Introduction

This winter has instigated a lot of self-reflection. We have learned not to take our children’s schooling for granted and see that the educational decisions we make for our children matter. It’s a good time to rearticulate what Jewish day schools have to offer that can’t be found anywhere else. A lot about choosing a school feels self-evident but a lot is also hard to see. This issue of THINK looks at the importance of what’s seen and what’s hidden. On these few pages we try to uncover what might be obscured by other considerations when decisions about education are being made and add the Jewish day school conversation to support choices that are intentional and informed.

Ethics in Modern Life: Learning Good Values

Daily life is a combination experience of body and mind, and routine seems to run it all. Underlying what we do and what we see are the ethics that factor into our personal decisions. Children who are raised to view real-life situations through an ethical lens learn to make their way in the world with an ingrained moral compass. Judaism provides this moral compass, time tested and enduring.

The Toronto Heschel School teaches its students to be conscious of this ethical lens through a program of mindful thinking about Jewish values. The school’s weekly focus on specific universal virtues found

in Jewish learning helps students see the ethical relevance of the decisions we make each day.

Jews and Israel: Acknowledging Affinity

Judaism today is of course evolving from Judaism of yesterday. Fostering this creative flow factors in the symbiosis between Israel and Jews living around the world. Jewish day schools offer Jewish children the experience of living fully as modern cosmopolitan Jews. Students connect to ancient sources and traditions as well as to the dynamic energy of modern Zionists and the State of Israel, the political expression of Jews today. Israel bespeaks the wonders of effort and courage, and Jewish children the world over love this special connection. This affinity transcends Yom Ha’atzmaut and falafel to include modern Jewish and Israeli history, post-Holocaust Jewish life, and the full expansion of Jewish experience today. Jewish day schools encourage and strengthen a bond between Canadian Jewish children and Israeli children.

Cultural Literacy: Feeling at Home

Jewish day schools aim to develop what is sometimes called Jewish cultural literacy. We think of being literate as the capacity to read and write. Jewish cultural literacy sometimes show up as the capacity to speak a little Hebrew and feel the rhythm of the Jewish holiday year. Yet beyond that there are many abiding lessons that source their wisdom in Jewish texts and traditions and offer valuable skills that help children to navigate their lives.

It’s often hard to see that living Jewishly can provide the solid social and emotional foundation that children need, but it can. The strategy is to forge their sense of personal connection to all that the Jewish experience has to offer and to own it. Jewish day school provides children with a point of view that offers context and orientation to scaffold their development. They take the Ontario Ministry of Education syllabus and fill in the blanks with meaning and personal relevance.

The Toronto Heschel School, in addition to the above, integrates Jewish thinking and learning with what are called general studies. Its students acclimate to being fully Jewish and fully Canadian all day long. The school environment immerses students in deep Jewish thinking and purposefully presents the ethical, historical, and traditional linkages between modern notions and Jewish ideas , such as connecting the school’s waste audit to the protection of creation or tracing the ancient roots of civic behaviour all the way from the days of Torah to the modern day.

Hebrew: Our Voice

Second language learning is accepted as being good for the brain. Hebrew has the added benefit in that it is not an arbitrary language but holds intrinsic value as part of our Jewish identity. As a language, culture, and presence, it flows from the text we study, the prayers we sing, the history we remember, and the ritual we practise. It is the rhythm of Judaism and a bridge that connects Jews worldwide. Jewish kids who speak Hebrew value it forever.

Yes, knowing Hebrew lets kids order pizza in Tel Aviv but also, metaphorically speaking, it lets them “stand in a text.” Being able to read, understand, and appreciate Jewish text for themselves, they can take their place and add their voice to the choir of Jewish thinkers into which they’ve been born.

Jewish Thinking: Argument that Preserves Relationships

Rabbi A.J. Heschel said, “Judaism is a way of thinking, not just a way of living.” We underscore that this means more than thinking about Jewish stuff. Rabbi Heschel emphasizes two key features of Jewish thinking: the capacity for awe, wonder, and radical amazement and the notion that this capacity is something learned and developed through hard work and self-discipline.

Judaism seeks metacognitive thinking: children learn to think flexibly, analytically, critically, complexly, creatively, independently, and contextually. One goal is to develop the ability to make personal connections and find relevance in what they learn. Another is the art and craft of interpretation and debate, which are excellent resources across all life’s challenges. The children learn to search for meaning by examining the different perspectives of ancient and modern commentators. They learn how to seek clues: in the narratives; the root or etymology of words; and through study of historical context. They learn about rules and permissions. All of these offer experience in finding deeper meaning and in how to use their voice in their community.

At Toronto Heschel, we teach how to talk with one another about ideas and interpretations always in the context of Machloket l’shem shamayim—argument for the sake of the heavens. It means we engage in debate in a constructive way that preserves our relationships. Learning happens as old texts find new spirit in the heart of each child.