuels decided to begin at once. Across the street from his Brooklyn yeshiva was a bank that had a high level official who was Jewish. So there Samuels went, visited the man in his office and helped him lay tefillin.
Decades later, Rabbi Yoseph Samuels, now director of Chabad of Downtown in Milwaukee, still remembers that “great experience.”
It showed how the Rebbe’s directives “help us discover how wonderful a Jewish soul is; how if you approach them with love, they will open up,” Samuels said in an interview at The Chronicle office.
This March, Samuels will begin his 30th year of work in Milwaukee with his wife and partner, Chashy, to reach and teach the “wonderful Jewish souls” they have found in the Milwaukee area.
The Joseph and Rebecca Peltz Center for Jewish Life in Mequon will mark the occasion by honoring the couple at a “Celebration Dinner” on Wednesday, March 4, beginning at 5 p.m., at the center, 2233 W. Mequon Rd.
Other honorees are Pamela and Ron Kohlenberg, who will receive the Community Service Award, and Jan and Aaron Katz, who will receive the Pillar of Chesed Award.
Until Moshiach comes
Rabbi Menachem Rapoport, executive director of the Peltz Center, said he wonders “why hasn’t [Samuels] been honored” previously in the community.
“He’s one of the greatest scholars Milwaukee has today,” Rapoport said, but “what’s most phenomenal about him is his love for people and his dedication to people as individuals.… His connection is not via any medium, but is person-to-person.”
One reason may be Samuels’ own reluctance. The center had approached Samuels “several times” for honors, but “we couldn’t get him to agree.” Even for this 30th year milestone, “it took a lot of arm twisting,” Rapoport said.
Indeed, Samuels himself said that the Peltz Center actually is “honoring all these wonderful people who put on tefillin and study Torah and permit me to do the things I do. That’s whom they’re honoring.”
As for his wife, the rabbi said she “is my complete partner.” Moreover, “there are a lot of people she teaches and who consult with her and confide in her.”
Karen Forman, co-chair of the dinner with her husband Marty, said she has known Chashy Samuels for more than 20 years, when the Formans moved to the Milwaukee area from Chicago.
“She was the first person to welcome me at her home with a Shabbat dinner,” said Forman. “Every conversation I’ve ever had with her has really reflected her gentleness and sincerity and great faith.… She is the most understated and humble person with so much wisdom and spirituality.”
Rabbi Samuels has always regarded himself as primarily a teacher, ever since the Rebbe told him, “You should be involved in Jewish education” shortly after his marriage to Chashy in 1969.
He served as a teacher in a Lubavitch day school in Miami, Fla., and worked at the Chabad in Seattle, Wash. He had known Rabbi Yisroel Shmotkin, director of Chabad of Wisconsin, earlier, and when Shmotkin asked Samuels to come to Milwaukee in 1980, the Rebbe gave his blessing.
At first, Samuels was education director and taught at a community high school that didn’t last. In 1990, he opened Chabad of Downtown, creating an operation that is funded independently from the general Milwaukee Chabad operation, but that still coordinates with it, Samuels said.
In that operation, Samuels teaches classes and individuals, and is open for downtown workers who want to study or pray during their lunch hours. He also officiates at life cycle events; and he travels to Richland Center, about a hour’s drive northwest of Madison, “a few times a year” to meet with the small Jewish community there.
Yoseph and Chashy have seven children, of whom the youngest is still in high school and the oldest son directs a Chabad operation in Simsbury, Conn.
As for the future, Samuels said he plans to “welcome the Moshiach [Messiah] whenever he should appear, which hopefully will be very, very soon.” Until then, “there are always more Jews to reach, learn with and interact with.”
The celebration dinner costs $50 per person. For more information, contact the Peltz Center for Jewish Life, 262-242-2235
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Showing posts with label education. Show all posts
Thursday, February 19, 2009
Thursday, August 21, 2008
The rabbi's army
Nissan Shtrauchler
Chabad summer camp includes money collection, love of God; 'the object is to send emissaries all over the world so that every Jew would have the option of receiving physical and spiritual aid,' coordinator says
They stand in a line, fall in a group of threes and are ordered to go to the parade ground, equipped with a discipline manual. Despite the similarities to any army recruitment center, these are not 18-year-old kids who are joining the IDF, these are children, aged 9 to 13 who were accepted to a unique program aimed at training the children as "house managers" for the countless Chabad houses located worldwide. The program is run by the Chabad organization itself.
For this purpose, Kfar Galim, a youth village located near the coastal town of Atlit was chosen. Some 150 children, who are planning to become emissaries of the Rabbi of Lubavitch, still get to go to the pool and field trips, but the bulk of the training is given in an entirely military-like discipline, which includes an intensive program where the children stay at the youth village for more than two weeks without returning home to mom and dad.
Among the activities the children attend are lectures on the various aspects of being a Chabad emissary, from helping the poor to holding Passover Seders for the hundreds of Israeli backpackers overseas who desire a little piece of home.
This course, the first of its kind, was designed and is run by Chabad's youth organization, headed by Rabbi Joseph Isaac Aharonov, and is aimed to instill the essence of emissary work for Chabad, and build up a renewing pool of potential future emissaries.
"This course is designed to continue the Rabbi of Lubavitch's way, to educate the next generation of Chabad leadership and to instill the love of Israel", said Rabbi Aharonov, "These children will be the representatives of Chabad everywhere". The results, he hopes, will be evident in a few years when these children get married, only then, if they wish and are able to meet the criteria required, can they become emissaries for Chabad.
'You have joined Hashem's army'
For most people, the encounter in Israel with a member of Chabad takes place when they offer tefillin to male passersby or offer a Shabbat lighting kit to the female members of the crowd. The more in-depth encounters however occur overseas, where many Chabad "bases" are located, filled with basic things a Jew requires – from kosher food to tefillin, to more complex things like diplomatic assistance and aid to the young Israeli backpackers who get into trouble far from home.
Usually the emissaries are the heads of small, close knit families – a father, a mother and a few children, who need help adjusting to their new environment, and gradually help their parents more and more when they are older.
"The objective is to send emissaries all over the world so that every Jew would have the option of receiving physical and spiritual aid," says Nahman Barod, a camp coordinator, affectionately nicknamed "the commander', who is in charge of a platoon of kids.
"To be an emissary for Chabad requires some sacrifice and adjustment to a certain reality. The fact that some of the children here arrive from emissary families, gives them an edge of sorts. While their parents need to adjust to the emissary life style, for them this life is routine".
Chabad believes that the more these children learn, the better their chances are of being successful in the field, or by paraphrasing an old army saying, "hard in training, easy in the battle for the soul". Using army terms is not new for the members of Chabad, even though no one will admit to it out loud, in contrast to other Orthodox sects in Judaism, their members serve in the IDF without social condemnation, and the emissaries' work sometimes completely interacts with the army.
The Chabad emissaries, among their different duties, visit different army bases before holidays and Shabbat and sometimes work together with "the army aunts" and give out food for soldiers on the road.
"I have friends in the army and I have talked to many soldiers in my life" says Barod, "we divided the 'troops' into three regiments, comprised of nine companies. Each 'soldier' received a folder with everything they need to know. We give the children a sense that we are fighting an enemy, the enemy being evil nature. Each 'soldier' must follow our rules; most of them are aimed at the children's safety: no hitting other children, no leaving the camp grounds, and attendance at camp functions are mandatory."
One such activity is the morning parade. But the day actually starts earlier, with a military style wake up at 7:15 am. The different companies march to the mikveh, and after a dip, say the Morning Prayer and head to the parade ground, where the children stand at attention in front of a picture of the Rabbi of Leubavits, who is referred to as the "chief of staff", salute, and then begin the hoisting of the flag, accompanied by the "soldiers" singing adherent hymns, and mention the 12 verses that the Rabbi of Leubavits decreed that every child should say during the day – six during the morning parade, and the other six during the evening parade.
"Summer camp is the best way to educate the children, because the activities yield an experience", says Barod. Among the different activities, the children play Monopoly, where instead of cities they buy countries in order to establish Chabad Houses. Children over the age of 13 however, are already learning to place tefillin on other people, raise money and organize massive holiday dinners and more.
The day's agenda is carefully planned, with base rules and course content handed out at the end of enlistment. "You have joined Hashem's army. The Jewish army is like any other army. It is built on discipline and values, and as the Rabbi said, you can rise through the ranks", states the notebook that each recruit receives.
Unlike the course that is offered through the Foreign Ministry, where only 30 people out of thousands are accepted every year, the children who get accepted to the Chabad emissary course got accepted the old fashioned way – their relation to current emissaries. Chabad's youth organization explains that the reason for this is that the children have the potential to be the best because they come from that particular environment - because they have already experienced the lifestyle.
The course is affectionately referred to as "Hashem's commandos", and the children know that they are soldiers in the Rabbi of Lubavitch's army, and while he is chief of staff, God still outranks him.
Besides being the children of emissaries, the other common thing these kids have is their devotion to "the rebbe", Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the last leader of the movement. The admiration to "The Rebbe" is so huge, that the Chabad movement has been without a clear cut leader since Schneerson's death in 1994.
