From: stank@cbnewsl.cb.att.com (Stan Krieger)
Subject: Re: O-C-R debate
Organization: Summit NJ
Date: Fri, 24 Jul 1992 18:03:10 GMT

>Alas, there is  a Gresham's Law  operating in Jewish education.
>The afternoon Hebrew schools used to meet 12 - 15 hours per week,
>and the kid learned _something_.  Now they often meet 3 -5 hours
>per week, and the  kids learn very little.  (My father once asked
>a group of Hebrew school teachers to (a) name any 5 of the Ten
>Commandments, (b) name the Five Books of Moses, and (c) name
>at least three  Prophets; most of the teachers couldn't do it!.)

I've compared the Hebrew School education that I got in the late 1950's
and early 1960's to what my children got from 1977-1992, and here
are a few observations.  (A disclaimer- this analysis is based on
my own personal observance of our religion, and is probably
representative of actual practice of most (i.e., >75%) of American
Jews of all affiliations; I believe synagogue boards and education
committees recognize the need to work within this reality.)

    1.	Being in a city (Atlantic City; the synagogue I attended is
	still there, across Pacific Ave from the Showboat and the
	Taj Mahal), our staff was "local".  So, besides meeting two
	nights a week and on Sunday morning, we also had Junior
	Congregation on Saturday morning, run by our teachers.

	In my current suburban synagogue, most of the staff are
	non-members deliberately (by our choice), none of them
	live within walking distance (I bet only 10% of our members
	do), and all are Orthodox.  So there's no chance of a
	Junior Congregation unless members run it.  But even if
	members do run it, it's not an "education" function, and
	thus it's not something the staff wholeheartedly endorses.
	(In other words, Junior Congregation is not an integral
	part of the curriculum.)

    2.	Maybe it's just our affluence, but the fact is that there are
	more things for children to do after school and on weekends.
	Ideally it would be nice if everyone could get together and
	block out a day or two of the week; such as, all religious
	schools have Monday and Wednesday until 6:00pm, so any
	sports, like Little League, wouldn't start until 6:30 on
	those days.  But this will never happen!

	The problem is that this happens with every youth program.
	For example, I'm very active in a Boy Scout Troop, and we
	have the same problem as do Hebrew Schools. We have monthly
	campouts from Friday evening until Sunday noon (no lectures,
	please, also it's a secular Troop; besides the goyim also miss
	religious services and instruction), and many of the new boys
	have fallen behind in the program because of other activities
	(like PAL football practice on Saturday and a game on Sunday,
	and a no-practice, no-play, policy); we even refused rank
	advancement to several boys in leadership positions who missed
	over 1/2 the campouts because of sports (and then have to tolerate
	constant badgering from their parents).  So the problem is
	universal and not confined to Hebrew Schools; every
	extra-curricular education program has the same problems.

    3.	Another problem, plain, pure, and simple, there has to be more
	yiddishkeit in the homes, and I have no idea what to do here.
	My dad tells a story about the time he substitute taught in our
	Hebrew School in the early 1960's, and he was talking about the
	Shabbat.  He obviously assumed (being a Conservative synagogue)
	that Shabbat candles were a standard part of each household's
	ritual, and presented his lesson accordingly.  He got a phone
	call a few hours later from a parent claiming her daughter
	was upset about the lesson content (obviously she couldn't
	relate to it).  The "happy ending" was that the women was in
	the gift shop a few days later buying a candlelabra (or
`	whatever it's called), but the overall problem is that the
	only exposure to Judaism is the lousy 4.5 hrs a week scheduled
	forin Hebrew School (with only 50% attendance on Sunday).

	As an aside, to get "accredidation" (whatever that means), it's
	necessary to have a 6 hour a week program.  The Education Chair
	sent out a feeler about how to best implement one, if one were
	adopted, and got virtually no feedback, except don't do it.
	Even though the questionairre was qualified (i.e., we're not
	planning on doing it, but if we do, what class hours would
	be the best for you), nobody answered it because it would
	be cooperating with an idea they opposed.  And I think a lot
	of the opposition was other activities (I mean, if school
	ends at 6:00, it's not a big deal taking the kid out at 5:45
	for a few weeks because of Little League, but it's a lot
	different when it's a 6:15 or 6:30 dismissal time).

    4.	Finally, our attempts at balancing Judaism with assimilation
	does run into some residual anti-Semitism (although it's
	probably just anti-everything).  For example, the same sports
	teams that will not hold practice and games until 1:00pm
	on Sunday will have them at 10:00am on Saturday.  So now
	it's a choice, shul or sports (and like Boy Scouts or sports,
	the sports win).  Sometimes the solution is just to limit the
	kid's participation so that this conflict doesn't occur
	all year round (again, like Hebrew School, we have the same
	problem in Scouting- he misses the Sept-Nov campouts because
	of soccer, the Dec-Feb ones because of basketball, and the
	Mar-May one because of baseball, and then his parents complain
	why we don't consider him an effective leader).

I feel that a lot of ground could be gained if we didn't write off
Saturday mornings.  If there is one time of the week that we kind-of
have the right to demand their presence at the synagogue, it's then;
yet that is the time that's most avoided.  Just look at the advantages
of Saturday morning-

     1.	A 1 hour classroom theme discussion topic.  It could be about
	the life and times of a certain person, or it could be learning
	to read the siddur; it could even be a time to teach Torah
	trope.

     2.	It could be combined with a 1 to 1 1/2 hour Junior Congregation,
	so the children learn the service and synagogue skills.

     3.	Finally, if done right, the Junior Congregation ends the same
	time as the main service, so the kids can participate in the
	kiddush.  If food isn't a draw, what is? (That's what gets us
	in there, right?)

     4.	Chances are that there's less disruption to family plans with a
	Saturday morning class than with a Sunday morning class.  I mean,
	if we have a family simcha that night within a 3 hour driving
	time, we can still go to shul on Saturday morning.  But if the
	child's weekend class is Sunday morning, it's going to be
	missed (i.e., I'm not going to miss a cousin's wedding because
	my child has Hebrew School, and I'm not going to drive home from
	1-4am so the kid can go the next morning; assuming the kid can
	sleep restfully during the trip home, which is not a "given"
	either).
-- 
Stan Krieger                     All opinions, advice, or suggestions, even
AT&T UNIX System Laboratories    if related to my employment, are my own.
Summit, NJ
smk@usl.com