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JewishEducationalLeadership
The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education
School of Education, Bar Ilan University
Volume 5:2 Winter 2007 ‫חורף תשס”ז‬
Focus on:
The Search for
in Jewish Education
Volume 5:2 Winter 2007 ‫ | חורף תשס”ז‬
Volume 5 (2) Winter 2007 | 5767 ‫חורף‬
Jewish Educational Leadership
A publication of
The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education in the Diaspora
School of Education
Bar-Ilan University
THE RABBI DR. JOSEPH H. LOOKSTEIN CENTER
FOR JEWISH EDUCATION IN THE DIASPORA
Journal Staff
Beverly Buncher, Editor
Zvi Grumet, Associate Editor
Elana Maryles Sztokman, Managing Editor
Advertising
Sharon Zimmerman
Editorial Board
Hanan Alexander
University of Haifa
Brenda Bacon
Schechter Institute
Shalom Z. Berger
The Lookstein Center
Jill Farrell
Barry University
Cheryl Finkel
PEJE
Beverly Gribetz
Tehilla School
Clifford Hill
Teachers College, Columbia University
Meni Koslowsky
Bar-Ilan University
Yisrael Rich
Bar-Ilan University
Jacob J. Schacter
Yeshiva University
Moshe Sokolow
Azrieli Graduate School, Yeshiva University
Joel B. Wolowelsky
Yeshivah of Flatbush
Journal Design
Dov Abramson www.dovabramson.com
Jewish Educational Leadership is distributed to members of The Lookstein Center.
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© Copyright 2007 by The Lookstein Center for Jewish Education in the Diaspora.
All rights reserved. Winter 2007.
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Letter from the
Editor-in-Chief
Beverly A. Buncher
The idea that we as individuals have three
relationships to develop in this world in
order to be good Jews (person to God,
person to person, and person to self) is a
powerful one. Zelig Pliskin’s book Gateway
to Happiness, paraphrases a passage from
the Alai Shur that mentions the three
relationships in a way that has become a
spiritual compass for me over the years. “A
person who has mastered peace of mind has
gained everything. To obtain peace of mind
you need to be at peace with the people in
your environment. You need to be at peace
with yourself – your emotions and desires.
Furthermore, you need to be at peace with
your Creator.”
During a particularly stressful stretch in my
professional career, I was accepted to the
Institute for Jewish Spirituality’s Educators
Program which offered Educators of Jewish
Teens an opportunity to renew themselves
through a two year cohort that included
instruction in Jewish meditation, Torah
Yoga, Hasidic text study and work with
Rachael Kessler, founder of the PassageWays
Program and author of The Soul of Educattion (ASCD). At the end of the two years,
we would take a project back to our schools
for our students. I saw this program as an
opportunity for me to reinvigorate my work
on the three relationships.
The program had a tremendous impact on
my inner and outer life as an educator, helpiing me bring the three relationships back
into balance in my life. It also inspired me
to begin writing again, to get my body back
in shape, to be more in touch with my own
spirituality, and to implement the PassageWWays program (see below) in my own school
(my take-home project).
The most important lesson I learned from
the experience is the importance of taking
care of my own relationships, my own inner
and outer lives, in order to truly help others
grow in a transformational way. With the
importance of nurturing the principal,
teacher, and student in mind, this issue is
filled with articles designed to be renewing
to you on both the personal and professionaal levels. Here are just some of the articles
awaiting you within:
• Inviting Soul into the Classroom by Rachael
as well as text to walk readers through the
process.
• Aryeh Ben David offers an approach to
spiritual education that encompasses the inttellectual, emotional, physical and spiritual
realms in order to engage students’ souls,
explaining why all must be utilized in order
to bring about transformation.
Kessler shares the PassageWays program as
a means to help students open up to their
own spiritual development, along with a
focus on helping teachers develop their
‘Teaching Presence’ in order to facilitate
student growth most effectively.
• Nancy Siegel’s Silence for Renewal: The
• Arlene Fishbein’s Feeling at Home in their
• Lillian Yaffe writes about how being kidn-
Own Skins and with Each Other shares her
own experience implementing the PasssageWays program with her students. After
spending a few days studying with Rachael
Kessler, Arlene brought the PassageWays
program back to her classroom and has
watched her students grow in their abilities
to relate to themselves and each other
throughout the year.
• Alan Brill sees spirituality as a ‘catchpphrase’ for what he calls ‘at least four very
different approaches to seeking a sense of
the transcendental in life.’ He describes the
characteristics of each and gives guidelines
of how to approach students who operate
from each of the four.
• Stephen Bailey asks ‘Can Spirituality be
Taught?’ describing Krathwohl’s Taxonomy
of Affective Education as a means to open
students up to spirituality. He walks readers
through the process using tefillah as one
example of an area in which to do so.
• Moshe Drelich focuses on the importance
of role modeling to the process of engaging
students in tefillah, describing his own insspiring approach to students in the process.
• Jay Goldmintz shares a unique method of
teaching tefillah using pictures as prompts
and motivators. This replicable method is
shared in an article that includes pictures
Power of Silence in the Classroom provides
ideas and exercises to help one get in touch
with one’s ‘inner world’ in order to experieence an inner renewal and awakening for
both teachers and students.
napped by Colombian guerillas transformed
her perspective on teaching and on life
itself. This experience led the former college
professor to choose a high school teaching
career as a way to make a lasting difference
in students’ lives.
• Elana Sztokman visited the Reut school in
Jerusalem and writes about the spiritual appproach of this model school and its founder
Aryeh Geiger. This article is all the more
poignant as it describes how Dr. Geiger is
walking the school community through his
own battle with cancer.
In addition to these and the other inspiring
articles you’ll find within these covers, you
will find several article on the web at
www.lookstein.org/journal.htm designed
to spark further conversation on topics as
diverse as the creative arts, gender,defining
and finding spirituality in the community
school, questions to spark spiritual discusssions, and how the synagogue experience
affects preschoolers’ views of God. (See web
abstract page for more information.)
Let me know which of the articles touched
you in a way that helped you make a differeence in your life and/or that of your school.
You can reach me at beverly@lookstein.org.
| JewishEducationalLeadership
Lehitraot!
Beverly A. Buncher
Focus on: The Search for
Volume 5:2 Winter 2007
Spirituality
‫חורף תשס”ז‬
TableofContents
Research / Focus
4 > Inviting Soul into the Classroom | Rachael Kessler
10 > Spiritualities in the Classroom | Alan Brill
14 > Can Spirituality be Taught? | Stephen Bailey
Applications
18 > Engaging the Soul: An Educational Program | Aryeh Ben David
21 > The Effective Use of Holy Stories | Annette Labovitz
26 > The Art of Tefillah | Jay Goldmintz
31 > The Power of Silence in the Classroom | Nancy Siegel
34 > Feeling at Home in their Own Skins and With Each Other | Arlene Fishbein
39 > Helping Students Launch Their Spiritual Journeys | Devorah Katz
40 > Tefillah Motivation through Relationship Building and
Role Modeling: One Rabbi’s Approach | Moshe Drelich
Features
44 > From the Classics: Seeking Spirituality outside of Torah | Levi Cooper
47 > Lessons from Life: Once a Teacher, Always a Teacher | Lillian Yaffe
51 > The Cutting Edge: Assessing Religious Growth | Scott Goldberg
54 > School Profile: Reut | Elana Sztokman
62 > Web Abstracts
63 > Call for Papers
64 > Perspectives: On the Search for Spirituality in Jewish Education | Saul Berman
The publication of this issue of Jewish Educational Leadership was made possible through a generous grant
in loving memory of Sprinze (Donner) Blum and HaRav Avraham Mordechai Blum from the family
Research / Focus: Inviting Soul into the Classroom
Classrooms That Welcome Soul
When soul is present in education, attention
shifts. We listen with great care not only to
what is spoken but also to the messages bettween the words - tones, gestures, the flicker
of feeling across the face. We concentrate on
what has heart and meaning. The yearning,
wonder, wisdom, fear, and confusion of
students become central to the curriculum.
Questions become as important as answers.
Inviting Soul
Into
the Classroom
Rachael Kessler
Rachael Kessler, founder and director of the PassageWays Institute, facilitates and conducts
professional and curriculum development for educators. She is the author of The Soul of
Education: Helping Students Find Connection, Compassion, and Character at School (ASCD,
2000). For further information on opportunities for professional development, practical
guidelines and additional articles, visit www.passageways.org.
When soul enters the classroom, masks drop
away. Students dare to share the joy and taleents they feared would provoke jealousy in
even their best friends. They risk exposing
the pain or shame that might be judged as
weakness. Seeing deeply into the perspective
of others, accepting what has felt unworthy
in themselves, students discover compasssion and begin to learn about forgiveness.
For almost 20 years, I have worked with
teams of educators around the country in
both private and public schools to create
curriculum, methodology, and teacher
development that can feed the awakening
spirit of young people as part of school
life. I call this approach the PassageWays
Program, a set of principles and practices
for working with adolescents that integrates
heart, spirit, and community with strong
academics. This curriculum of the heart
is a response to the usually unspoken
questions and concerns of teenagers.