A small group of followers went ahead and declared Schneerson as the messiah, a move that divided Chabad. Chabad's youth organization rejected this belief and opted for the position that while the movement is without a leader, the last leader's customs should be upheld.
This attitude is carried out with displays of affection and admiration to the character of "The Rebbe" and his deeds and is expressed in the institute of the emissaries, who carry the voice of "The Rebbe" throughout the world.
Another sign of admiration is the custom to name children after "The Rebbe." Among the popular names are Schneer, Menachem or Mendy, short for Mendel. The children are taught from a young age to continue the Rebbe's teachings. They salute the Chabad flag at every summer camp, study the torah and parts of the Mishnah that "The Rebbe" loved, and of course continue the emissary work.
'We are the commandos'
A classic candidate for the course is Mendy Gorlik, who is only 12 and is already planning to open a Chabad house is one of the former soviet republics. "My father is an emissary in Moscow and so are a few of my relatives," he says.
Twelve-year-old Mendy Van Frach, whose father is the emissary to Holland, plans to become one as well when he grows up. "I really hope that in the future I will be an emissary in Israel." When asked about the difficulties regarding living abroad, away from friends and family, he smiles and says "I get asked a lot on whether or not I'm lonely, and I explain that I meet a lot of interesting people and I do a lot of good deeds with my father and I understand the importance of being a Chabad emissary.
"All of the other children are basically soldiers in Hashem's army, and every soldier, after he gets married and approved for the job will go wherever he is told. We keep getting told that we are the commandos, before I didn't know what that meant, but after I was told what it meant and understood it's meaning I feel good about myself," he said.
"When you bring a Jew closer to Judaism and he performs a mitzvah, you are a part of it and its fun" says Mendy from Beersheba. "Sometimes you don't know if you are going to be an emissary, so I came here and it renewed my interest in becoming an emissary, to be a part of bringing people together".
Mendy's future "service" is dependent on a dream that he and his parents share. "You never know what's going to happen" he says with a smile, "what if the Messiah arrives tomorrow?"
Back
1. I really enjoyed this article
Marty , USA (08.21.08)
Recommend this talkback click here
2. Chabad movement is the most beautiful thing I've ever found
They are great and very loving people.I love them.
Keren , Israel-SP (08.21.08)
Recommend this talkback click here
3. Maybe we ought to take a page from Chabads Education
Love G-D
Learning to love another Jew.
Helping another Jew find his/her Jewish spark.
Love of the Jewish Land Israel.
Love of Torah and Mitzvot.
This is all a tribute to the Lubavitcher Rebbe
Harry (08.21.08)
Recommend this talkback click here
4. Answer please
As an ex- Chabadnik, can someone , somewhere please clarify for me the following.
The Chabad ideology is to "demand" Mashiach now. (I assume that this implies the immediate beggining of the ingathering of Jews from the Diaspora into Eretz Yisrael.)
Now how come Chabad pours millions of dollars into foreign Lands, send hundreds, if not thousands of young people all over the world, contiue to to open more and more Chabad houses, and generally strengthen the Diaspora planning a long extended stay in exile.
Sheer hypocrisy!! Do they want a glorious return to Eretz Yisrael after 2000 years in exile, or an indefinite stay in exilic Lands?
Choni Davidowitz (08.21.08)
babchon@telkomsa.net
Recommend this talkback click here
5. To Keren #2
As individuals, they certainly are wonderful and beautiful people, but as a movement , I regret to inform you that they are staunchly anti- Zionist.- (even though they will not publically admit it)
Almost all Chabadniks living in Israel consider themselves still to be living in Golus.
If you don't believe me then just ask them.
As for Chabad in the Diaspora, there is no better example of the spies of the generation.
Choni Davidowitz (08.21.08)
babchon@telkomsa.net
Recommend this talkback click here
6. #5 Choni-They are right:in the actual Israel..
we are yet in the Galut.
Keren , Israel-SP (08.21.08)
Recommend this talkback click here
7. Great Article! Also, maybe they'll go to the army also.
Maybe, from their becoming used to military-like behavior, they'll become more likely to accept and understand the idea that it is the duty of every Israeli citizen to take part in defending the country, and realize that they should fulfill their obligation, and not miss the great oppurtunity to fulfil this mitzvah. (See Rambam's definition of the two types of Milchemet Mitzvah.)
Michael Berg , Toronto, Ontario (08.21.08)
Chabad summer camp includes money collection, love of God; 'the object is to send emissaries all over the world so that every Jew would have the option of receiving physical and spiritual aid,' coordinator says
They stand in a line, fall in a group of threes and are ordered to go to the parade ground, equipped with a discipline manual. Despite the similarities to any army recruitment center, these are not 18-year-old kids who are joining the IDF, these are children, aged 9 to 13 who were accepted to a unique program aimed at training the children as "house managers" for the countless Chabad houses located worldwide. The program is run by the Chabad organization itself.
For this purpose, Kfar Galim, a youth village located near the coastal town of Atlit was chosen. Some 150 children, who are planning to become emissaries of the Rabbi of Lubavitch, still get to go to the pool and field trips, but the bulk of the training is given in an entirely military-like discipline, which includes an intensive program where the children stay at the youth village for more than two weeks without returning home to mom and dad.
Among the activities the children attend are lectures on the various aspects of being a Chabad emissary, from helping the poor to holding Passover Seders for the hundreds of Israeli backpackers overseas who desire a little piece of home.
This course, the first of its kind, was designed and is run by Chabad's youth organization, headed by Rabbi Joseph Isaac Aharonov, and is aimed to instill the essence of emissary work for Chabad, and build up a renewing pool of potential future emissaries.
"This course is designed to continue the Rabbi of Lubavitch's way, to educate the next generation of Chabad leadership and to instill the love of Israel", said Rabbi Aharonov, "These children will be the representatives of Chabad everywhere". The results, he hopes, will be evident in a few years when these children get married, only then, if they wish and are able to meet the criteria required, can they become emissaries for Chabad.
'You have joined Hashem's army'
For most people, the encounter in Israel with a member of Chabad takes place when they offer tefillin to male passersby or offer a Shabbat lighting kit to the female members of the crowd. The more in-depth encounters however occur overseas, where many Chabad "bases" are located, filled with basic things a Jew requires – from kosher food to tefillin, to more complex things like diplomatic assistance and aid to the young Israeli backpackers who get into trouble far from home.
Usually the emissaries are the heads of small, close knit families – a father, a mother and a few children, who need help adjusting to their new environment, and gradually help their parents more and more when they are older.
"The objective is to send emissaries all over the world so that every Jew would have the option of receiving physical and spiritual aid," says Nahman Barod, a camp coordinator, affectionately nicknamed "the commander', who is in charge of a platoon of kids.
"To be an emissary for Chabad requires some sacrifice and adjustment to a certain reality. The fact that some of the children here arrive from emissary families, gives them an edge of sorts. While their parents need to adjust to the emissary life style, for them this life is routine".
Chabad believes that the more these children learn, the better their chances are of being successful in the field, or by paraphrasing an old army saying, "hard in training, easy in the battle for the soul". Using army terms is not new for the members of Chabad, even though no one will admit to it out loud, in contrast to other Orthodox sects in Judaism, their members serve in the IDF without social condemnation, and the emissaries' work sometimes completely interacts with the army.
The Chabad emissaries, among their different duties, visit different army bases before holidays and Shabbat and sometimes work together with "the army aunts" and give out food for soldiers on the road.
"I have friends in the army and I have talked to many soldiers in my life" says Barod, "we divided the 'troops' into three regiments, comprised of nine companies. Each 'soldier' received a folder with everything they need to know. We give the children a sense that we are fighting an enemy, the enemy being evil nature. Each 'soldier' must follow our rules; most of them are aimed at the children's safety: no hitting other children, no leaving the camp grounds, and attendance at camp functions are mandatory."
One such activity is the morning parade. But the day actually starts earlier, with a military style wake up at 7:15 am. The different companies march to the mikveh, and after a dip, say the Morning Prayer and head to the parade ground, where the children stand at attention in front of a picture of the Rabbi of Leubavits, who is referred to as the "chief of staff", salute, and then begin the hoisting of the flag, accompanied by the "soldiers" singing adherent hymns, and mention the 12 verses that the Rabbi of Leubavits decreed that every child should say during the day – six during the morning parade, and the other six during the evening parade.
"Summer camp is the best way to educate the children, because the activities yield an experience", says Barod. Among the different activities, the children play Monopoly, where instead of cities they buy countries in order to establish Chabad Houses. Children over the age of 13 however, are already learning to place tefillin on other people, raise money and organize massive holiday dinners and more.
The day's agenda is carefully planned, with base rules and course content handed out at the end of enlistment. "You have joined Hashem's army. The Jewish army is like any other army. It is built on discipline and values, and as the Rabbi said, you can rise through the ranks", states the notebook that each recruit receives.
Unlike the course that is offered through the Foreign Ministry, where only 30 people out of thousands are accepted every year, the children who get accepted to the Chabad emissary course got accepted the old fashioned way – their relation to current emissaries. Chabad's youth organization explains that the reason for this is that the children have the potential to be the best because they come from that particular environment - because they have already experienced the lifestyle.
