Why Jewish literacy?

MIRA SUCHAROV

This is a revealing period in the calendar for gauging Jewish practice and identity. These four weeks are bookended by two holidays, Tu b’Shevat and Purim. With its certificates to the Jewish National Fund and its melodious peans to the trees, Tu b’Shevat tends to hang out in the wings. But Purim, with its costumes and carnivals, treats for the kids, alcohol for the adults and poppyseed, prune and shortcrust pastry for everyone, takes centre stage.

Most cities hold community-wide Purim carnivals – which help to bring together the religious, secular, affiliated and not. But I would wager that whether your kids celebrated Tu b’Shevat depends on one factor: whether they attend some form of Jewish school.

Why does it matter whether our kids celebrate – or even know about – Tu b’Shevat? Well-known playwright and author David Mamet has written angrily about Jews “who are humble in their desire to learn about Kwanzaa and proud of their ignorance of Tu b’Shevat.” Without adopting Mamet’s binary – though certainly ear-catching – approach to the issue, we can still ask: Why should Jewish literacy matter?

Some say that Jewish knowledge is simply a divine imperative. It is a mitzvah to study Torah and observe Jewish ritual. That’s fine as far as it goes, but if you don’t already adopt a theocentric view – which can easily descend into circular reasoning (“Do it because it says so”) – that logic quickly wears thin. Without discounting a divine-based perspective, here is my own secular-humanist and rational-strategic take on the value of Jewish literacy.

The seasons, they go round and round. Observing rituals helps mark time, and provides a sense of celebration (or sacredness) to temper the ordinariness of the everyday. Lighting Shabbat candles and reciting the Kiddush before passing yeasty chunks of challah around the table helps mark the end of the work week, lighting Chanukah candles punctures the darkness of winter, and dipping eggs in saltwater ushers in spring. Jewish education teaches kids the how-to, and amplifies whatever is being done in the home. In celebrating in a school context, kids are reminded that Jewish identity is most meaningful when it spans the private and public realms.

Anyone here speak Jewish? Jewish literacy is a language, just like any other. Some of Jewish life is experienced through formal language (Hebrew or Yiddish for instance), but the rhythms of Judaism provide a set of conceptual lenses through which to experience life. Just as knowing more than one language can improve certain verbal and conceptual understandings, being conversant in one’s religious and cultural heritage simply adds to the texture of existence.

Being part of the conversation. Unlike some who tout intermarriage as a grave threat to Jewish continuity, I follow Edgar Bronfman, Jr., in believing that intermarriage has the potential to result in a net increase of Jewish kids (the math is counterintuitive, but it works) – if we apply a big-tent Judaism approach. Assuming, then, that Jewishness will self-perpetuate if we worry more about Jewish life than about Jewish love, let’s give our kids the tools to be part of the dialogue. It’s an exciting one, with no dearth of issues to delve into: same-sex marriage under the chuppah, medical ethics, gender roles, Diaspora Jewish identity, conversion politics, ethical kashrut and Israel’s political and cultural life, to name several. Without Jewish literacy, it’s hard to break into the conversation.

Turning a Jewish 13. Some synagogues simply won’t grant a child a bar or bat mitzvah without the completion of some Jewish schooling. From rabbis I’ve spoken with recently, those who are more lax with the rules tend to view the b’nai mitzvah ceremony as a responsibility that congregations are obligated to help facilitate. Others see the bar or bat mitzvah moment as an opportunity to reflect the values of the community and the congregation. Though I personally am not certain that the primary role of Jewish education is to impart values, I too see the b’nai mitzvah experience as ideally reflecting an accumulation of Jewish knowledge and practice that can accompany Jewish youth into adolescence and adulthood with the tools to make a mark in their own community.

For the many kids not being educated Jewishly (through day school or supplementary school), we have to ask whether Jewish literacy is simply not a value for these families? Or, are our communities not delivering education as effectively and attractively as we could? I suggest that we begin further broad-reaching conversations on best practices, including contemporary approaches to pedagogy, more cross-cutting affiliations, reconsidering the role of shul attendance as a form of education, and potential amalgamation where enrolments may be low.

And, if you missed Tu b’Shevat, there’s always next year.

Mira Sucharov is an associate professor of political science at Carleton University. She is currently writing a book on nostalgia and political change.

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