Most adolescents grapple with the proffound questions of loss, love, and letting
go. Of meaning, purpose, and service. Of
self-reliance and community, and of choice
and surrender. How they respond to these
questions – whether with love and empoweerment, denial, or even violence – can be
profoundly influenced by the community
of the classroom. When students work
together to create an authentic community,
they learn that they can meet any challenge
– even wrenching conflict, prejudice, proffound gratitude, or death – with grace, love,
and power. Creating authentic community
is the first step in the soul of education.
*
*
*
Rachael Kessler
It is the time in our Senior Passage course
when we celebrate and honor childhood
before the challenge of letting it go. We ask
the students to sift and sort as they stand
on the threshold to adulthood: What do you
want to take with you and what do you want
to leave behind because it no longer serves
you?
Each student is invited to share something
precious from their childhood that they
want always to take with them. Nostalgia
wafts through the room as we all scan our
memories for these precious moments,
people, and places from childhood. A glow
like the color of twilight seems to surround
us as the stories are shared:
I would take with me the innocence of childhhood, when I didn’t even know that other people
were different from me.
I would take my friend who I shared so much of
my childhood with – so many good moments,
and even bad ones.
I would take my village in the Sudan – my
language, culture, all those things that everyone
thinks I have forgotten, but I have not.
I would take the moonlight, and the truth of my
imagination.
Each student is invited to share something precious from their
childhood that they want always to take with them. Nostalgia wafts
through the room as we all scan our memories for these precious
moments, people, and places from childhood.
I would take my dress-up box and all the times
I spent trying on so many ways of being.
I would take the song of the meadowlark
and the smell of grass and the wet earth
in the greenbelt behind my house where
I spent so much of my childhood.
Poised on the brink of huge decisions,
departures, loss, confusion, and emerggence, these sophisticated 18 year-olds are
basking now in the sweetness of childhhood that they have brought into the
room. We have created together a space
that is safe enough for tenderness.
Minutes later, we tell them it is time
to come into the present, to explore in
anonymous writing what they are wonderiing about, worried about, curious and afraid
of. We give them paper and pencils to write
their “personal mysteries”: the thoughts
they have when they lay awake at night.
The moment they take hold of the pencils,
the atmosphere in the room shifts. A flood
has been unleashed. They turn their chairs
every which way to separate from each
other and begin to pour out onto the page
for 20 minutes. I rest in the silence in the
room, the soft sounds of lead on paper. I
feel transported to a sense of deep trust. We
have created together an atmosphere that is
safe enough for the soul to speak.
*
*
*
How Can Teachers Invite Soul?
Safety in the classroom is the essential first
step in creating the conditions for spiritual
formation and in helping students make
the choices that build and sustain a life of
compassion and integrity. Students need to
feel safe,
• to feel and know what they feel
• to tolerate confusion and uncertainty
• to express what they feel and think
• to ask questions that feel dumb or have no
answers
• to take risks, make mistakes, and grow and
forgive
• to wrestle with the demons inside that lead
us to harm.
To achieve this safety and openness,
students and teachers in a classroom work
together carefully for weeks and months to
build the healthy relationships that lead to
authentic community. The first step is colllaboratively creating agreements – condittions that students name as essential for
speaking about what matters most to them.
In classroom after classroom, across the
country and the age span, students call for
essentially the same qualities of behavior:
respect, honesty, caring, listening, fairness,
openness, and commitment.
Play helps students focus, relax, and
become a team through laughter and coopeeration. In addition to strengthening comm-
munity and helping students become fully
present, theatre games or initiatives from
experiential education and the expressive
arts engage students in moving their bodies
– essential for the unwinding of the nervous
system which can help students deal with
Using Symbols
Symbols that students create or bring
into class allow teenagers to speak inddirectly about feelings and thoughts
that are awkward to address head on.
I talked with my students about life being like a journey. As little as
they were, they seemed to understand. They drew pictures about their
journey. We talked about their journeys. Then I asked them to look for an
object in nature that reminded them of themselves and of their journey.
overstimulation and stress. Play and the
arts provide opportunities for young people
to express the creative drive that is one
essential avenue to nurturing the spirit of
students.
At the beginning of class, silence can help
students to settle; to digest what they have
been learning; to honor for a moment what
is distracting them; to rest, daydream,
or pray so that they come refreshed and
fully present to this new subject. Students
learn to make friends with silence. Eighthgrade English teacher Colleen Conrad, who
has integrated practices for community
building and increasing focusing abilities,
calls this five- to ten-minute period a “solo
time.” Her students have responded with
immense gratitude. “Why are your students
so much more focused than mine?” asked
a colleague in her department. A new
math teacher reported that in the middle
of a very difficult class in which students
were frustrated and stumped, one student
raised his hand and said, “What we need
to solve this problem is a solo time.”
Teachers who integrate the PassageWays
model spend weeks providing practice
in the art of deep listening and autt
thentic speaking, first in pairs and
then in the larger circle. Students learn
to let go of their own agendas and simply
bear witness to what the other is sayiing. When speaking, they learn to look
to themselves for what they want to say
and not depend on cues from others.
Symbols are a powerful way to help students
move quickly and deeply into their feelings.
“Take some time this week to think about
what is really important to you in your life
right now,” we ask high school seniors in
a course designed to be a rite of passage
from adolescence to adulthood. “Then
find an object which can symbolize what
you realize is so important to you now.”
This raggedy old doll belonged to my mother. I
have been cut off from my mother during most
of high school. We just couldn’t get along. But
now that we know I’m going to leave soon, we
have suddenly discovered each other again.
I love her so much. My relationship to my
mother is what is really important to me now.
A principal in Canada shared a story from
her days of teaching a first- and secondgrade class where she also worked with
symbols:
“I talked with my students about life being
like a journey. As little as they were, they
seemed to understand. They drew pictures
about their journey. We talked about their
journeys. Then I asked them to look for
an object in nature that reminded them
of themselves and of their journey.”
A second-grade boy brought in two jars filled
with shells. “I call these brain shells”, he said
pointing to the first jar. “They remind me of
me because I’m very smart.” Then he held up
the jar in which the same shells were crushed.
“These crushed shells remind me of me too.
They remind me of how hard I am on myself
when I don’t do things just right.”
While symbols are particularly important
for adolescents because they allow an
indirectness of expression at a time when
young people need to create a separate
sense of self, we can see that even for young
children symbols lead to profound selfawareness. Self-awareness – what Daniel
Goleman considers the foundation skill of
emotional intelligence – is essential to deep
connection to the self and to meaningful
communication that allows deep connection
with others.
Symbols can also be used as a private
exercise in self-awareness. “Draw or sculpt
a symbol of what you are feeling right now.
You don’t need to show it to anyone else.
It’s just for you.” Or, “Write a metaphor
about what friendship means to you. You
can share it with the group or keep it for
yourself, putting it in your folder to look at
when the semester ends.”
Asking Questions
Questions of wonder or mysteries
questions are another tool for encouraging
students to discover what is in their hearts.
Once trust and respect is established in the
classroom, we give students the opportunity
to write anonymously the questions they
think about when they can’t sleep at night
or when they’re alone or daydreaming in
class.
Why am I here? Does my life have a purpose?
How do I find it?
I have been hurt so many times, I wonder if
there is God.
How does one trust oneself or believe in oneself?
How can I not be cynical?
Why this emptiness in this world, in my
heart? How does this emptiness get there,
go away, and then come back again?
Why am I so alone? Why do I feel like the
burden of the world is on my shoulders?
Rachael Kessler
These are some of
thousands of questions
I have gathered from
teenagers over the
past 20 years. When
students hear the collecttive mysteries of their
classroom community
read back to them in
an honoring voice by
their teachers, there is
always one student who
says, “I can’t believe I’m
not alone anymore.”
And then another will
say, “I can’t believe you
people wrote those
questions.” “That lesson
was awesome!” said
one honors student to
her advisory teacher in
a large diverse public
high school after heariing pages of personal
“mysteries questions”
written anonymously by her classmates. “I do not think of myself
as a judgmental person, but I would never have believed that those
other students had the same questions that I do.” Sharing their
deep concerns, their curiosity, wonder and wisdom, students begin
to discover a deep interest in their peers – even the ones they have
always judged to be unworthy of their attention and respect. The
capacity for empathy has been stirred. And the search for meaning,
so essential to spiritual formation, is validated and stimulated.
The Council Process
Into this profound interest in their peers we introduce the practice
of Council, the core of the PassageWays Model and of several other
programs as well (see Jack Zimmerman and Virginia Coyle’s The Way
of Council, Bramble Books). With everyone sitting in a circle where
all can see and be seen, the Council allows each person to speak
without interruption or immediate response. Students learn to listen
deeply and discover how it feels to be truly heard. As students reflect
on the same theme or tell stories from their lives that illustrate
how they currently think or feel about the theme, those who listen
deeply find themselves “walking in another person’s shoes.” This
structured practice for multiple perspective-taking provides a skill
and an experience that leads to critical and creative thinking and
also to the development of empathy and compassion. In Council,
students also experience stillness and silent reflection practiced
in the company of others. Silence becomes a comfortable ally as
we pause to digest one story and wait for
another to form or when teachers call for
moments of reflection or when the room
fills with feeling at the end of a class.