The course is affectionately referred to as "Hashem's commandos", and the children know that they are soldiers in the Rabbi of Lubavitch's army, and while he is chief of staff, God still outranks him.
Besides being the children of emissaries, the other common thing these kids have is their devotion to "the rebbe", Menachem Mendel Schneerson, the last leader of the movement. The admiration to "The Rebbe" is so huge, that the Chabad movement has been without a clear cut leader since Schneerson's death in 1994.
A small group of followers went ahead and declared Schneerson as the messiah, a move that divided Chabad. Chabad's youth organization rejected this belief and opted for the position that while the movement is without a leader, the last leader's customs should be upheld.
This attitude is carried out with displays of affection and admiration to the character of "The Rebbe" and his deeds and is expressed in the institute of the emissaries, who carry the voice of "The Rebbe" throughout the world.
Another sign of admiration is the custom to name children after "The Rebbe." Among the popular names are Schneer, Menachem or Mendy, short for Mendel. The children are taught from a young age to continue the Rebbe's teachings. They salute the Chabad flag at every summer camp, study the torah and parts of the Mishnah that "The Rebbe" loved, and of course continue the emissary work.
'We are the commandos'
A classic candidate for the course is Mendy Gorlik, who is only 12 and is already planning to open a Chabad house is one of the former soviet republics. "My father is an emissary in Moscow and so are a few of my relatives," he says.
Twelve-year-old Mendy Van Frach, whose father is the emissary to Holland, plans to become one as well when he grows up. "I really hope that in the future I will be an emissary in Israel." When asked about the difficulties regarding living abroad, away from friends and family, he smiles and says "I get asked a lot on whether or not I'm lonely, and I explain that I meet a lot of interesting people and I do a lot of good deeds with my father and I understand the importance of being a Chabad emissary.
"All of the other children are basically soldiers in Hashem's army, and every soldier, after he gets married and approved for the job will go wherever he is told. We keep getting told that we are the commandos, before I didn't know what that meant, but after I was told what it meant and understood it's meaning I feel good about myself," he said.
"When you bring a Jew closer to Judaism and he performs a mitzvah, you are a part of it and its fun" says Mendy from Beersheba. "Sometimes you don't know if you are going to be an emissary, so I came here and it renewed my interest in becoming an emissary, to be a part of bringing people together".
Mendy's future "service" is dependent on a dream that he and his parents share. "You never know what's going to happen" he says with a smile, "what if the Messiah arrives tomorrow?"
Back
1. I really enjoyed this article
Marty , USA (08.21.08)
Recommend this talkback click here
2. Chabad movement is the most beautiful thing I've ever found
They are great and very loving people.I love them.
Keren , Israel-SP (08.21.08)
Recommend this talkback click here
3. Maybe we ought to take a page from Chabads Education
Love G-D
Learning to love another Jew.
Helping another Jew find his/her Jewish spark.
Love of the Jewish Land Israel.
Love of Torah and Mitzvot.
This is all a tribute to the Lubavitcher Rebbe
Harry (08.21.08)
Recommend this talkback click here
4. Answer please
As an ex- Chabadnik, can someone , somewhere please clarify for me the following.
The Chabad ideology is to "demand" Mashiach now. (I assume that this implies the immediate beggining of the ingathering of Jews from the Diaspora into Eretz Yisrael.)
Now how come Chabad pours millions of dollars into foreign Lands, send hundreds, if not thousands of young people all over the world, contiue to to open more and more Chabad houses, and generally strengthen the Diaspora planning a long extended stay in exile.
Sheer hypocrisy!! Do they want a glorious return to Eretz Yisrael after 2000 years in exile, or an indefinite stay in exilic Lands?
Choni Davidowitz (08.21.08)
babchon@telkomsa.net
Recommend this talkback click here
5. To Keren #2
As individuals, they certainly are wonderful and beautiful people, but as a movement , I regret to inform you that they are staunchly anti- Zionist.- (even though they will not publically admit it)
Almost all Chabadniks living in Israel consider themselves still to be living in Golus.
If you don't believe me then just ask them.
As for Chabad in the Diaspora, there is no better example of the spies of the generation.
Choni Davidowitz (08.21.08)
babchon@telkomsa.net
Recommend this talkback click here
6. #5 Choni-They are right:in the actual Israel..
we are yet in the Galut.
Keren , Israel-SP (08.21.08)
Recommend this talkback click here
7. Great Article! Also, maybe they'll go to the army also.
Maybe, from their becoming used to military-like behavior, they'll become more likely to accept and understand the idea that it is the duty of every Israeli citizen to take part in defending the country, and realize that they should fulfill their obligation, and not miss the great oppurtunity to fulfil this mitzvah. (See Rambam's definition of the two types of Milchemet Mitzvah.)
Michael Berg , Toronto, Ontario (08.21.08)
Friday, April 18, 2008
Bush cites Chabad education project
A U.S. president for the 30th consecutive year has proclaimed Education and Sharing Day USA, a project of Chabad-Lubavitch.
Ten Chabad emissaries from around the world visited President Bush in the Oval Office Tuesday. Bush signed a proclamation making Wednesday Education and Sharing Day USA.
Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, the chairman of the executive committee of Agudas Chassidei Chabad, said the annual event was instituted by the Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in 1978 when Jimmy Carter occupied the White House.
It is repeated annually on Schneerson’s Hebrew birthday, which began Tuesday night, in honor of his interest in teaching moral values in school. Schneerson was an early advocate of a Department of Education separate from the former Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
“It’s symbolic but an important component of calling attention to education, which the rebbe said was far more than teaching tools” such as math and reading skills, “but involve the development of character,” said Shemtov, who also is the national director of Friends of Lubavitch. “Education is the root of civilization, and the lack of it, or its distortion, is the reason for all the evils in the world.”
Some presidents receive the annual delegation more warmly than others, Shemtov said, adding that "today we came away with the feeling it was more than symbolic.”
The emissaries presented Bush with a Passover Haggadah. Bush signed a second Haggadah that will be sent to Jewish troops overseas.
Ten Chabad emissaries from around the world visited President Bush in the Oval Office Tuesday. Bush signed a proclamation making Wednesday Education and Sharing Day USA.
Rabbi Abraham Shemtov, the chairman of the executive committee of Agudas Chassidei Chabad, said the annual event was instituted by the Lubavitcher rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, in 1978 when Jimmy Carter occupied the White House.
It is repeated annually on Schneerson’s Hebrew birthday, which began Tuesday night, in honor of his interest in teaching moral values in school. Schneerson was an early advocate of a Department of Education separate from the former Department of Health, Education and Welfare.
“It’s symbolic but an important component of calling attention to education, which the rebbe said was far more than teaching tools” such as math and reading skills, “but involve the development of character,” said Shemtov, who also is the national director of Friends of Lubavitch. “Education is the root of civilization, and the lack of it, or its distortion, is the reason for all the evils in the world.”
Some presidents receive the annual delegation more warmly than others, Shemtov said, adding that "today we came away with the feeling it was more than symbolic.”
The emissaries presented Bush with a Passover Haggadah. Bush signed a second Haggadah that will be sent to Jewish troops overseas.
Wednesday, April 09, 2008
Rabbi's bakery blends families, bread
By DEAN SHALHOUP, Telegraph Staff
dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com
MANCHESTER – Scott Schaeffer and his family buy their matzo bread at the store, he says, only because "we don't have the (utensils) to make it at home."
But that didn't stop the 11-year-old Brookline youth from diving right into the clouds of flour that rose from several tables at the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire center Sunday, where he and a couple of dozen other kids gathered for Rabbi Levi Krinsky's famous Model Matzah Bakery, a fun-and-learning experience that he holds each year just before Passover.
Model Matzah Bakery, an outreach program that encourages Jewish children and their families to participate in one of the faith's oldest traditions, is a project of Chabad Lubavitch New Hampshire, of which Krinsky is director. Children begin the afternoon by watching an educational video, then get to don plastic aprons and paper hats to follow Krinsky's step-by-step directions to make their own matzo (sometimes spelled "matzah" or "matzoh") bread from scratch.
The activity is held roughly two weeks before the start of Passover, when members of the Jewish faith are encouraged to study the history and laws of the eight-day festival that commemorates the exodus of the Jews from Egypt.
Passover begins April 20 this year, which is 5768 on the Jewish calendar. Observances can start as early as April 17 with the observance of the Fast of the Firstborn.
"Look at this young lady here . . . not too thin, not too thick, just right – nice job," Krinsky announced, his voice booming throughout the center's auditorium as he peered over the shoulder of tiny matzo-maker Gaia Gilat. Gaia, 5, and her parents moved to Nashua just 10 months ago, said her mom, Hila Gilat.Krinsky, a colorful instructor with boundless energy, floated between speech and traditional chants as he coached his little matzo chefs through the process. Using wooden spindles about 18 inches long and tapered at both ends, the kids worked the ball of dough they'd just mixed into flat, round matzos, the unleavened, cracker-like staple of Passover.
"Yes, like that. Now turn your matzo over and push, push, that's right. Roll the other side out flat . . . OK, these are ready for the oven," he said, grabbing a pizza paddle and quickly adding, "Hey, where's my timekeeper?"
Parental spectators, both amused by Krinsky's style and impressed by his knack for keeping his fledgling students focused and interested, leaned in to watch and offer the occasional guiding hand.
