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Posted in: Good God: Steinhardt no longer an atheist?
10/29/09 11:19 AM
I am sure we could find a figure. But, I am not sure how significant it would be. Included in the figure are non Jews, students that have been to Israel on a group trip already and do not qualify, and Israeli citizens. To prove your point of alienation one would have to find students who qualified, sincerely wanted to go, and who were hurt by the rejection. Except for Oranim, which was always oversubscribed, the non acceptance rate just got big this year. The students I know that did not get on are not bitter. They will apply again in the future.
Posted in: Good God: Steinhardt no longer an atheist?
10/29/09 12:11 AM
That is not really fair. As someone that has run many Birthright trips, this is the first year where the competition was so high for places. A person can always reapply. Applicants who are waitlisted are given first priority on subsequent trips.
Posted in: Debating Hillel
09/25/09 11:25 AM
Debating Hillel is a very important topic. I am sorry to see that it has not gotten more attention. Hillel has a monopoly on the transmission of Judaism from the organized Jewish community. Their budget is immense, and the foundation dollars that they receive are staggering. Yet, how effective are they? As Joseph says, with 5 or 6 full times staff, what benefits do we see from their energy? Divide the Hillel budget by the amount of participants that they have. What kind of figure will you find? A rough guess would be 2,000 to 5,000 per student depending on the school. Do we get enough benefit for that money? If they were effective, the problem of young people being alienated by the federation would not exist. Hillel is a federation endeavor. An effective organization would have seamless transitions between stages. Obviously there is a break down. I believe the greatest reason for the breakdown, is that Hillel has no real evaluative mechanism. Sure they collect statistics and fill out reports for their central office, but, the people that support Hillel financially don't attend the programs. What are they trying to achieve? Do they have a clear mission? Nostalgia for Jewish identity may help you collect money, but, it is a weak motivator for student participation.
Posted in: Op-Ed: Jewish education should be multicultural, like us
09/06/09 02:03 AM
Adam, Thank you for your eloquent response. I appreciate the lack of ad hominem attacks that one so frequently finds online. I hope to be able to reciprocate in a like manner. I do not misunderstand or oversimplify your argument. I understand your position entirely. I just don’t agree with you. Because Jews today live in a multi-cultural world, does not mean that Jewish education itself should be multi-cultural. For education to be effective it must begin where the student “is”. But, it cannot remain there. Today students do not read many books. That is a fact. Should we close literature programs and replace them with gameboy sessions? Not many students are involved with jobs that utilize Calculus. Should we then end advanced math and replace it with calculator sessions? If we were to follow the paradigm you advance in secular studies, the student’s day would be filled with Xbox, texting, and facebook. That is the reality of today’s youth and as you say, “ignoring reality never helps”. However, education is not about being content with reality. Education is about striving for what ought to be, rather than what is. Where do we want to go as a Jewish community? What vision do we have for the future? That is a conversation that needs to take place. If we determine our educational goals by where we find ourselves presently, with high rates of intermarriage and assimilation, then the whole educational endeavor ceases to have meaning. We set ambitious goals for our children’s secular learning and growth, their Jewish learning should be the same. My emotion would not be so high, if you argued that you have a small niche non profit that uses this multi-cultural model effectively. Instead you advanced multiculturalism as a paradigm for the entire community to follow. If the entire community followed your lead it would be very sad, as a multi cultural approach, at best, can only produce second order experiences. A second order experience is learning “about” something, teaching “about” something or sharing “about” something. It is not experiencing the thing itself. Would the local church choose Christmas morning as the time to share services with Temple Beth El? No, the church would be busy experiencing Christmas for themselves. Would Roger Federer decide to teach a novice tennis during the U.S. Open? No, because he is busy experiencing it for himself. Bringing others into the experience pulls one out. Would Birthright be more successful if the bus was multicultural? Not at all. Would it be more successful if they visited Aruba rather than Israel? Not at all. Ask Len Saxe, the research has been done. We know the experiences that build Jewish identity; Jewish day School, Jewish Camping, and Israel Programs. The strongest correlation to Jewish identity is the strength of one’s Jewish peer network. Perhaps we should spend resources to make these experiences as widely available as possible. I appreciate the situation you are in. Perhaps, the schools that you deal with would not be as open and supportive of your programming if it were for Jewish students only. Perhaps, opening your programming up to non Jewish students helped you attract larger numbers in total. But, I hope that your model remains the exception and not the rule.
Posted in: Op-Ed: Jewish education should be multicultural, like us
09/03/09 10:20 AM
I am astounded at Adam’s comments. The answer to Jewish education, the solution to all of our problems is to make it multi cultural. Invite non Jewish students, friends, and allies to your programs and everything will be fine. Thanks for helping me realize that what the synagogue experience has been missing for all of these years is a few good Catholics. This sounds like the old adage, “if you can’t hit the bullseye, redraw the target”. The foundation of your argument, that education needs to be consonant with life in order to be effective, is theoretically sound. It is pure Dewey. But, to then argue that we need to make Jewish education fit with the present diluted and attenuated communal identity begs the question as to why we should have Jewish education at all. Jews interact and learn with non Jews all the time. Why should a Jewish agency collect money and design programs that just reinforce what occurs naturally. It is like designing a program to encourage teens to use text messaging and then slapping each other on the back for how successful you have been. Education is not just about maintaining a status quo and validating the students where they are. As Zygotsky points out, the main focus of education is to push the student to a place where they would not be going naturally. Finally, your assertion is not supported by research. According to the demographic studies, Kosmin’s work on United Synagogue comes to mind, the factor with the greatest correlation to Jewish identity is the number of Jewish friends. Those students with the highest percentage of Jewish friends, have the strongest Jewish identity. Jewish students need more venues and opportunities to interact with Jewish students not less. That is underlying philosophy of all of our youth groups. Should we take your advice and have BBYO, USY, and NFTY bring in non Jews into the mix? I think that is already being done and it is called HIGH SCHOOL. The problem with Jewish education and organized Jewish life is not that there are not enough Non Jews. The problem is that it is boring. Our best and our brightest become lawyers, doctors, and investment bankers. Historically, only the socially challenged have entered Jewish communal life. These leaders have created a world in which they are comfortable. However, they have created a world that has no connection to reality. Take Simchat Torah for instance; marching around the synagogue with apples and flags ceases to be fun once you pass the third grade. We have castrated Judaism. All the edges have been ground down. Even Birthright, the once edgy experience has been hobbled by this curse. They have recently instituted a 12 AM curfew and chased away Momo, the paradigm of macho. Today, Judaism has been sacrificed on the PC altar. In a rush to avoid offending anyone we have created a bloodless mannequin. Judaism should be about passion. Look at any Yeshiva and you will see Chavruta’s loudly arguing with each other over the meaning of a text. Take a look at Chassidim dancing madly at the Kotel. The circle grows to pull in Jews from all backgrounds and outlooks. That is the model that works. More passion, Adam, not more gentiles, that is what is needed
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