I remember you guys, and I bet you remember
me, said Richard, his voice quavering as he
said his good-byes to the students in his
Senior Passage course:
I was the guy you threw food at in the lunchrroom. I was the kid you hurled insults at – like
geek and dork. Well, you know what? I’m still
a geek. I know that and so do you. But I also
know something else. In the weeks and months
of listening to your stories, and you listening
to mine, I’ve seen that even the most beautiful
girls in this class – the most beautiful girls in
the world – have suffered with how they look
or how others see them. I’ve shared your pain
and you’ve shared mine. You guys have really
taken me in. You’ve accepted me and respected
me. I love you guys, and I know you love me.
“Apprehending the other’s reality, feeling
what he feels as nearly as possible,” says Nel
Noddings in Caring: A Feminine Approach to
Ethics & Moral Education, “is the essential
part of caring from the view of the one
caring. For if I take on the other’s reality as
possibility and begin to feel its reality, I feel
also that I must act accordingly.” (1984 p.
16) In Richard’s story, we can see clearly the
possibilities for compassion and caring that
arise when students have the opportunity
to meet as a group in ways that go beyond
civility, beyond cooperation, to discover a
genuine communing heart to heart, soul
to soul. Even students who are estranged
or alienated or who see themselves as
enemies experience the joy of transcendiing mistrust, stereotypes, and prejudice
that once felt like permanent barriers.
Gateways to the Souls of Students
Listening to the stories of students over
the years, reading thousands of “mysteries
questions,” I began to see a pattern of what
nourishes the inner life of young people.
This map, the Seven Gateways to the Soul
of Students, comes not from any religious
or philosophical tradition, but from the
voices of the students themselves. As we
seek ways to foster spiritual development
in our students, these “gateways” provide
clues to the opportunities we can create or
invite students to share in the classroom.
1. The search for meaning and purpose
concerns the exploration of existential
questions that burst forth in adolescence.
Why am I here?
Does my life have a purpose?
How do I find out what it is?
What does my future hold?
Is there life after death?
Is there a God?
2. The longing for silence and solitude
can lead to identity formation and goal
setting, to learning readiness and inner
peace. For adolescents, this domain is often
ambivalent – fraught with both fear and
urgent need. As a respite from the tyranny
of busyness and noise that afflicts even our
young children, silence may be a realm of
reflection, calm, or fertile chaos – an avenue
of stillness and rest for some, prayer or
contemplation for others. A student wrote:
I like to take time to go within myself somettimes. And when I do that, I try to take an empttiness inside there. I think that everyone strugggles to find their own way with their spirit and
it’s in the struggle that our spirit comes forth.
3. The urge for transcendence describes
the desire of young people to go beyond
their perceived limits. “How far can I be
stretched, how much adversity can I stand?”
writes one student. “Is there a greater force
at work? Can humans tap into that force,
and bring it into their daily lives?” writes
another. Transcendence includes not only
the mystical realm, but also extraordinary
experiences in the arts, athletics, academics,
or human relations. By naming this human
need that spans all cultures, educators
can help students constructively channnel this urge and challenge themselves in
ways that reach for this peak experience.
4. The hunger for joy and delight can
be satisfied through experiences of great
simplicity, such as play, celebration, or
gratitude. “I want to move many and take
joy in every person, every little thing.”
writes one student. Another asks: “Do all
people have the same capacity to feel joy
and sorrow?” Educators can help students
express the exaltation they feel when
encountering beauty, power, grace, brillliance, love, or the sheer joy of being alive.
5. The creative drive is perhaps the
most familiar domain for nourishing the
spirit of students. In opportunities for
acts of creation, people often encounter
their participation in a process infused
with depth, meaning, and mystery.
6. The call for initiation refers to a
hunger the ancients met through rites of
passage for their young. As educators, we
can create programs that guide adolescents
to become conscious of the irrevocable
transition from childhood to adulthood,
give them tools for making transitions and
separations, challenge them to discover
the capacities for their next step and creaate ceremonies with parents and other
faculty that acknowledge and welcome
them into the community of adults.
Students who have had the opportunity to
experience the support of a school program
designed to be a rite of passage learn that
they can move on to their next step with
strength and grace. “A senior in high school
must make colossal decisions whether he or
she is ready or not,” writes Carlos, describiing the impact of the program on his life.
“This class allows me to clear my head,
slow down, and make healthy choices.”
7. Deep connection is the common
thread. As my students tell stories about
each of these domains, I hear a commmon thread: the experience of deep
connection. This seventh domain desscribes a quality of relationship that is
profoundly caring, resounds with meaniing, and involves feelings of belonging
and of being truly seen or known.
Rachael Kessler
We can have the best curricula and train teachers in technique and
theory, but our students will be unsafe and our programs hollow if we
do not provide opportunities for teachers to cultivate their own spirittual formation and their own emotional intelligence. Students are relluctant to open their hearts unless they feel their teachers are on the
journey themselves – working on personal, as well as curriculum integgration. Here I will briefly summarize “the willingness to care” – one
dimension of what, in PassageWays, we call “The Teaching Presence.”
www.passageways.org
Through deep connection to the self, students encounter a
strength and richness within that is the basis for developing the
autonomy central to the adolescent journey, to discovering purppose and unlocking creativity. Teachers can nourish this form of
deep connection by giving students time for solitary reflection.
Connecting deeply to another person or to a meaningful
group, they discover the balm of belonging that soothes the proffound alienation that fractures the identity of our youth and prevents
them from contributing to our communities. Students feel a sense of
belonging when they are part of an authentic community in the classrroom – a community in which students feel seen and heard for who
they really are. Many teachers create this opportunity through morniing meetings, advisory groups, weekly councils, or sharing circles
offered in a context of ground rules that make it safe to be vulnerable.
The capacity of the teacher to care deeply for students is the
foundation of all of the classroom practices described above. When
students don’t trust adults – a common phenomenon in today’s
society – they are not motivated to learn from us. And they will
certainly not embrace our values or ethical beliefs. “The bonds that
transmit basic human values from elders to the young are unraveliing,” write Brendtro, Van Bockern & Clementson (“Adult-wary and
Angry: Restoring Social Bonds,” Holistic Education Review, March,
1995) as they describe why so many youth are wary of adults. “If
the social bond between adult and child is absent, conscience fails
to develop and the transmission of values is distorted or aborted.”
In a pluralistic society, educators can provide a forum that honoors the ways individual students nourish their spirits. We can
offer activities that allow them to experience deep connection.
In the search itself, in loving the questions, in the deep yearniing they let themselves feel, young people will discover what is
sacred in life, what is sacred in their own lives, and what allows
them to bring their most sacred gifts to nourish the world.
Some students connect deeply to nature: “When I get depressed,”
revealed Keisha to her group in a school in Manhattan, “I go to
this park near my house where there is an absolutely enormous
tree. I go and sit down with it because it feels so strong to me.”
And some students discover solace in their relationship to God
or to a religious practice. When students know there is a time in
school life where they may give voice to the great comfort and joy
they find in their relationship to God or to nature, this freedom of
expression itself nourishes their spirits. Students who feel deeply
connected don’t need danger to feel fully alive. They don’t need
guns to feel powerful. They don’t want to hurt others or themsselves. Out of connection grows compassion and passion – passsion for people, for students’ goals and dreams, for life itself.
Teachers Who Welcome Soul
Since “we teach who we are,” teachers who invite heart and soul
into the classroom also find it essential to nurture their own
spiritual development. This may mean personal practices to cultivvate awareness, serenity, and compassion, as well as collaborative
efforts with other teachers to give and receive support for the
challenges and joys of entering this terrain with their students.
Research / Focus: Spiritualities in the Classroom
Spirituality
Spiritualities in the
Classroom Alan Brill
“Spirituality” is a catchall that includes at least four
different approaches to working with adolescents seeking
transcendence in religious life.
Spiritual may not be the first word that
comes to mind in describing the typical
teenager, but those who have both the
privilege and challenge of working with
young people would consider that an unfair
generalization. Interest in adolescent
spirituality and spiritual development
has risen sharply in recent years among
educators, but the studies have not kept
pace with the actual spiritual diversity of
teenage practice. Several major reviews
of youth development view spirituality
as a developmental resource that lessens
risk behavior and enhances positive
outcomes (Bridges and Moore, 2002;
Donahue and Benson, 1995). Yet, these
studies sometimes forget that adolescents
do not want abstract talks about the
existence of spirituality. They need to see
spirituality in action, through role models
and concrete examples that relate to their
lives. Adolescents have a hard time putting
into words their beliefs about spirituality
and related “transcendent” ideas (Elias and
Kress, 1999). The goal of teachers, therefore,
is to offer themselves as a role model, even
in their own grappling with these themes,
and to offer language and concrete examples
to provide the student with the ability
to discuss these topics. Many teachers,
however, themselves have a hard time
discussing spirituality. This paper will offer
some beginning directions by pointing out
that spirituality is a broad catchphrase for
at least four very different approaches to
seeking a sense of the transcendental in life.
Rabbi Dr. Alan Brill is the Founder of Kavvanah: Center for Jewish Thought. He is the author of
Thinking God: The Mysticism of R. Zadok of Lublin and is completing a book on Judaism and
other religions.
10 | JewishEducationalLeadership
There have been major changes in American
religion that change the terms used in
discussing theology, including the very
rise of the topic of spirituality. Robert
Wuthnow's After Heaven: Spirituality in
America Since the 1950’s differentiates
the religion of the 1950’s from that of the
1980’s and 1990’s, calling the religion of
the former “the religion of dwelling” and
the religion of the latter “the religion of
seeking.” The religion of dwelling was
about building congregations within a
specific denomination, while the religion
of seeking focuses on answering individual
needs. In the religion of dwelling, the
goal was to create a sense of belonging,
to show that we are all alike, and that the
institution is greater than our personal
observance – big lectures in an auditorium
successfully conveyed collective identity.