Charlie Schaeffer, Scott's father, said the family has been to Krinsky's "matzo party" before. "It's a good way to learn more about our culture, our religion," he said.
Scott, a student at Captain Douglass Academy in Brookline, is also something of an actor, his mother, Lynda Schaeffer, added – he's appeared in commercials for "Transformers" on cable TV's Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
For Krinsky, his popular program is all about making learning effective by making it enjoyable for the kids.
"This is indeed one of our more fun activities," he said after making sure all matzos had been removed from the oven and placed on a giant foil sheet to cool.
"By doing hands-on things like making matzo," Krinsky said, "children are able to appreciate this age-old Jewish tradition and learn the history of their faith.
"Kids want to learn . . . I feel if I create (an atmosphere of) curiosity, they won't go to sleep," he added with a laugh.
Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-6523 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.
© 2007, Telegraph Publishing Company, Nashua, New Hampshire
dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com
MANCHESTER – Scott Schaeffer and his family buy their matzo bread at the store, he says, only because "we don't have the (utensils) to make it at home."
But that didn't stop the 11-year-old Brookline youth from diving right into the clouds of flour that rose from several tables at the Jewish Federation of New Hampshire center Sunday, where he and a couple of dozen other kids gathered for Rabbi Levi Krinsky's famous Model Matzah Bakery, a fun-and-learning experience that he holds each year just before Passover.
Model Matzah Bakery, an outreach program that encourages Jewish children and their families to participate in one of the faith's oldest traditions, is a project of Chabad Lubavitch New Hampshire, of which Krinsky is director. Children begin the afternoon by watching an educational video, then get to don plastic aprons and paper hats to follow Krinsky's step-by-step directions to make their own matzo (sometimes spelled "matzah" or "matzoh") bread from scratch.
The activity is held roughly two weeks before the start of Passover, when members of the Jewish faith are encouraged to study the history and laws of the eight-day festival that commemorates the exodus of the Jews from Egypt.
Passover begins April 20 this year, which is 5768 on the Jewish calendar. Observances can start as early as April 17 with the observance of the Fast of the Firstborn.
"Look at this young lady here . . . not too thin, not too thick, just right – nice job," Krinsky announced, his voice booming throughout the center's auditorium as he peered over the shoulder of tiny matzo-maker Gaia Gilat. Gaia, 5, and her parents moved to Nashua just 10 months ago, said her mom, Hila Gilat.Krinsky, a colorful instructor with boundless energy, floated between speech and traditional chants as he coached his little matzo chefs through the process. Using wooden spindles about 18 inches long and tapered at both ends, the kids worked the ball of dough they'd just mixed into flat, round matzos, the unleavened, cracker-like staple of Passover.
"Yes, like that. Now turn your matzo over and push, push, that's right. Roll the other side out flat . . . OK, these are ready for the oven," he said, grabbing a pizza paddle and quickly adding, "Hey, where's my timekeeper?"
Parental spectators, both amused by Krinsky's style and impressed by his knack for keeping his fledgling students focused and interested, leaned in to watch and offer the occasional guiding hand.
Charlie Schaeffer, Scott's father, said the family has been to Krinsky's "matzo party" before. "It's a good way to learn more about our culture, our religion," he said.
Scott, a student at Captain Douglass Academy in Brookline, is also something of an actor, his mother, Lynda Schaeffer, added – he's appeared in commercials for "Transformers" on cable TV's Nickelodeon and Cartoon Network.
For Krinsky, his popular program is all about making learning effective by making it enjoyable for the kids.
"This is indeed one of our more fun activities," he said after making sure all matzos had been removed from the oven and placed on a giant foil sheet to cool.
"By doing hands-on things like making matzo," Krinsky said, "children are able to appreciate this age-old Jewish tradition and learn the history of their faith.
"Kids want to learn . . . I feel if I create (an atmosphere of) curiosity, they won't go to sleep," he added with a laugh.
Dean Shalhoup can be reached at 594-6523 or dshalhoup@nashuatelegraph.com.
© 2007, Telegraph Publishing Company, Nashua, New Hampshire
Sunday, March 23, 2008
Children of Yiddish speakers preserve past
By Michael Hill
Sun reporter
March 15, 2008
Many middle-aged American Jews have identical memories of Yiddish - the language their parents spoke when they didn't want the children to understand.
That's what Gila Haor remembers from her childhood in upstate New York. But at 33, she's trying to change things in her Pikesville household by speaking Yiddish as often as possible to her three daughters, ages 3 to 8.
"It would make my grandparents - they are gone - so proud to know that I am speaking Yiddish," she says.
Enthusiasts like Haor are few and far between. In fact, Yiddish might have died out, or at least been threatened with cultural sidelining, had it not been for people such as Aaron Lansky.
Lansky stumbled onto Yiddish in college and eventually saved a million volumes in his National Yiddish Book Center - winning a MacArthur Foundation grant along the way. He will be the first speaker in a series on the Yiddish language that begins Sunday at 7 p.m. in The Center for Jewish Education, 5708 Park Heights Ave.
For the most part, Yiddish has followed the path of all immigrant languages: the main language of the first generation to land in America, understood but not spoken by children who yearned to assimilate, a foreign language to the third generation.
The difference: other immigrant languages such as Italian, Polish and German had home countries. Yiddish did not. As the third generation of immigrants shunned it, with it spoken only in some ultra-Orthodox communities - and with most of its native speakers in Europe lost to the Holocaust - it risked dying out.
Enter people such as Lanksy, 52, who says his relationship to Yiddish was the same as that of many Jews his age: "I heard it spoken as a kid, but nobody spoke it to me."
After taking one of the first courses on the Holocaust while a student at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, Lansky began looking into the culture lost to the Nazi regime. "I realized I needed to understand Yiddish to understand this culture," he said.
He got a professor at nearby University of Massachussets to teach him after hours. "That language opened up the history, opened up the literature, opened up the whole world of this culture," Lansky said.
In graduate school at McGill University, Lansky realized that many books written in Yiddish were in danger of being discarded or destroyed, so he took a leave of absence to rescue them. Scholars told him there were about 70,000 volumes out there. Lanksy found a million - now housed at the center he started on the Hampshire campus in Northampton.
"I literally collected the remnants of a civilization that most people never knew existed," Lansky said. "Even well-educated Jews who think they know Jewish culture come to the center and say 'What is this? How come we were never told about this?'"
Lansky, who won the MacArthur grant in 1989, wrote a book about his efforts, Outwitting History, published in 2004.
Hilda Rubin, vice president of Yiddish of Greater Washington, says four main forces almost killed Yiddish - Hitler with the Holocaust, Stalin by wiping out the Yiddish scholars who survived World War II, assimilation in America, and the State of Israel, which picked Hebrew as its official language and repressed the teaching and speaking of Yiddish in the country's early days.
"I call myself the missing link between the older generation that first came to America and the younger generation of today," says Rubin, 79, who will speak March 25 at The Associated headquarters on Mount Royal Avenue.
Rubin, 79, unlike many in her generation, saw Yiddish as more than the language of her immigrant parents. In her Bronx co-op neighborhood - a place of Jewish intellectual ferment - Yiddish was not just spoken, but taught. "My mother constantly tried to make sure her kids got the best Yiddish education," she says.
"There is this big gap with Jewish children today," Rubin adds. "They learn biblical history and then - boom - they go to the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel."
Yiddish, spoken by generations of Eastern European Jews, is essentially a Germanic language - dismissed by its detractors as a mere German dialect - with other roots that reach out to Hebrew and Aramaic. It also picked up linguistic influences wherever Jews lived during the centuries of the diaspora.
"You can take a random Yiddish sentence and break it down, and the sentence itself contains 7,000 years of Jewish history," Lansky says.
Though many Americans associate Yiddish with the Jewish comedians who dominated that art form in the 1950s and 1960s - the language of schlep, shtick, schnoz, schmooze - it also spawned a sophisticated culture.
Until the mid-19th century, most Jewish authors wrote in the native tongue of the country where they lived. But a Yiddish literature - written in Hebrew characters - grew in Eastern Europe to encompass theater, film and music, too.
Occasionally that culture found its way into the mainstream, such as the Broadway hit Fiddler on the Roof or with the 1978 Nobel Prize to Isaac Bashevis Singer, who wrote in Yiddish.
"It is such a picturesque language," says Judy Langenthal, who grew up hearing Yiddish in Baltimore. "It often has a touch of sarcasm to it. My grandmother could be pretty testy, and she would use these Yiddish curses that would often rhyme. One of them was, 'May you grow like an onion with your head in the ground and your feet up in the air.' When you say that in Yiddish, apparently it rhymes."
Langenthal, 72, tried to learn Yiddish in school. When everyone was taking French at Forest Park high, she took German. Although though she went to Brandeis University - founded by Jewish philanthropists - there were no Yiddish courses.
But she has seen that change. A member of her family, Philip Myers, endowed a chair in Yiddish studies at the Johns Hopkins University - now just one of many top institutions that teach Yiddish.
"I think it has to do with the realization they were throwing out the baby with the bathwater," Sylvia Schildt says of the Yiddish revival. "There were a lot of negative things connected with Jewish history - the Holocaust, the pogroms, and poverty, intense poverty. But hidden in all of that was this incredible culture."
