The Way Forward

As was mentioned in the comment section of the previous post and touched upon in the post, the Modern Orthodox community in the tri state area has a problem that, for the most part, the choice of schools leaves a lot to be desired. I find that I am left to choose if I want my kids to get a charedi light education or go to a school where a large chunk of the parent body are MO light. Although I think that there are more options on the elementary school level I think that the high schools in our community present a problem. On the one hand you can choose to send your sons to MTA, where at this point the majority of the rebbeim are Charedi light (at best), including a rabid anti Zionist rebbe, a guy who has a VANITY license plate that reads: Mussar, and other YU Yeshivish types (including the mashgiach who is pretty right of center) or there is Bruria which for all intense and purposes is a charedi school (right of center at best) with Modern Orthodox kids. On the other side there are places like RAMAZ and Frisch, which although many of the teachers are top notch it is not the kind of school that most Centrist Modern Orthodox parents will choose to send their kids to.

I an think of only two high schools in the Metro NY area that (at least try to) embrace tru Modern Orthodox ideologies in their teaching and hashkafos and those are TABC and Ma'ayanot (both located in Teaneck). As I mentioned in my previous post, one of the best articles I have read on Modern Orthodox education appeared in the latest version of the Meorot journal and it was written by Rivka Kahan, who currently teaches at Ma'ayanot and is slated to become the principal at the beginning of the next year. From what I know of Ma'ayanot, they hire teachers who believe in "the cause" of Modern Orthodoxy. The topic of her article (or the question presented to her) is "What should be done in Modern Orthodox education to instill confidence in its graduates that they are not religiously inferior in knowledge or observance to Charedi graduates?" One of the things I find most unique about this essay is that this question was presented to someone from an all girls school as apposed to someone from a co-ed or all boys school. One of the main things, I believe that sets our community apart from our charedi counterparts is the emphasis that we place on chinuch for our girls. The broader charedi community sees girls education as secondary and does not place major emphasis on it, in either Judaic or secular studies. Charedi girl high schools are seen as kind of holding cells until the girl turns 18 and can get married off. Gamara for girls is seen as taboo as eating treif and continuing education is often shunned. Our community by contrast places great emphasis on educating our girls in all aspects of Judaism. Tanach, Halachah and Gemara. Although some of our schools, such as Bruria, shun teaching the girls on the daf, from what I have heard Gemara is still an important part of the curriculum.

She writes in her article that Ma'ayanot is in a unique position in that gemara is a major part of the curriculum. She writes that one of the challenges that Modern Orthodox educators face is "how to educate our students to view Modern Orthodoxy as a compelling religious ideology and lifestyle, rather than as a dilution of a more rigorous religiosity" She says that to address the original question of making sure our students do not feel inferior we need to make sure that their experience is a "source of pride" to them. She said that we need "to help our students develop a sincere sense of being one commanded by God as the basis for an authentic, personal encounter with the Torah in a context that encourages individuality, is deeply respectful of differences and, and fosters thoughtfulness and reflection". To this end she says, as I mentioned in the last post, "It is, of course, of paramount importance to hire limmudei qodesh teachers who are Modern Orthodox role models of serious Torah learning and religious devotion". This idea is going to continue to come back to our community, we need to know what the hashkafos are of the people we are trusting to educate our children. We must make sure that we are on solid hashkafic ground with them. She said that Ma'ayanot has done a number of things that foster dialogue between their students and faculty, including creating a Judaic studies blog.

She says that even with the proper education students might still feel inferior to their charedi counterparts if they "lack understanding and appreciation of the tenets of Modern Orthodoxy or if they develop a sense that religious devotion is structured as a continuum, with unaffiliated Jews falling at one end of the continuum and Charedi Jews falling at the other end". She continues that "it is crucial for students to develop a sense of the historical development of Modern Orthodoxy. this should take place within the context of the Jewish History curriculum. Specifically, it is key for students to understand that Modern Orthodox and contemporary variations of Charedi Judaism both originated as responses to the Reform Movement, with Modern Orthodoxy representing R' Hirsch and Charedi Judaism representing the response of the Chasam Sofer". It is interesting to point out that there are currently some in the Yekeshe camp that are attempting to whitewash over everything that R' Hirsch did as kind of a Hora'as shaah and trying to align the community closer to the thought of the chasam Sofer rather than R' Hirsch, here we call that revisionist history.

She writes that in addition to ideology Modern Orthodox ideologies can be incorporated into the texts of tanach and gemrah, using the teachings and thoughts of contemporary Modern Orthodox scholars, such as the Rav and Rav Lichtenstein. She says that in addition to limudei kodesh these principals need to be communicated and stressed in secular studies as well such as in science and history. She also writes that "It is important to teach Jewish Philosophy as its own subject in either tenth or eleventh grade in order to help students explore many fundamental areas of Jewish thought and beliefe in the context of a well-defined curriculum. the Jewish Philosophy curriculum should include an introduction to the fundamental beliefs that define Modern Orthodoxy, through the writings of leading Modern Orthodox Gedolie Torah, including the Rav and Rav Lichtenstein". To this point, the complaint I hear most often about Modern Orthodoxy, including from a well known scholar who spoke in my shul a number of months ago, is that we need to define what it is we stand for and what we represent. Now, unfortunately the term Modern Orthodox, is mostly synonymous with MO light, or people who are less than serious about halacha and shemiras hamitzvos. I think it would be very helpful to the community if they have some sort of curriculum, if it could be shared with the masses.

She ends off by saying that "it is crucial for Modern Orthodoxy to be taught experientially. Students need to be exposed to Modern Orthodox gedolie torah and talmidei chachamim both in writing and in person". She also said that she heard of a particular rebbe in RAMAZ who brought his students to a medical ethics meeting in Mt. Sinai hospital and how it gives a new type of appreciation for the intersection of Torah and general culture.

I think that it is imperative for all schools who claim to be Modern Orthodox to read this article and the others in MEOROT and use them as models for our community. We need to make sure that our kids are being infused with the proper hashkafot and hadrachot hachaim, in school at home, and also in camp (which is a topic for another time). We need to make sure we know who we are hiring in our institutions and that they not only teach about Modern Orthodoxy but embrace and live it as well. We need to find role models for our kids within our own community, talmidei chachamim and community leaders who live the life, and we should not need to look outside of our daled amos to show our kids who to emulate.