In contrast, in the last decades there has
been a turn to religious seeking, in which
people seek meaning, go on individual
journeys, search out small groups of people
with similar personal issues, diversity, and
greater personal observance. To capture
this audience, clergy are most successful
when they create support groups, tehillim
groups, haburas and hevrutas, healing
circles, retreats, artist workshops, and
discussions of meaning and purpose in life.
But contemporary America does not
stay stable for long. Even among seekers,
recent studies have shown further
changes. Members of Generation X have
reintroduced an eclectic and widespread
acceptance of mysticism, magic, and a
renewed appreciation for externals (after
the prior existential emphasis on internal
states). Many members of this group are not
looking for coherence; contradictions suit
them fine. While Generation Y/ Millennials
have integrated the world of media, with
its emphasis on the visual, the interactive,
and the sound bite, they also seek greater
transparency in process. Although these
broad trends may not be found in every
classroom or individual student, they are
nonetheless important to note as the social
background to contemporary spirituality.
Alan Brill
Most of those who started to teach
spirituality were originally seekers first
drawn to meditation, Kabbalah or Hasidism.
But now that spirituality has entered the
mainstream, all teachers need to know
something about spirituality. This presents
a significant challenge, as most teachers are
not prepared to engage the new material.
“Since the 1990’s, considerable interest
has been generated in spirituality, and
many of us who attended seminary
before or during this era felt poorly
prepared regarding the rich traditions of
spirituality and our own spiritual journey.
More recently interest in spirituality has
converged with interests in congregational
development…” (Vennard, 2005)
The new emergent model brings spirituality
into common life, school, and community,
in which everyone now journeys together
as a group, through the study of spiritual
texts and the discussion of how to integrate
the inspirational words into one’s life
(Ackerman, 2001). Whereas the spiritual
seeker replaces the religion of dwelling
with a religion of seeking, the integration
of spirituality into the mainstream tries
to combine both dwelling and seeking.
Naturally, some students will remain
seekers looking to lead individual paths,
while others will remain oblivious to
spirituality looking only for a place to dwell.
Four Types of Spirituality
In the emergent approach that tries to
include the entire community, we have to
discuss multiple forms of spirituality, just
as we discuss multiple intelligences. Current
literature discusses four broad models of
spirituality – thinking, feeling, being, and
doing (all of which further subdivide). It
is critical that we understand that when
a student asks for spirituality, we must
learn to listen for which type of spirituality
he or she is asking for – one size does not
fit most. I will briefly outline the various
meanings to the word spirituality and
give examples of where each type can fit
into a Jewish high school curriculum.
Four Types of Spirituality
Thinking: Study; having a sense of a higher
purpose or order
Feeling: Song and celebration; stories;
togetherness
Being: Meditation; silence; ritual
Doing: Self-perfection of character;
moments of dedication; submission
The first category, thinking, seeks meaning
in life. Those who have a thinking approach
want to know, gain understanding, to see
that their actions have a purpose and that
there are answers to the big questions in life.
Discussion of the meaning of life can include
study of Jewish thought or the liturgy, the
fixed worldview of R. Hayyim of Volozhin’s
Nefesh Ha-Hayyim, or the application of the
writings of Rav Soloveitchik to one’s life,
drawing out the moral and value lessons.
This approach can be complemented even
in the day school setting with elucidations
In choosing texts, even for this approach,
it is important to make note of cultural
changes. For example, at one time the
existential writings of Viktor Frankl were
satisfying to those adolescents looking for
meaning, while now Akiva Tatz’s appeal to a
higher Divine purpose, based on R. Moshe
Hayyim Luzzato, resonates instead. And
for many, the paradoxes and dialectics of
existentialism do not speak to them while
the magic and media of The Kabbalah
Center does answer their sense for order.
The second broad category is that of feeling,
displayed through song, enthusiasm, and
the study of Hasidism. This includes the
spirituality of Carlebach minyanim, the
renewal movement, and Neo-Hasidism.
The goal is to reach feelings of warmth,
connection, and emotion that transcend
the rational everyday world. The language
emphasizes oneness, deepness, monism,
It is critical that we understand that when a student asks for spirituality,
we must learn to listen for which type of spirituality he or she is asking
for – one size does not fit most.
from general religious authors on religious
meaning, such as M. Scott Peck, C. S.
Lewis, or even Augustine. One should
make sure not to turn the study into
a philosophy class, rather focus on the
meaning and moral order taught in the text.
The thinking approach also incorporates
those looking for an order to the world,
where everything can fit into the religious
order. These students want to see a bigger
picture and know that there are answers
greater than themselves. These students
are attracted to the complete order of
the universe offered by the writings of R.
Moshe Hayyim Luzzato, or the writings
of Aryeh Kaplan, or the seminars offered
by Discovery/Aish Hatorah. They want a
meaning in life that transcends the self in
a meaningful order. God has hidden the
true meanings and therefore the answer is
to trust in the order of the Torah that can
make sense of the complexity of their lives.
and transcending our fallen world of
division, rationality, and moralizing. One
needs to go beyond the self and reach a
point of spontaneity. Needless to say, this
offers a very different approach than those
seeking to know a moral order. Here, God is
portrayed as a warm, caring parent waiting
for us to return, or who looks down with
love on singing. One should take care not to
use this approach as entertainment or solely
as ruah; Hasidic music should not merely be
another form of high school pep rally. The
feeling approach works when we remember
that the goal of the feelings is to reach the
transcendent, and that God wants one to
sing or show love as a path to monism.
This approach also has a sub-division that
includes those seeking happiness through
overcoming everyday emotional struggles,
or personalizing one’s study, or imagining
that God walks with the student. For these
seekers, the writings of R. Kalonomous
Volume 5:2 Winter 2007 ‫ | חורף תשס”ז‬11
Research / Focus: Spiritualities in the Classroom
A selected bibliography for exploring the four types of spiritualities
Thinking:
M. Scott Peck – The Road Less Traveled: A New Psychology of Love,
Traditional Values and Spiritual Growth
C. S. Lewis – Surprised by Joy
R. Moses Hayyim Luzzato – Derekh Hashem; Daat Tevunot
Aryeh Kaplan – Handbook of Jewish Thought; Inner Space; Aryeh Kaplan Anthology
Viktor Frankl – Man's Search for Meaning
Akiva Tatz – Anatomy of a Search; The Thinking Teenager’s Guide to Life
Feeling:
R. Kalonomous Kalman Shapira – Hovat Hatalmidim; Bnei Mahshavah Tova;
Hakhsharat HaAvreikhim
Zelig Pliskin – Happiness; Kindness; Courage
Dalai Lama – The Art of Happiness: A Handbook for Living
Pirkei deRebbi Eliezer, and the
discussions of God language
in the Aggadic portions of the
Talmud. Students in this group
respond well to the books
of A. J. Heschel, while single
pages of the writings of Mircea
Eliade and other scholars to
help make a point in class
from this perspective. The goal
here is not to be academic or
discuss the academic chart of
the sefirot, rather introduce
the Rabbinic view of mystically
relating to God through mitzvot
and contemplative prayer.
The final category, doing
is probably the broadest,
encompassing ethical work,
Being:
community self-sacrifice, and
Abraham Joshua Heschel – Quest for God; The Sabbath; Heavenly Torah
commitment. Doers want to
Mircea Eliade – The Sacred and the Profane
overcome their faults; they feel a
David Cooper – The Heart of Stillness: The Elements of Spiritual Practice
sense of their continuous failing
Moses Cordovero – Palm Tree of Deborah (Tomar Devorah)
and do not want to hear how
Your Word is Fire: The Hasidic Masters on Contemplative Prayer, edited by Arthur Green & Barry
they will be made perfect once
Holtz
they understand the theological
meaning of an essay. They either
Doing:
want the behaviorist method
R. Menachem Mendel Schneerson – On the Essence of Chassidus
for instilling order taught by the
Simchah Jacobson – Toward a Meaningful Life
Mussar movement or they want
Abraham Twerski – Twerski on Spirituality
the more humanistic psychology
and 12-step approach of R.
Avraham Twerski, in which one’s
spirituality consists of making
Being looks for the hidden reality about
Kalman Shapira of Piaseczna or Zelig
oneself into a better person. They
the soul, ritual, and the natural order
Pliskin are appropriate. Every verse of
want a checklist in which every day, little by
taught by medieval Kabbalah, especially
the Bible is taught by asking: How can I
little, one works on the self. They also need
the Zohar. There is a significant tradition
apply this to my life to come closer to God?
encouragement not to get frustrated or to
of Jewish meditation techniques, prayer
Can I see myself as the Biblical figures?
be overwhelmed by the human condition.
kavvanot, and visualizations that are not
What would I have done, religiously,
These approaches look for ways to teach
presently available to the broader public.
were I in their place? This approach
one to better one’s character traits and
currently has a broad following in America
more importantly for the seeker, to fight
This approach is the hardest to properly
one’s vices. This requires honesty about
through the personality and writings of
teach for those not trained in spirituality.
the human condition and how we all fail.
the Dalai Lama, who teaches happiness
(Interestingly, this approach was the first
more than meaning or meditation.
stop of almost all teachers of spirituality,
For some, the doing approach requires actual
The third approach, being, focuses on
even if they themselves have moved to
activity, through serious hesed projects.
contemplation, mysticism, and mystery.