Schildt, in her early 70s, will discuss her book about growing up in the Yiddish-speaking New York neighborhood of Brownsville on April 13 at Baltimore Hebrew University.
As full-time director of his Yiddish book center, Lansky says people coming there are not driven by nostalgia. "For them it's common sense," he says. "This language was spoken by three-quarters of the world's Jews for the last 1,000 years. It would be good to start to understand what their culture was all about."
He recognizes that Yiddish will never again be the lingua franca of Jewry in this country. "We were American kids. I think our parents and grandparents felt it was unfair to burden us with the past," Lansky says. "I am not complaining. When you consider where Jews are today to where they were 100 years ago, it was worth it."
And there are the exceptions like the Haor family. To explain its appeal, Gila can only come up with a Yiddish word - hamish. "It is hard to translate," she says. "It means homey, familiar, comfortable. ... I am just grateful to have it as part of my family."
Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun
Sun reporter
March 15, 2008
Many middle-aged American Jews have identical memories of Yiddish - the language their parents spoke when they didn't want the children to understand.
That's what Gila Haor remembers from her childhood in upstate New York. But at 33, she's trying to change things in her Pikesville household by speaking Yiddish as often as possible to her three daughters, ages 3 to 8.
"It would make my grandparents - they are gone - so proud to know that I am speaking Yiddish," she says.
Enthusiasts like Haor are few and far between. In fact, Yiddish might have died out, or at least been threatened with cultural sidelining, had it not been for people such as Aaron Lansky.
Lansky stumbled onto Yiddish in college and eventually saved a million volumes in his National Yiddish Book Center - winning a MacArthur Foundation grant along the way. He will be the first speaker in a series on the Yiddish language that begins Sunday at 7 p.m. in The Center for Jewish Education, 5708 Park Heights Ave.
For the most part, Yiddish has followed the path of all immigrant languages: the main language of the first generation to land in America, understood but not spoken by children who yearned to assimilate, a foreign language to the third generation.
The difference: other immigrant languages such as Italian, Polish and German had home countries. Yiddish did not. As the third generation of immigrants shunned it, with it spoken only in some ultra-Orthodox communities - and with most of its native speakers in Europe lost to the Holocaust - it risked dying out.
Enter people such as Lanksy, 52, who says his relationship to Yiddish was the same as that of many Jews his age: "I heard it spoken as a kid, but nobody spoke it to me."
After taking one of the first courses on the Holocaust while a student at Hampshire College in Massachusetts, Lansky began looking into the culture lost to the Nazi regime. "I realized I needed to understand Yiddish to understand this culture," he said.
He got a professor at nearby University of Massachussets to teach him after hours. "That language opened up the history, opened up the literature, opened up the whole world of this culture," Lansky said.
In graduate school at McGill University, Lansky realized that many books written in Yiddish were in danger of being discarded or destroyed, so he took a leave of absence to rescue them. Scholars told him there were about 70,000 volumes out there. Lanksy found a million - now housed at the center he started on the Hampshire campus in Northampton.
"I literally collected the remnants of a civilization that most people never knew existed," Lansky said. "Even well-educated Jews who think they know Jewish culture come to the center and say 'What is this? How come we were never told about this?'"
Lansky, who won the MacArthur grant in 1989, wrote a book about his efforts, Outwitting History, published in 2004.
Hilda Rubin, vice president of Yiddish of Greater Washington, says four main forces almost killed Yiddish - Hitler with the Holocaust, Stalin by wiping out the Yiddish scholars who survived World War II, assimilation in America, and the State of Israel, which picked Hebrew as its official language and repressed the teaching and speaking of Yiddish in the country's early days.
"I call myself the missing link between the older generation that first came to America and the younger generation of today," says Rubin, 79, who will speak March 25 at The Associated headquarters on Mount Royal Avenue.
Rubin, 79, unlike many in her generation, saw Yiddish as more than the language of her immigrant parents. In her Bronx co-op neighborhood - a place of Jewish intellectual ferment - Yiddish was not just spoken, but taught. "My mother constantly tried to make sure her kids got the best Yiddish education," she says.
"There is this big gap with Jewish children today," Rubin adds. "They learn biblical history and then - boom - they go to the Holocaust and the establishment of Israel."
Yiddish, spoken by generations of Eastern European Jews, is essentially a Germanic language - dismissed by its detractors as a mere German dialect - with other roots that reach out to Hebrew and Aramaic. It also picked up linguistic influences wherever Jews lived during the centuries of the diaspora.
"You can take a random Yiddish sentence and break it down, and the sentence itself contains 7,000 years of Jewish history," Lansky says.
Though many Americans associate Yiddish with the Jewish comedians who dominated that art form in the 1950s and 1960s - the language of schlep, shtick, schnoz, schmooze - it also spawned a sophisticated culture.
Until the mid-19th century, most Jewish authors wrote in the native tongue of the country where they lived. But a Yiddish literature - written in Hebrew characters - grew in Eastern Europe to encompass theater, film and music, too.
Occasionally that culture found its way into the mainstream, such as the Broadway hit Fiddler on the Roof or with the 1978 Nobel Prize to Isaac Bashevis Singer, who wrote in Yiddish.
"It is such a picturesque language," says Judy Langenthal, who grew up hearing Yiddish in Baltimore. "It often has a touch of sarcasm to it. My grandmother could be pretty testy, and she would use these Yiddish curses that would often rhyme. One of them was, 'May you grow like an onion with your head in the ground and your feet up in the air.' When you say that in Yiddish, apparently it rhymes."
Langenthal, 72, tried to learn Yiddish in school. When everyone was taking French at Forest Park high, she took German. Although though she went to Brandeis University - founded by Jewish philanthropists - there were no Yiddish courses.
But she has seen that change. A member of her family, Philip Myers, endowed a chair in Yiddish studies at the Johns Hopkins University - now just one of many top institutions that teach Yiddish.
"I think it has to do with the realization they were throwing out the baby with the bathwater," Sylvia Schildt says of the Yiddish revival. "There were a lot of negative things connected with Jewish history - the Holocaust, the pogroms, and poverty, intense poverty. But hidden in all of that was this incredible culture."
Schildt, in her early 70s, will discuss her book about growing up in the Yiddish-speaking New York neighborhood of Brownsville on April 13 at Baltimore Hebrew University.
As full-time director of his Yiddish book center, Lansky says people coming there are not driven by nostalgia. "For them it's common sense," he says. "This language was spoken by three-quarters of the world's Jews for the last 1,000 years. It would be good to start to understand what their culture was all about."
He recognizes that Yiddish will never again be the lingua franca of Jewry in this country. "We were American kids. I think our parents and grandparents felt it was unfair to burden us with the past," Lansky says. "I am not complaining. When you consider where Jews are today to where they were 100 years ago, it was worth it."
And there are the exceptions like the Haor family. To explain its appeal, Gila can only come up with a Yiddish word - hamish. "It is hard to translate," she says. "It means homey, familiar, comfortable. ... I am just grateful to have it as part of my family."
Copyright © 2008, The Baltimore Sun
Friday, March 21, 2008
Letters: Teaching to the Testosterone
I was fascinated by Elizabeth Weil’s article because I have studied an all-girls’ school in some depth. During graduate school, I lived among the Lubavitcher Hasidim, in Crown Heights, Brooklyn; I’ve recorded my findings in a book. I spent many days observing, in the girls’ high school and post-high-school seminary. Despite my reservations about same-sex schools, I was deeply impressed. In this ultra-Orthodox community known for its stark gender roles, the girls’ ability to adopt stereotypically male personas struck me. Many girls became noisy instigators, impish troublemakers, charismatic schoolwide leaders — niches that disproportionately may fall to boys in coed schools. The boys were not around to usurp these roles, so the girls snatched them up.
I don’t believe that single-sex schools are best for all students. Coed schools have their own benefits. But I am delighted that an option once reserved for private and parochial schools is open to growing numbers of public-school students.
STEPHANIE WELLEN LEVINE
I don’t believe that single-sex schools are best for all students. Coed schools have their own benefits. But I am delighted that an option once reserved for private and parochial schools is open to growing numbers of public-school students.
STEPHANIE WELLEN LEVINE
Monday, October 29, 2007
Dear Reader: The Good and Bad of Chabad
by Eric H. Yoffie
In last Winter’s column, I reflected on Chabad’s admirable hospitality (see “The Art of Welcoming,” Winter 2006). Indeed, throughout the world, in virtually every city where a Jewish community of even modest size is to be found, Chabad shelichim (emissaries) conduct religious services, visit hospitals, teach children, organize Jewish holiday celebrations, and offer Shabbat meals to lonely Jewish students and travelers. No other Jewish movement—Orthodox, Conservative, or Reform—has been able to produce a corps of similarly devoted young men and women who are prepared to serve the Jewish people with such personal sacrifice.
Unfortunately, other Chabad practices are less admirable. Here are two examples.
In Russia, Chabad leaders have established an alliance with the increasingly autocratic President Vladimir Putin. Such alliances have their purposes, but not when they are used to deny recognition and funding to other Jewish groups. Looking back at the history of eastern European Jewry, we all view with distaste those chapters that involve Jewish groups drawing close to ruling despots so that they can work against other Jews with whom they disagree. We do not need a modern version of that history in the Russian Federation today.