They want to work with the disadvantaged,
another model in their current practice.)
build homes, work in soup kitchen or visit
Being also includes looking for deeper
To teach this, one must examine the
nursing homes. For others, doing demands
meanings known through mysticism or
esoteric parts of Nahmanides, the
moments of dedication of the self, the way
theosophical knowledge personally attained.
mystical midrashim such as Tanhuma or
Alan Brill
Habad teaches that the morning recitation
of modeh ani allows a daily volitional
reaffirmation of acting God-like in one’s life.
Process
The emergent approach of bringing
spirituality into the mainstream is a process
for both the teacher and the students,
and the teacher's personal spirituality
may not fit some of the students. It is
vital that teachers respect the individual
spiritual preferences of their students,
as most students are attracted to two
of the four approaches and are probably
repelled by one of them. Educators need
to learn to integrate elements of all four
types of spirituality. Further, adolescents
in the same room can be at different
stages of spiritual development.
of spirituality and then tell the students that
only practical halakhah counts. One must be
sincerely concerned with spiritual growth.
Assessing spiritual growth is important, but
presents its own challenges. The traditional
ladder of growth used by Ramhal proceeds
from the first steps of carefulness to the
peak of prophecy, while current educational
approaches assess the acquisition of the
components of spiritual life. For example,
does the spiritual curriculum or program
lead to a sense of the transcendent, the
conviction of the existence of the Divine,
the search for meaning and purpose,
appreciation of interconnectedness of
life, positive action, integrated sense of
the self of body, mind, and soul and the
sense of sacred time without the chatter
from media, from peers, from ourselves.
community. Even the Kabbalah has
proponents in all four types of spirituality.
One must remember to distinguish the
traditional and best spiritual practices
from the abuses of any approach. And,
more importantly, one needs to distinguish
between historical study, academic works
on Kabbalah, and practical spirituality.
Conclusion
Rav Kook taught, “Each person must know
that he/she is called on to serve on the
basis of his own distinctive conception
and feeling.” Dividing spirituality into
four paths allows the teacher to offer
the student a language to discuss their
own distinctive searches for meaning,
moral order, and inwardness.
References
In the emergent approach that tries to include the entire community,
we have to discuss multiple forms of spirituality, just as we discuss
multiple intelligences. Current literature discusses four broad models
of spirituality – thinking, feeling, being, and doing (all of which further
subdivide).
I have met educators who tell me that they
are introducing spirituality in their schools
through holding a singing 3 and they think
that this is sufficient. Yet, singing and
dancing without the concurrently valuating
of feelings, spontaneity, and monism within
the curriculum does not offer a role model
to the student or validate their inwardness
and spirituality. Spirituality is not a bandaid applied as an extra-curricular activity.
Adolescents can see through such false
displays and, as noted at the start, they
seek guidance and role models. Even for
the more intellectual approach of offering
theological meaning, the reflections need
to be validated in the classroom as a source
for moral reflection and character building.
One cannot collectively read the writings of
Rabbis Hirsch or Soloveitchik on the human
condition and moral development as a form
Most educators are not automatically
connected to spirituality by training or
temperament. We dare not call spirituality
whatever we are already proficient at
teaching, and need to avoid insincere
talks with titles such as “the spirituality
of the laws of damages.” Rather one
should use the class exploration of
spirituality as an opportunity to work
on one’s own spirituality. There are
many books and websites that offer
resources in determining one’s own path
among the four broad approaches.
Ackerman, J., Listening to God: Spiritual
Formation in Congregations (Herndon,
VA: The Alban Institute, 2001)
Bridges, L. & Moore, K. (2002).
Religion and Spirituality in
Childhood and Adolescence.
Washington, DC: Child Trends.
Donahue, M., & Benson, P. (1995).
“Religion and the well-being of adolescents”
Journal of Social Issues, 51, 145-160.
Elias, Maurice J. & Kress, Jeffrey S., “The
Emergence of Spirituality in Adolescence”
The United Synagogue Review (Fall 1999).
Vennard, J., A Praying Congregation, The
Art of Teaching Spiritual Practice (Herndon,
VA: The Alban Institute, 2005). xi
Jewish caricatures, such as identifying
oneself as a litvak or yekke, and therefore
exempt from spirituality, are not helpful.
Neither are simplistic charts comparing
different movements such as Hasidut or
Mitnagdut, because all four approaches
are found in any successful religious
Research / Focus: Can Sprituality be Taught?
Can
Spirituality
be Taught?
Stephen Bailey
Affective learning provides a useful
taxonomy for facilitating children’s
spiritual development.
I believe that the answer to the question in
the title is: No. I don’t believe we can teach
spirituality – at least, not directly. But the
good news is: While spirituality cannot
be taught directly, I think students can be
taught to experience meaning and positive
affect within religious ideas and practices,
which will facilitate their personal spiritual
quest within Judaism.
Before elaborating, I need to define the
abstract term, “spiritual experience,” to
move it from an “airy-fairy” notion of
communing with the universe to a more
definable concept that we can work with as
teachers, in the context of Jewish education.
Foremost, spirituality is a personal
experience. I propose that when “spiritual”
refers to a Jewish religious experience in an
educational context, it connotes a student’s
experience of a personal connection with
God through ideas, prayer or practice. This
connection is personal and in contrast
to the general religious relationship
with God shared by all identified Jews.
As such, although a teacher can directly
address students’ Jewish identity (the
Jewish people’s shared relationship with
God) through teaching and activities (for
example, Israel, community service and
general social mitzvot), a teacher cannot
legislate or impose on his or her students, a
personal connection with God.
To further refine the concept of spirituality,
before we address facilitating its
development in our students, we turn to
a study by Martsolf and Mickley (1998),
Stephen Bailey is Associate Professor in the Faculty of Education at York University, Toronto, Canada,
specializing in Jewish Teacher Education.
which addressed the issue of nurses’
attempts to assess the spiritual needs
of patients as part of a holistic approach
to treatment. Noting that the concept
of spirituality means different things to
different people, the researchers listed five
key concepts that arose when people were
asked to describe what spirituality means
to them:
• Making sense of situations; deriving
meaning and purpose
• Cherishing values, beliefs, standards and
ethics
• Awareness, and appreciation of a
“transcendent dimension” to life beyond self
• Connecting with self, others, God, and
nature
• Awareness of a sense of who one is,
through reflection and experience
Although these reflect nurses’ belief’s
about spirituality, all of their characteristics
relate to spirituality as I am defining it for
education. Our question, therefore, focuses
on how teachers can facilitate a personal
connection with God through learning,
prayer and mitzvot, which incorporates
the diverse definitions of spirituality as
described above. In other words, how can we
facilitate that which conveys meaning and
cherished values, an increase in awareness
Stephen Bailey
of going beyond the self and a connection
with God through self-reflection and
personal experience?
David Krathwohl’s Affective Taxonomy
A useful model for educators wanting to
facilitate spirituality (as we’ve defined
it), comes from the educational field of
“affective learning” – specifically, from
the affective domain taxonomy of David
Krathwohl (1964). Krathwohl developed
an affective taxonomy similar to Bloom’s
cognitive taxonomy, in which a sequential
structure of activities reflects the developing
personal relationship and value systems of
the student. The focus and purpose of the
model, as he has developed it, is to move the
student towards a meaningful and purposeful
internalization of values and beliefs through
sequential levels of activities. Both values
and beliefs have an affective component
to them – they are personally satisfying
and valued as “good” or “right” – and thus,
adopted into the developing personality of
the student.
I believe Krathwohl’s affective learning goal
– the internalization of values and beliefs
– is the means by which Jewish educators
can facilitate the experience of personal
“Jewish spirituality” in their students. In
effect, I wish to blend Krathwohl’s taxonomy
with our goal of inspiring our students
– that is say that since we cannot directly
teach spirituality, we can use the model
to build up a positive, learned affective
association with the ideas, experiences or
practices, which then may be internalized
and transform into the characteristics of a
spiritual experience in those students who
are receptive.
Krathwohl’s taxonomy has five levels,
which I’ll briefly describe and then use
illustratively. The first level requires the
teacher to get her students to willingly
attend to the particular value or practice
being taught. In other words, it needs to
be personally relevant to the student. The
second level focuses on a positive, proactive
response from the student, associating
the value or practice with positive affect.
Then, moving towards internalization of
the value, the student begins to accept,
commit to and prefer the value as personally
meaningful. Next, in level four, comes
the conceptualization of the value in
terms of ordering it and integrating it as
among the student body. I am also going
to take some liberties with explicating and
applying Krathwohl’s model, describing
it as developed in my practicum course
for my teacher candidates – often using
extant creative methodology – so that
In my view, if the value being taught reflects personal relationship
with God, such as prayer, Torah-learning or meaningful mitzvot
– internalization of that value is likely to inspire personal spiritual
experience, as we’ve defined it.
a meaningful component of a personal
“philosophy of life.” Finally, at the last level,
the value is internalized and integrated into
the complex of the student’s character and
personal motivation. It is at these last two
stages that students experience a sense of
personal meaning and positive value and
make the belief or practice their own. In
my view, if the value being taught reflects
personal relationship with God, such as
prayer, Torah-learning or meaningful
mitzvot – internalization of that value is
likely to inspire personal spiritual experience,
as we’ve defined it.
the illustration is more "user-friendly" for
Jewish education.
An Illustrative Example: Tefillah
3) Although I give illustrative statements
by the teacher, this is a guided model to
be integrated into a particular educator’s
teaching style and classroom methodology,
not a script.
I’ve presented abstract theoretical
constructs, so let’s take a look at a concrete
illustration. How might this model be
applied as a strategy to address the
ubiquitous Jewish educational problem
of facilitating the spiritual experience of
tefillah in Jewish schools? The problem,
to which most educators can attest, is a
sense of meaninglessness, rote-behavior,
boredom or indifference to the school (and
synagogue?) group prayer experience, as
reported by most students. Educators want
prayer to be personally meaningful, a source
of inspiration – a sense of communication
with God. How do we facilitate these goals?
I am going to use a middle-school class
(say, grade 7) of a community day school
for my illustration. My assumption is that
the community day school population
is generally pluralistic and represents a
wide range of “spiritual-connectivity”
Before reading the illustration, please note
four points.
1) The focus of the model in the initial
stages is on the experiential-affective,
rather than on the cognitive, and I use the
method of teacher’s self-disclosure to focus
the student on the affective experience. The
cognitive component is added later.
2) Most activity involves each student
participating by writing down reflections
or journal entries, so that every student is
involved personally rather than vicariously.
4) Finally, as you think about Krathwohl’s
levels, bear in mind that his is a stage theory
that requires each level to be achieved before
going on to the next – and that one cannot
skip levels. According to Krathwohl’s model,
we often make the mistake of focusing on
the cognitive before the affective, which
violates the order of the levels. Remember
that each level may take several classes
and various activities; it is not meant as a
simple, one-shot approach.
Level 1. Getting their attention
The goal of the initial level is to encourage
the student to attend to the specific value
or practice, making it personally relevant. A
Research / Focus: Can Sprituality be Taught?
teacher might focus attention by personal
disclosure and by asking for personal
responses from students. Given that
teachers are models (like it or not), a teacher
may say:
When I go to synagogue, it’s important for me
that it is a meaningful, personal experience
between me and God. I see it as an opportunity
to communicate with God – what is the
experience like for you?
From this self-disclosing and studentfocused statement, students hear that the
prayer experience is an important value/
practice for you, their teacher (whom they
respect) and that encourages a few students
to share their personal experiences. Such
initial discussion captures the attention of
the class on the subject and focuses them
on the positive affect, not the behavior or
cognitive components.
Level 2. Encouraging a positive
response
Level Two focuses on the students’
responding to the value or practice in some
positive way. At this level students seek
activities through which they can discover
satisfaction. This directs us to not dwell on
the negativity and complaints which are
sure to dominate students’ current reactions
to their school prayer experience, but rather
to intentionally move the responses in a
positive direction. The teacher might say:
I know we often find prayers boring and rote,
like you’ve said, but I want to hear some
positive experiences. I know that every once
in a while, when I concentrate on my chance
to ‘talk with God’, I think about things I want
for my family and for myself and find myself
asking God for help. I am sure that many of
you have had that experience. Who has?
The teacher intentionally moves away
from the negative and directs the
students to think positively. Rather than
class discussion, often dominated by a
few articulate students, this stage (and
subsequent levels) requires personal
involvement of all students. Thus, the
teacher may present a brief assignment to
personalize a response from each student.
For example, she may ask all students to
record one or two positive moments during
the next prayer session and share what they
were thinking with the class. Note that the
explicit goal is to associate positive affect
with the experience.
Level 3. Developing Commitment to
the value/practice
When I pray, I often find my mind wandering.
I think about my lesson plan, the papers I
have to grade, the reports I have to write
– and not about talking with God. But then I
think: I’ll have time to deal with those things
in half an hour, now it’s more important for
me to relax, concentrate and think about me
and God. How do you get back to focusing
on tefillah when you get distracted by other
things you have to do?
At the next Krathwohl level, students begin
the internalization process. This requires
a developing commitment to the value as
demonstrated by both an acceptance of it
as worthy and preference for it in relation
to other behaviors. To be of worth to
the student, the experience needs to be
personally relevant and valued. A teacher
might discuss the following:
Once again, the focus is on the positive and
the teacher uses self-disclosure to direct the
student’s attention to preferring – or valuing
– the tefillah experience over inevitable
distractions. Both these techniques
encourage the beginnings of internalization
of the acceptance of and preference for the
tefillah experience as a positive value.
Although we’ve learned that some of prayer
is praise of God, we also learned that most of
prayer is about us asking for important things
that we cannot get for ourselves as well as
expressing gratitude to God for what we have.
Over the next week, I’d like you to keep a little
journal of things you ask for during prayer
and also the things that you, personally, are
grateful for – I’ll do the same and then we’ll
discuss some of these in class.
Level 4. Integrating tefillah experience
into one’s “philosophy of life”
This assignment focuses on making the
experience personally relevant and worthy
in the student’s life. The idea of journalwriting encourages the active reflection
This penultimate stage represents the actual
integration of the value into one’s ‘self’
– specifically into one’s Jewish identity.
Having experienced the positive values
associated with prayer in the affective
domain, the time is ripe for enhancing the
meaningfulness of the experience through
cognitive means. Specifically, through
more philosophical discussion (obviously
at an age-appropriate level) of how tefillah
integrates with one’s Jewish life. Here the
teacher can do some text-based learning
from the siddur and connect it to the
Although we’ve learned that some of prayer is praise of God, we also
learned that most of prayer is about us asking for important things that
we cannot get for ourselves as well as expressing gratitude to God for
what we have.
on the practice of “asking-thanking”
during prayer, which helps to develop each
student’s commitment to the personal
experience of communicating with God
during the regular tefillah time. At this
stage, students get committed to the task
and often encourage others to take it
seriously.
To address the issue of preference, the
teacher might discuss the following:
affective experience already developed. It
might sound something like this:
We’ve been talking about our experiences of
asking and thanking God, so as to not take
our everyday life for granted. Let’s take a
look at the list of brakhot we say as we begin
tefillah each day. These were designed by our
Rabbis to express our thanks to God each
morning, especially for things we may take for
granted. Look for the brakhot that you see as
Stephen Bailey
personal and re-write them in language that
is personally meaningful for you. For example,
thanking God for ‘clothing the naked’ could be
re-written: "Thank you, God, for providing my
family with the income to buy me the clothes
I need for school each day, for sports, for
dressing up for parties and for just hanging
out with my friends. I know many kids my
age don’t have these things; I feel grateful for
everything in my closet!"
The teacher is connecting tefillah with text
in a personally meaningful way that can be
incorporated into the positive experience of
“talking with God” already developed. The
items discussed are relevant to the student’s
everyday life and encourages a “philosophy
of life” that incorporates the ongoing Jewish
value of gratitude.
The teacher may also discuss the experience
of tefillah at unstructured times (not
during communal prayers) so as to further
imbed the experience into the individual’s
personal life. Depending on the age of
students, the teacher may address more
philosophical beliefs, including the personal
responsibilities of a Jew reflected in
structured prayer, as well as the ideas behind
the concept of praising God. Whatever your
specific curricular goals, the point at this
level, is to build on the affective domain,
through enhancing the cognitive aspects of
the prayer experience, while encouraging the
experience of tefillah (formal/informal) as
part of one’s everyday life.
Level 5. Prayer as a character trait
This is the final level of Krathwohl’s model
to which the educator has been aspiring. It
describes the incorporation or internalization
(in Krathwohl’s language) of the value
being taught into one’s character, so that
the valued practice becomes a trait of the
student. In our case, achieving this final
level would mean the internalization of, and
a commitment to, the prayer experience
of communicating with God in a positive,
personally meaningful way, reflecting what
we’ve called a “spiritual” experience. This
means that the student is more likely to
willingly participate in prayer (become a
leader or reader/singer), encourage others
to participate and even seek out prayer
experiences outside of the school (like
increased frequency of voluntary synagogue
attendance).
The model as a guide
I have presented this model as a guide
to facilitating the potential for spiritual
experience in our students, using prayer
in middle school as an illustrative
example. Krathwohl’s model (at least
my interpretation) can be used for other
potentially spiritual experiences and with
older students. As I mentioned above,
one has to be aware of the developmentalstage aspect of the model. Although the
model can be used for all ages – with ageappropriate modifications – the cognitive
element necessarily requires appropriate
cognitive-stage readiness. My example of
tefillah, for instance, can be used for second
grade as well as high school, since it involves
issues of gratitude and personal needs, but
the actual methodology would need to be
adjusted for age related cognitive skills, as
reflected in a spiral curriculum.
Let me briefly comment on another
ubiquitous “spiritual” problem-area that has
potential application for Krathwohl’s model
as a gateway to spiritual experience. We are
often frustrated by adolescents who show
a sense of indifference or low-value to the
serious study and analyses of Jewish texts,
whether biblical or Talmudic. Students are
often bored, fail to see the connection of
the traditional texts to their life and remain
unmotivated to expend the necessary
energy for thoughtful class discussions. A
class in Tanakh often becomes a matter of
taking teacher-dictated notes or studying
translations and memorizing commentaries.