In North America, the issues are very different. Reform, Conservative, and Orthodox synagogues routinely require families that want their child to have a bar/bat mitzvah to meet certain requirements—the son or daughter must attend religious school for a year or more, and the parents must commit themselves to study and congregational worship. The reason is clear: absent Torah learning and familial involvement, the bar mitzvah will be without meaning, an excuse for a party. Chabad centers, however, generally provide a bar mitzah service with few, if any, requirements. Chabad says that no child should be denied a bar mitzvah, and the family—which is usually unaffiliated—may be drawn later into Jewish life. Perhaps. More likely, the lesson is that Judaism is not a serious endeavor and that even the most significant milestones require only a modicum of commitment.
Surely no family should ever be denied membership in a synagogue because of inability to pay. But we should protest when Chabad, or anyone else, becomes a purveyor of Jewish minimalism, lowering educational standards for our children and community.
Rabbi Eric H. Yoffie President, Union for Reform Judaism
Wednesday, October 10, 2007
how i became a post denominational mystic
(excerpt from a thoughtful blogpost):
I am, however, jumping the gun here. I will return to this mystical component momentarily, but I first want to explain the “post-denominational” bit. I initially discovered the term “Post-Denominational” a few years ago in an article in The Jerusalem Post. To my delight, it described an unusual phenomenon occurring in Israel. Secular Israelis who previously wanted nothing to do with Judaism were suddenly flocking in substantial numbers to study Torah and Talmud. Unlike the various outreach movements that have been active in recruiting new baalei tshuvah, those who return to the faith, these Israelis had no interest in becoming religious. Their sole motive was reclamation of their heritage which had been circumstantially hijacked and monopolised by orthodoxy.Simultaneously, a growing number of Orthodox Israelis had begun to explore the fascinating world of science and philosophy. Online forums such as the Israeli website Hyde Park gave these religious Jews the opportunity to exchange views in an open environment, many of them taking advantage of the Internet’s anonymity to express opinions they dared not utter on the streets of Bnei Brak or Mea Shearim. Furthermore, what was coined the Habakuk movement (after the prophet Chabakuk, but truly an acronym for Chabad, Breslav and Rav Kook), an eclectic, mystical revival indigenous to Israel, spanned the denominational spectrum in its constituency.Up until I read that article, whenever asked about my denominational status, for a while already I had begun to reply: “unorthodox”. While that adjective is possibly suitable for my personality, it is less than adequate in describing my religious affiliation. Post-denominational works much better. So I began using that.When I did a more recent Google search on the topic, I found the word post-denominational used critically towards Lubavitch in a JP article from July 2006 written by Marvin Schick, president of the Jacob Joseph Yeshiva, NY. Decrying the abandonment of halacha in the movement’s efforts to include Jews of all backgrounds, Schick writes: “As it grows, Chabad's options are in a sense limited by certain realities, primarily the wholesale Judaic abandonment that we are witness to, and which is accelerating. Increasingly, the movement operates in a framework of post-denominational Judaism.”In the past I have been critical of certain aspects of Lubavitch, particularly of its extreme messianic element. In this regard, however, I have to vigorously defend them.In 1981 I was employed as an English teacher in the Lubavitch Primary School in Safed. Nearly half of the school’s pupils were from families in Kiryat Chabad; the rest came from non-observant Israeli homes in the area. I recall how the Chabad families wrote the Rebbe ז"צל to request that they form their own school without the negative influences their children were encountering from their secular classmates. The Rebbe ז"צל refused; the positive influence inherent in the interaction between religious and secular children outweighed the potential negatives.During our recent 18-month stay in the Byron Bay area, I had the good fortune to befriend the Chabad shaliach (emissary) for the Gold Coast & Northern Rivers area. Rabbi Mosheh Serebryanski epitomises the concept of Jewish unity as expressed by the Jewish sages quoted above and emphatically reiterated by the Lubavitcher Rebbe. Byron Bay, of course, has a culture all of its own, and the many Israelis living there are both secular and alternative. Though there are many who consider “kiruv” (bringing Jews closer to their heritage) a means to provide quantitative fodder for orthodox culture, Reb Mosheh comprehended a deeper, antithetical significance: the ability to identify and come close to the spark of innate goodness in every soul. Whatever the Jewish occasion, the gatherings he organised never failed to manifest a certain character unique to the Byron Bay sub-culture. No doubt Schick would object to the occasional erosion of halacha which could occur under such circumstances nor would he fully appreciate the concomitant and contagious sense of simchah (joy).Two and a half centuries ago the Baal Shem Tov began a movement that was truly revolutionary in its day. It was a Jewish rebellion against a soulless rabbinate, an ivory-towered world of dry legalism insensitive to the peoples’ needs and suffering. Hasidism in essence shifted the Jewish focus from the head to the heart, allowing a larger number of Jews to connect to God, the Torah and commandments through heartfelt devotion and simple intent. In its early days the movement was actually excommunicated for what the rabbinic establishment viewed as breaches of Jewish law. Today, ironically, most of the Hasidic movement has itself crystallised into an exclusive establishment. Only Chabad stands out in bearing that original torch of inclusiveness, willing to guide the flocks in Byron Bay, Kathmandu, Dharamsala, Saigon, Bangkok and countless other remote places. Chabad has assimilated the Baal Shem Tov’s famous dictum, which Marvin Schick would no doubt find anathematic: “One can’t expect to save a person from sinking in quicksand without getting one’s hands dirty".
Sunday, August 05, 2007
Why Are We Losing Some Of Our Best Children?
Unfortunately, the current percentage of children that spend years in our chinuch institutions, yet do not grow up as we would have hoped, is far from insignificant.
Clearly, we must look for the source of the problem. As is emphasized in many seforim, "HaDinim einam nimtakin ela b’shorshan – Negatives can only be sweetened by going to their root cause." This means, if we could catch the problem with our children’s chinuch at an early stage, we can hope to avoid a lot of the misery that the frum communities experience today.
Underdeveloped Learning Skills Cause Deviant Behavior
To answer the question, we can look at some research that was done in the 1990s on repeat criminals. Researchers wanted to find the source of their apparently inexplicable return to criminal behavior. They theorized that over 90 percent of the repeat criminals did not have properly developed academic skills. Without these skills, they had no easy alternative for supporting themselves, and ultimately returned to the criminal skills at which they were already proficient.
To see whether this theory was correct, an experiment was done at several correctional institutions. The inmates were divided into two groups. One performed standard manual labor. The other was tested to verify which learning skills they were lacking, and a program was instituted to develop these skills.
When the inmates completed their sentences and were freed, they were monitored to see what they would do. The overwhelming majority of the regular inmates returned to crime, whereas the overwhelming majority of those who had developed their learning skills found employment on their own, unassisted!
L. Richardson, an attorney specializing in criminal law, told me that in the Florida Criminal Courts one of the first questions the judges ask is, "Up to what grade have you completed school?" If the criminal did not finish high school, the judge orders that the correctional institution implement an academic program for him. The Justice Department views it as a budget issue. It’s much cheaper to keep crime down through education than to maintain the criminals in correctional institutions.
We can take a lesson from the Florida Justice Department. Children naturally want to be happy. If they do not find contentment in their current occupation (i.e. school) they will seek it elsewhere.
The Lubavitcher Rebbe’s View
I recently viewed a video clip from December 7, 1989, depicting a conversation between the Lubavitcher Rebbe and Justice Jack B. Weinstein. The Rebbe blessed him and said, "May you merit to see the day when there will be no need for sentencing criminals, because crime will have become abolished through preventive education, to prevent people from going astray from the right way. When you speak to the Federal Sentencing Commission, do not report this only as my views, but I hope you will adopt them and support them as your own views, as well."
In Devarim 33:4 it is written, "Torah tzivah lanu Moshe morashah Kehillas Yaakov – The Torahthat Moses commanded us is the heritage of the Congregation of Jacob." Our Sages stress that the Torah is the heritage of every Jewish soul, and everyone is capable of learning it. In Mishlei 22:6 it is stated,"Chanoch l’na’ar al pi darko gam ki yazkin lo yasur mimeno – Train a youth according to his way; even when he grows old, he will not swerve from it."
It is our obligation to discover the best (most unique) way of reaching a child, so that we can develop the skills that he will use always. Then, with Hashem’s help, even when he grows older he will not swerve from the path he has learned.
Children Who Are Unsuccessful In School Are At Risk To Go Astray
If, in fourth or fifth grade, a child cannot succeed in his studies, he undergoes a change in attitude. As described by Rabbi M. Berger, president of Education 4 R Kids, Inc. in Ottawa: The child begins to feel, "These studies, which I don’t understand, are irrelevant." Once the attitude of irrelevance towards the studies takes hold, the entire value system that makes up the backdrop of his religious education can come into question, as well.
Irrelevance, rejection of values, and total alienation are all simply byproducts of the root issue: lack of success in the academics of Torah. Therefore, when a boy or girl stops being successful at school, it needs to be seen as a warning flag that calls out, "Catch the problem now, for later may be too late."