An excerpt of Mishnah or Talmud is often
experienced as irrelevant to a student’s real
life and no different from having to study
calculus, simply as a cognitive challenge. In
contrast, many of us, as teachers, experience
the deep study of texts as a spiritual experie-
ence, connecting us to God’s “thoughts”
(biblical) or to profound Rabbinic wisdom,
and we wish our students could share the
enjoyment and intense satisfaction. Can
Torah learning become a spiritual experieence for students?
According to this model – yes. But a currricular plan would have to go through the
affective-learning model’s five levels, stepby-step, in order to develop the personally
meaningful connection with the text as a
positively valued “beyond-the-self” spiritual
experience. Remember, also, that genuine
appreciation of the spiritual dimension of
text learning (or the spiritual dimension of
Shabbat) would likely have to wait until high
school or adult education, since students'
life experiences play an important factor
in their sense of personal meaningfulness
and relevance. I’d encourage some of my
creative colleagues to attack this challenge
– with developmental sensitivity – guided
by Krathwohl’s five levels, and share their
results.
To sum up: Since we can’t impose spirittuality, the best we can do is encourage
our students’ quest for positive, deeply
meaningful experiences, which transcend
the self and provide purpose to their Jewish
lives. Doing that provides us educators with
a spiritual experience of our own! I believe
that Krathwohl’s method of internalizing
values on the affective domain is as close to
this goal as we can get.
References
Krathwohl, David R., Bloom, Benjamin S.,
and Masia, Bertram B. (1964). Taxonomy of
educational objectives: The classification of
educational goals. Handbook II: Affective
domain. New York: David McKay Co., Inc.
Martsolf, D.S and Mickley, J.R. (1998). The
concept of spirituality in nursing theories:
Differing world-views and extent of focus.
Journal of Advanced Nursing, 27, 294-303.
Applications: Engaging the Soul - An Educational Program
Engaging the Soul:
An Educational Program
Aryeh Ben David
A unique program for “engaging the soul” combines
intellectual, physical, and emotional components to build
a safe environment for students to grow spiritually.
For many years I taught Jewish Studies
– Torah, Mishnah, Talmud, Jewish Thought,
Prayer, Ethics, etc. – to adults ranging in
age from 18 to 75. While the students
certainly absorbed a tremendous amount
of information, and seemed to enjoy
their learning, I felt that the learning had
not penetrated into the students’ inner
lives. Their newfound knowledge had
not translated itself into a meaningful
transformation in their being or behavior.
The information had remained just that,
information, and had failed to enter
their lives, hearts and souls. It was not
transformative.
To enable an educational experience
that would be transformative would
require engaging more than the cognitive,
intellectual – it would have to engage the
spiritual. In the words of Parker Palmer:
“To chart the inner landscape fully,
three important paths must be taken
– intellectual, emotional, and spiritual – and
none can be ignored.”
This approach was advocated by the Hasidic
masters, Rav Kook, Abraham Joshua
Heschel, and others, and is similar to one
based on Kabbalastic teachings that there
are three primary voices of the soul – the
1. A safe and supportive environment,
free of cynicism, sarcasm, judgment, or
attack, must be created. Only in a safe
environment will the student be open
and willing to open themselves up and
personally engage with the learning.
2. Students need to be taught how to
develop their listening skills. This includes
the ability to “deeply listen” and how to ask
open-ended, reflective questions. They are
not to give advice or admonish their partner.
nefesh, the ruah and the neshamah. These
voices are expressed through the powers of
the mind (neshamah), the heart (ruah), and
3. In that safe space, students discuss with
study-partners (or a “personal hevruta”) how
they relate to the material studied. What
resonates with them, what was difficult for
the body (nefesh). In order for education
to be truly effective, it must access and
harmonize these three voices of the soul.
them? They need to bring their own voice
into their relationship with the material.
Key program elements
Designing a program to engage the soul,
in all its various components, required re-
Aryeh Ben David (aryehbd@netvision.net.il) is the Founder and Director of Ayeka: Center for
Jewish Spiritual Education. He currently serves as Rabbinical Educational Consultant for Hillel
International and is on the faculty at the Pardes Institute in Jerusalem, where he is the Director of
Spiritual Education. Aryeh received Rabbinical Ordination from the Israeli Rabbinate.
imagining every aspect of the educational
experience. A few basic principles formed
the core of the program
4. The comfort of sharing grows with
the ability to listen deeply and nonjudgmentally. The deep-listening practices
develop and encourage each participant to
actively listen to him or herself as well as to
others.
5. An experiential workshop engaging the
body enables the student to take this mind
and heart experience and express it through
various media – art, creative writing, drama
Aryeh Ben David
or movement. The goal here is not the
performance, but to bring concrete, physical
expression of what has heretofore been
abstract.
six basic units, which can be said to reflect
its understanding of the spheres of human
interaction with the world:
be hidden just by putting a small hand over
one’s eyes. God is not only hidden far away,
but sometimes hidden very close to us.
1. Zera-im: the physical world
Physical – nefesh (30 minutes)
6. The pace of learning is deliberate and
unhurried. Unlike the mind, the heart
works very slowly; whereas the mind can
be engaged independent of the rest of the
self, engaging the heart and soul challenge
the essence of one's personhood. Doing so
must be done with care and deliberation,
and both take time and patience. In the
language of the Mishnah (Berakhot 5:1), the
heart simply needs “to be” with the idea for
a period of time.
2. Moed: the temporal world
Program content
The final two sessions bring the focus
back to the students, as they present their
personal statements to the group.
The program is built on a model of ten
sessions, with a week between sessions.
As mentioned earlier, each session has
components addressing the basic elements
of the soul – nefesh (physical), ruah
(emotional), and neshamah (intellectual).
The first session focuses on creating trust
and developing listening skills with the
members of the group. Trust and listening
are essential to fostering the group’s
dynamic. It is in this session that the
foundations for the “safe space” are laid,
enabling students to wrestle with new ideas
and to personalize a new way of engaging
with the world.
Next, the program introduces the search
for self, God and spirituality. A study of
the story of the Garden of Eden is central,
touching on ideas including God’s distancing
Himself from Adam, Adam hiding behind
the tree, and God's call of Ayyekka (where
are you). These become underlying themes
for the whole program – the human coping
mechanism of hiding (with particular
emphasis on the idea of hiding from self and
God) and the need to come out from that
hiding in our search for God – as it were, our
own cry of Ayyekka to God paralleling God's
search for Man.
These building blocks, the environment
and the goal, help facilitate the core of the
program, which is based on the structure of
the Mishnah. The Mishnah is organized into
3. Nashim: family life
4. Nezikin: community life
5. Kodashim: holy things
6. Tahorot: holy states of being
Each of the next six sessions focuses on one
of the broad areas outlined by the Mishnah,
so that the students get the opportunity
to reflect deeply on every facet of their
interaction with the world.
Ask the students to cover their eyes. When
they uncover their eyes, have them look
around the room with eyes of wonder and
radical amazement. Ask them to notice
five things in the room (that they had not
previously noticed) which in their opinion
could instill in them a sense of awe, a sense
of “God’s fingerprints” in this room. The
students then share the five observations
that they chose. This part concludes with a
brief writing exercise involving one of the
items they chose, followed by sharing in
small groups of what they wrote.
Emotional – ruah (30 minutes)
Each session concludes with an assignment
– to look at the world with “wonder
eyes”, trying to find moments of God’s
To help the students personalize these ideas,
we do a “personal hevruta” with trigger
questions. The guidelines for this activity
To enable an educational experience that would be transformative would
require engaging more than the cognitive, intellectual – it would have to
engage the spiritual.
fingerprints in the world around them.
During the week between sessions,
participants keep a journal as they reenter
their lives with the new perspective they
explored in the previous session. The
following session begins with a sharing of
these observations. Their logs of the search
for self, coming out of “hiding”, and the
search for God in the mundane become
personal “soul-diaries”.
Sample session
are fully explained beforehand, including
rules of confidentiality, deep listening skills,
no attacking or judging each other, and
no giving advice or trying to fix the other
person.
The questions are:
a. Describe what it felt like to find wonder
and God in the physical world.
b. How would your life be different if you
had a greater sensitivity to sensing wonder
and radical amazement in the world?
The first of the six sessions on the subjects
of the Mishnah focuses on revealing the
hiddenness of God in the physical world. A
typical session could look like this:
c. What is holding you back?
d. Describe a moment when you especially
felt God’s presence in the natural world.
Intellectual – neshamah (45 minutes)
Study Abraham Joshua Heschel’s ideas
of wonder, awe, and radical amazement.
Heschel often quoted the Ba’al Shem Tov’s
observation that God’s miraculous world can
The final 15 minutes are an open discussion
aimed at processing the ideas of the session.
Applications: Engaging the Soul - An Educational Program
Reactions
For a number of years I have been
conducting programs like these with
adults and teens. With the ever growing
impulse for immediacy in their daily
lives (microwaves, high-speed Internet,
instant access to an almost variety of
electronic entertainment options), many
are uncomfortable with the need to slow
down the pace. There is a drive impelling us
to move ahead, to see new material, read
another book, and go to a new class, and we
get an intellectual rush every time we have a
flash of inspiration or grasp a new concept.
The need for time to process, so that the
new learning can begin to penetrate the
soul, is a challenge.