If the academic issues aren’t attended to and corrected at an early stage, it may develop into the child entering a bitter struggle with parents and teachers, with adverse effects. The child and the parents view the situation quite differently. The parents’ viewpoint is: "We chose the best mosad chinuch, we didn’t allow a TV into the house, and we lived in a real Yiddishe neighborhood; we did everything possible to raise ehrlicheh children."
The child’s viewpoint is: "I suffered so much in school: frustration, embarrassment, all kinds of labels, etc. and nobody cared about my feelings." In retaliation, the child will do everything possible to show his contempt of his parents’ and teachers’ feelings. In fact, the more he can hurt their feelings, the more satisfaction he derives.
Lowering Academic Expectations Is Not The Solution
While a child is in school, it needs to provide him with the essential skills he will use throughout his life. He needs to learn to face challenges in order to succeed in life. Children are not fools. I have spoken with parents who have thought, "Let us strengthen our child’s self-image by developing only those skills that he already has." But this is only a temporary cover-up.
As soon as several months go by and the child becomes aware of the gap between him and his friends, the false self-image works against him and the pain of betrayal sets in. He also feels hurt that his parents and teachers have given up on him and labeled him a failure.
Self-esteem does not develop from doing things you already know how to do, but rather, through accepting challenges and succeeding. Do you think a 13-year-old gains stronger self-esteem because he can tie his shoelaces? Certainly not! A four-year-old does, because to him it’s a challenge. We need to help our children develop the skills they lack, rather than allowing them to fail. That is the only way they will find satisfaction within the school system.
Considering The Entire Child
Once again, we need to look for the source of the problem and address it at its root. There are special tests produced by experts in the field of education that can tell us specifically which skills the child is lacking. They test for skills ranging from phonemic awareness to mental imagery.
For example, even if a child has 20/20 vision, he may still suffer from an eye focus disorder, especially if he is dyslexic. In Hebrew it may present itself as a more severe difficulty because Hebrew uses the punctuation system rather than the vowel system. The text is busier, and it requires more focusing.
Additional, non-cognitive issues need to be identified as well. Diet can be crucial. A child may have great skills but still not be able to make headway if he is suffering from a diet-related problem. Sleeping patterns or an unstable home environment are other factors that should be considered.
Correcting The Situation – The Master-Mind Method
Once the source of the problem is identified, a special program can be implemented that matches the child’s specific needs. This would include correctional methods (for dyslexia, eye-focus, etc.) as well as developing the missing skills (reading, comprehension, math, organization).
It is our repeated experience that, after the child proceeds through this carefully tailored program, and is then retested with similar (albeit different) tests, the results are amazing! The child achieves his grade and age level, and even above.
This works even with a child who has been diagnosed with ADD or ADHD. This is because ADD/ADHD is frequently a result of, or compounded by, undeveloped skills. If a child doesn’t have the skills required for a certain lesson, he will not understand it. If he can’t follow the lesson, he will be bored and irritable. (Imagine yourself in his place!)
Armed with his newly acquired skills, the child will now be able to succeed in his regular school studies and maintain a healthy level of self-esteem. He is a great deal less likely to rebel at a later stage.
By looking for the source of the problem, we can do much to rectify it; and therefore we must.
Parents can find out more about these programs by contacting Rabbi Eliyahu Shain at 718-774-1111 or rabbishain@master-mind.org.
Rabbi Shain is a renowned mohel, who is active in child-at-risk prevention. He is the founder of the Master-Mind method, a program that transforms struggling students into successful ones in a remarkably short period of time, and has made major strides in dropout prevention.
Thursday, March 08, 2007
Rabbi Levi Shemtov
Rabbi Levi Shemtov is Washington office Director of American Friends of Lubavitch. Shemtov is a well known figure in political and Jewish circles in Washington, and his activism symbolizes the change Chabad's culture has gone through in recent decades from a limited Chasidic faction to a powerhouse working across the Jewish and non-Jewish world. Shemtov's highest profile event is the Hanukah Menorah lighting on the White House lawn. We will discuss with him the state of American Jewry, Chabad and other topics. Readers, as usual, can send their questions to rosnersdomain@haaretz.co.il.
Rabbi Shemtov,
Can you explain what is the Jewish education you refer to? is it educating people in the mode of Chabad or in the mode of Reform Judaism? These are two very different things.
Thank you for your reply,
Tzvi Noah
NY
I think the focus must be the education of many more Jewish people - particularly children - in the ways of Torah and yiddishkeit. The differences you mention, while indeed real, have sadly served all too often as a reason to end these types of discussions before they begin.
The need to reinforce and expand Jewish education is a vital one, regardless of a Jewish person's particular station in life, communally or otherwise. We need progress, not just process.
Obviously, I am most familiar with the Chabad-Lubavitch method, which seems to work to a large measure with open-minded Jewish people of a variety of affiliations. Too often I hear from participants - as do many of my colleagues - that specifically because they felt welcome, as they were, the possibility for their Jewish growth and that of their family became possible in a meaningful way for the first time. While this indeed is gratifying, it also pains the heart to know that others who seemed a "better fit" lost so much opportunity with these people for so long.
So, if someone is indeed serious about the issue, they need to address it for all the Jewish people. Distinctions instead of solutions is what we have way too much of already. They will only distract from the intended focus. We can and must do better than that.
RLS
Dear Rabbi,
I'll start with the topic of last week's dialogue, and with a general question of the state of American Jewry. Is it declining or thriving - is it in crisis or going through a period of renaissance? Give us, for starters, your list of "must do" for American Jewish leaders.
Rosner
The Jewish people today live in a time of great triumph, but also great challenge. We are taught that G-d tests us either with the pain of poverty or the power of prosperity. We seem to be enduring both right now - the prosperity is material, the poverty is spiritual. But there is a bright spot as well, and reason for hope, if people are willing to act.
There is no way you can ignore the fact that there is presently a serious decline in the American Jewish community, with over half believed to be totally unaffiliated. And the organized community decries the apathy and ignorance of those who do consider themselves affiliated, and are anxious about how to reengage them in Jewish identity.
On the other hand, there is not only a simultaneous resurgence - or resuscitation - of Jewish life, with so many finding their way back or more deeply into their Jewish heritage, but those who for a very long time advocated a lesser degree of tradition in their life as Jews, perhaps thinking that the age-old Torah teachings and directives were no longer "as relevant" now realize and publicly state, emphatically, that ONLY through a return to Torah and mitzvos is there any real hope of Jewish survival. It seems as if all the alternatives ultimately give way to a return to Torah - sooner or later. It's been that way since Sinai
And this leads to the key point I believe the Jewish community must focus on as a most urgent priority: Jewish Education.
From our beginning and up until the latest National Jewish Population Survey, Jewish education appears and reappears as the core factor in Jewish continuity. I am loath to judge the previous generation or two for their failure to provide adequate Jewish education. Perhaps they thought their own Jewish identity would automatically transfer without the requisite strenuous effort to educate children properly. Or they didn't think they had the financial ability to do so. But that can't help us today, as we live with the painful results of the last few decades. Not enough energy was dedicated to afternoon Hebrew school and other similar programs once thought a panacea. They became an afterthought, even a joke, and then a disaster; barely better than nothing. And almost any Jewish adult I speak to indeed remembers that part of their lives with dissatisfaction, if not disdain.
If there is one thing above all others which Jewish communal leaders need to address urgently, this would be it. Reinforce and expand opportunities for affordable, quality Jewish education. After way too long, many Jewish philanthropists, who have collectively donated billions to causes that others beyond our community could easily fund, have now finally begun to realize the emergency and have started to (re)direct serious sums to Jewish causes. Those directing these initiatives need to further redirect these new funding sources toward ensuring Jewish education for all those in our community who can then avail themselves of it.
King Solomon taught us that a properly educated Jewish child will much more likely become a strongly Jewishly identified adult and then a committed member of the Jewish community, even into their later years.
And, for those who are already passed their childhood, innovative and quality programs and initiatives can help rectify a gap in this regard and refocus parents on the Jewish educational needs of themselves and their children. And the educational effortss and mitzvah campaigns for Jews of all or no (perceived) affiliation, which the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory, initiated and which thousands of my colleagues throughout the world have developed (to the curiosity, sometimes disdain, then appreciation or even replication by so many others), have had a serious impact in this area. And much more remains to be done.
There are no doubt enough resources in our vast community membership to address this issue. That is what we have. What we don't have is a choice. The answer to this question when it is asked the next time lies absolutely in our hands today.
Rabbi Shemtov,
Can you explain what is the Jewish education you refer to? is it educating people in the mode of Chabad or in the mode of Reform Judaism? These are two very different things.
Thank you for your reply,
Tzvi Noah
NY
I think the focus must be the education of many more Jewish people - particularly children - in the ways of Torah and yiddishkeit. The differences you mention, while indeed real, have sadly served all too often as a reason to end these types of discussions before they begin.
The need to reinforce and expand Jewish education is a vital one, regardless of a Jewish person's particular station in life, communally or otherwise. We need progress, not just process.
Obviously, I am most familiar with the Chabad-Lubavitch method, which seems to work to a large measure with open-minded Jewish people of a variety of affiliations. Too often I hear from participants - as do many of my colleagues - that specifically because they felt welcome, as they were, the possibility for their Jewish growth and that of their family became possible in a meaningful way for the first time. While this indeed is gratifying, it also pains the heart to know that others who seemed a "better fit" lost so much opportunity with these people for so long.
So, if someone is indeed serious about the issue, they need to address it for all the Jewish people. Distinctions instead of solutions is what we have way too much of already. They will only distract from the intended focus. We can and must do better than that.
RLS
Dear Rabbi,
I'll start with the topic of last week's dialogue, and with a general question of the state of American Jewry. Is it declining or thriving - is it in crisis or going through a period of renaissance? Give us, for starters, your list of "must do" for American Jewish leaders.
Rosner
The Jewish people today live in a time of great triumph, but also great challenge. We are taught that G-d tests us either with the pain of poverty or the power of prosperity. We seem to be enduring both right now - the prosperity is material, the poverty is spiritual. But there is a bright spot as well, and reason for hope, if people are willing to act.
There is no way you can ignore the fact that there is presently a serious decline in the American Jewish community, with over half believed to be totally unaffiliated. And the organized community decries the apathy and ignorance of those who do consider themselves affiliated, and are anxious about how to reengage them in Jewish identity.
On the other hand, there is not only a simultaneous resurgence - or resuscitation - of Jewish life, with so many finding their way back or more deeply into their Jewish heritage, but those who for a very long time advocated a lesser degree of tradition in their life as Jews, perhaps thinking that the age-old Torah teachings and directives were no longer "as relevant" now realize and publicly state, emphatically, that ONLY through a return to Torah and mitzvos is there any real hope of Jewish survival. It seems as if all the alternatives ultimately give way to a return to Torah - sooner or later. It's been that way since Sinai
And this leads to the key point I believe the Jewish community must focus on as a most urgent priority: Jewish Education.
From our beginning and up until the latest National Jewish Population Survey, Jewish education appears and reappears as the core factor in Jewish continuity. I am loath to judge the previous generation or two for their failure to provide adequate Jewish education. Perhaps they thought their own Jewish identity would automatically transfer without the requisite strenuous effort to educate children properly. Or they didn't think they had the financial ability to do so. But that can't help us today, as we live with the painful results of the last few decades. Not enough energy was dedicated to afternoon Hebrew school and other similar programs once thought a panacea. They became an afterthought, even a joke, and then a disaster; barely better than nothing. And almost any Jewish adult I speak to indeed remembers that part of their lives with dissatisfaction, if not disdain.
If there is one thing above all others which Jewish communal leaders need to address urgently, this would be it. Reinforce and expand opportunities for affordable, quality Jewish education. After way too long, many Jewish philanthropists, who have collectively donated billions to causes that others beyond our community could easily fund, have now finally begun to realize the emergency and have started to (re)direct serious sums to Jewish causes. Those directing these initiatives need to further redirect these new funding sources toward ensuring Jewish education for all those in our community who can then avail themselves of it.
King Solomon taught us that a properly educated Jewish child will much more likely become a strongly Jewishly identified adult and then a committed member of the Jewish community, even into their later years.
And, for those who are already passed their childhood, innovative and quality programs and initiatives can help rectify a gap in this regard and refocus parents on the Jewish educational needs of themselves and their children. And the educational effortss and mitzvah campaigns for Jews of all or no (perceived) affiliation, which the Lubavitcher Rebbe, of blessed memory, initiated and which thousands of my colleagues throughout the world have developed (to the curiosity, sometimes disdain, then appreciation or even replication by so many others), have had a serious impact in this area. And much more remains to be done.
There are no doubt enough resources in our vast community membership to address this issue. That is what we have. What we don't have is a choice. The answer to this question when it is asked the next time lies absolutely in our hands today.
Friday, February 09, 2007
Preschool teaches values
TWO seemingly unconnected events inspire me to write this week's column.
Firstly, one week ago we announced the opening of a new Jewish preschool in Pleasanton. Secondly, this past week marked the date on the Jewish calendar known as the Birthday for Trees — a day on which we contemplate our affinity for the botanical kingdom and thank God for its creation.
What is the connection between these two events — a preschool's opening and the trees' birthday? And why would they inspire a rabbi to write a column?
The Bible states, "For man is a tree of the field" (Deuteronomy 20:19).
This verse teaches us that our lives are analogous to that of a tree.
A tree's primary components are (1) its roots, which anchor it to the ground and supply it with water and other nutrients; (2) its trunk, branches and leaves, which comprise its body; and (3) its fruit, which contains the seeds by which the tree reproduces itself.
Of the three, the roots are a tree's least glamorous but the most crucial component. Buried underground, virtually invisible, they do not possess the majesty of the tree's trunk, the colorfulness of its leaves or the tastiness of its fruit. Yet without firmly grounded roots, the tree cannot survive.
Let us now look at the botanical analogue —the human being. We too have the same three components or stages in our lives: (1) Our roots, the formative years during which we strive to develop a healthy foundation, amassing the
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nutrients — skills — that will take us through life; (2) our body, the "adult life" during which we build our own careers and attain personal fulfillment and achievement; and (3) our fruits, our ultimate ability to procreate both physically and spiritually to influence, to affect change upon our surroundings and to plant new ideas within other minds and hearts.
As in our botanical counterpart, our roots, while not always visible throughout our lives, are the most crucial and essential component for our well-being.
How so? What anchors do the first years of our life provide?
Interestingly, studies that analyze the long-term effects of an early childhood education show little academic long-term effects. (After all, whether you started learning your ABCs or numbers at age 3 or age 5 will probably not have a dramatic effect upon your ability to read Chaucer or compute quadratic equations in high school.)
The roots we refer to, then, lie much deeper than mere academic information. They are values, morals and a sense of right and wrong. How many times do we fall back upon, or find strength, solace and comfort, in words spoken to us decades ago by a loving parent or wise teacher? Interestingly, the same studies that show few long-term academic results from an early childhood education indicate that the rate of violence and teen-pregnancy were greatly reduced by a wholesome preschool or early childhood education.
I write these words just days after the Birthday of the Trees in the middle of the winter, a season during which all of vegetation begins to take root and readies itself for growth and maturity in the spring. Could there be a better time to resolve and commit ourselves to refocus upon cultivating and developing proper values and morals within our families and children? These roots will, God willing, ensure that our children develop healthily.
Rabbi Raleigh Resnick is director of the Chabad of the Tri-Valley in Pleasanton. For more information, call (925) 846-0700 or visit http://www.jewishtrivalley.com.
Firstly, one week ago we announced the opening of a new Jewish preschool in Pleasanton. Secondly, this past week marked the date on the Jewish calendar known as the Birthday for Trees — a day on which we contemplate our affinity for the botanical kingdom and thank God for its creation.
What is the connection between these two events — a preschool's opening and the trees' birthday? And why would they inspire a rabbi to write a column?
The Bible states, "For man is a tree of the field" (Deuteronomy 20:19).
This verse teaches us that our lives are analogous to that of a tree.
A tree's primary components are (1) its roots, which anchor it to the ground and supply it with water and other nutrients; (2) its trunk, branches and leaves, which comprise its body; and (3) its fruit, which contains the seeds by which the tree reproduces itself.
Of the three, the roots are a tree's least glamorous but the most crucial component. Buried underground, virtually invisible, they do not possess the majesty of the tree's trunk, the colorfulness of its leaves or the tastiness of its fruit. Yet without firmly grounded roots, the tree cannot survive.
Let us now look at the botanical analogue —the human being. We too have the same three components or stages in our lives: (1) Our roots, the formative years during which we strive to develop a healthy foundation, amassing the
Advertisement
nutrients — skills — that will take us through life; (2) our body, the "adult life" during which we build our own careers and attain personal fulfillment and achievement; and (3) our fruits, our ultimate ability to procreate both physically and spiritually to influence, to affect change upon our surroundings and to plant new ideas within other minds and hearts.
As in our botanical counterpart, our roots, while not always visible throughout our lives, are the most crucial and essential component for our well-being.
How so? What anchors do the first years of our life provide?
Interestingly, studies that analyze the long-term effects of an early childhood education show little academic long-term effects. (After all, whether you started learning your ABCs or numbers at age 3 or age 5 will probably not have a dramatic effect upon your ability to read Chaucer or compute quadratic equations in high school.)
The roots we refer to, then, lie much deeper than mere academic information. They are values, morals and a sense of right and wrong. How many times do we fall back upon, or find strength, solace and comfort, in words spoken to us decades ago by a loving parent or wise teacher? Interestingly, the same studies that show few long-term academic results from an early childhood education indicate that the rate of violence and teen-pregnancy were greatly reduced by a wholesome preschool or early childhood education.
I write these words just days after the Birthday of the Trees in the middle of the winter, a season during which all of vegetation begins to take root and readies itself for growth and maturity in the spring. Could there be a better time to resolve and commit ourselves to refocus upon cultivating and developing proper values and morals within our families and children? These roots will, God willing, ensure that our children develop healthily.
Rabbi Raleigh Resnick is director of the Chabad of the Tri-Valley in Pleasanton. For more information, call (925) 846-0700 or visit http://www.jewishtrivalley.com.
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