For many, the very notion of exploring their
inner selves is initially frightening, as is the
notion of expressing themselves through a
variety of media. I, myself, found the notion
of artistic expression a daunting challenge.
Despite the initial hesitations and
challenges, as participants worked their
way through the program they continually
discovered new things about themselves and
the subject studied. And it is that discovery
of self which becomes the powerful
motivation to continue the process.
One of the most powerful effects of this
process is the group-building through the
personal sharing. Students rarely talk
with each other about personal things,
including talk about God and spirituality.
The program, through its supportive and
affirming environment, transformed the
students from lonely souls wondering
how to move ahead to kindred spirits on a
search. The sense of bonding which emerged
helped transform their understanding of
friendship by introducing a bonding based
on common values and the mutual support
which could propel each individual in the
group. In the process of becoming more
attuned to their own souls, they also found
soul-mates.
This program has been conducted both
as an ongoing program, adaptable to the
school setting, and as a seminar, or spiritual
retreat. The following reactions are from
participants who had a chance to reflect on
the program weeks or months later:
You helped me open something. The key is
I'm starting to feel… I think about what I eat
outside the house, I think about "where am I"
while sitting in synagogue. Now, am I closer to G-d? That's hard to tell. But,
at least I've taken the first major step . . . I'm
closer to me! Thanks for helping to awaken me
spiritually!
The retreat was one of the most transformative
experiences that I have had in my life. It’s truly
indescribable how I've felt since my return from
Israel and there are so many lessons I will take
with me for the rest of my life.
For myself, as I've mentioned, I'm on a
path, and I see the retreat having been an
important step on that path. It helped
clarify the meaning and mode of prayer
to me, and has contributed to my daily
practice. And it made me think about some
important questions that I won't soon
forget, even though the answers may change
over time.
Annette Labovitz
The Effective Use
of Holy Stories
to Integrate the
Totality of Jewish
Life with Neshamah,
Spirituality, Faith, and
Jewish Continuity
Annette Labovitz
A unique approach to spiritual education uses
storytelling as a trigger for students’ growth.
I have always believed that if we could
integrate every discipline in limudei kodesh
meaningfully, we could achieve the goal
of describing living Judaism, so that our
students would understand that they are the
link binding our glorious past with the futture of the Jewish people. I believe that this
would allow educators to more effectively
explore with their students that we are commmanded to live a certain way because of the
Biblical command “You shall be holy, for I,
your God, am holy” (Vayikra 19:2). As I have
thought of these possibilities, I have develooped one possible methodology to achieve
the above: the effective use of holy stories.
The major goal of storytelling within Jewish
tradition is to elevate faith, to inspire people
to improve their actions, to teach them moraal lessons. Using appropriate stories would
make abstract information concrete and
relevant, and would role model for students
the way a Jew acts and responds to specific
conditions, ethical dilemmas, religious situaations, and other problems which have been
so much a part of the exile experience. From
time immemorial, within Jewish tradition,
stories have been a powerful, motivational,
inspirational, educational tool to tell the
“happenings” of the Jewish people.
Stories have been used to describe our ethics
and to be an effective instrument to mold
and strengthen character, to influence social
relationships and draw a portrait of a world
to which educators and rabbis want the
learner to relate. Stories not only open the
neshamah of the listener, but are one of the
most successful and powerful methods we
have of transmitting our heritage and our
Dr. Annette Labovitz has recognized the power of storytelling for decades. Her curriculum, based
upon her books titled A Sacred Trust: Stories of Our Heritage and History, guides the educator to
using stories for maximum effect in the classroom. She can be reached at drannette@gmail.com.
traditions from generation to generation. So
why not use this most effective educational
tool?
Let me briefly condense my version of the
well known story of “The Righteous Proseelyte,” (see sidebar) in order to demonstrate
two goals: first, the methodology that can
be applied to integrating learning within the
classroom setting, and second, the focus on
Jewish continuity and faith (which is one of
the bases for spirituality).
The ending of this story is tragic. It touches
the neshamah of every reader and listener. It
is a poignant and powerful way to focus on
aspects of spirituality, namely specific mitzvvot bein adam lahavero, between man and
man, mitzvot of social caring, lashon hara,
ahavat habriyot, and bein adam lamakom,
between man and God, mitzvot of Shabbat,
tefillah, and tikkun olam. We must emphassize that without faith, without sensitivity
that we live according to the Will of God
everything that we observe and everything
Applications: The Effective Use of Holy Stories
from which we refrain doing is meaningless.
Spirituality, mitzvot of awareness, form the
ladder upon which we may ascend to the
Divine.
Let me return to the two goals set forth in
the introduction to the story, integration
of classroom disciplines and focusing on
continuity and faith.
In order to achieve these goals, a Jewish
story must encompass place (history /
geography), time (Shabbat, hagim, mitzvot),
character (an inspirational role model), and
message (classic sacred text), all of which
involve the learner. Explore how the story
establishes a “living Jewish” framework;
how we flash back for our learners on our
glorious Jewish past, and make it relevant to
Jewish living today.
Look at the condition of Jewish life was
during the middle 1700's in eastern Eurrope. Why was Vilna, Lithuania called the
“Yerushalayim of Europe”? What was the
relationship of the Jewish people to their
non-Jewish neighbors? Why did the Potocki
family and the police threaten the Jewish
community and condemned the righteous
To explore Jewish place with your students, ask them how we have
lived in that time and in that place. For almost every age learner,
their relationship to the Jewish past must be concrete, not abstract.
Therefore, a story presents the proper “hook” with which to involve the
learner.
will be described below. We must explore
these foci of a Jewish story and apply them
to integrating humash, gemara, halakhah,
mussar and Jewish history within the
parameters of that story. Stories with these
characteristics provide the educator and the
students with the opportunity to pursue the
issues of spirituality that are described and
can be transferred to our immediate daily
living experiences.
How does the educator achieve these two
goals of curricular integration and faith
development? How do we apply the messsage of the story? Using the concepts of
place, time, character and message as our
outline, the following questions may build
the educator’s discussion on integration of
disciplines. Discussion questions concenttrating on our relationship to God will focus
students’ attention on spirituality.
Exploring Jewish Place
To explore Jewish place with your students,
ask them how we have lived in that time and
in that place. For almost every age learner,
their relationship to the Jewish past must
be concrete, not abstract. Therefore, a story
presents the proper “hook” with which to
proselyte to death? Would the fact that in
the United States of America minorities are
guaranteed freedom of religion under the
bill of rights separating church and state
make the outcome different if this story had
occurred 250 years later in America?
Other questions to explore include what the
lessons of Jewish life during the eighteenth
century are so that we may learn from
this story and be inspired by it, and how
we can imbue our students with the same
“You shall be holy” for which the righteous
proselyte yearned.
Exploring Jewish Time
To explore Jewish time with your students,
look at how we have lived and performed
mitzvot in specific situations. Jewish time
in this particular story is the celebration
of Shabbat and Shavuot. In teaching the
story, the educator couId point out the
different aspects of Shabbat and Shavuot
in the Torah. For example, in observance
of Shabbat, the teacher could explore the
difference between the Shabbat of creation,
the Shabbat of the Exodus, and the Shabbat
of commandments.
She can also explore what it was about
the Jewish family’s observance of Shabbat
that inspired the young Count to consider
conversion to Judaism, what the variations
described for the observance of Shavuot are
in the cited sources in the Torah. Compare
the counting of the omer with the giving
of the Torah in honor of Shavuot and ask
why it is significant that we know that the
yahrzeit of the righteous proselyte falls on
Shavuot.
The Zohar describes the relationship bettween God and the Jewish people. Both partties to the eternal covenant remember: God
remembers “the kindness of your youth, the
love of your nuptials, your following Me into
the wilderness” (Jeremiah 2:2) and we remmember the suffering of exile – “remember
O God what has befallen us.” (Eikhah 5:1)
We are living in the longest and most bitter
of exiles, and we oftentimes feel so far away
from God, so far removed from spirituality.
Yet, “how happy we should be to merit even
a limited respite, the opportunity to create
a haven in which to attach ourselves to the
Dievine Presence. And when can we create
such an environment? On Shabbat, on Yom
Tov, and on Rosh Hodesh.”
Annette Labovitz
Finally, how about asking why, when we say
the blessing after the meal we add: “May the
Compassionate One cause us to inherit the
day which will be completely Shabbat, and
rest for eternal life?” Doesn’t that addition
mean that even as we live in exile, we rejoice
that we set aside time to experience the
Divine Presence in our midst?
Exploring Jewish Character
In order to help your students explore Jewiish character, you can discuss what character
traits Jews should aspire to. Other points
of discussion could include an exploration
of what mitzvah was desecrated when the
worshiper pointed out that the man who
was leading the davening was a convert, how
we are commanded to treat converts and
why, and what are the traditional halakhic
requirements for conversion.
What he had to learn and to observe, along
with the laws of lashon hara and/or embarrrassing another person and/or reminding
a convert of his/her origins could also help
students to get a better understanding of
the role character plays in life.
Understanding who our leaders were, and
what ethical will they left us by which to
remember their impact upon the perpetuaation of Jewish life is also an important
discussion to have with students. The Jewiish character will vary from one time frame
to another and expose our learners to 5,000
years of Jewish learning and writing.
We as educators need to think about what
we want our learners to know about the
inspirational role model, and in this case
in particular, that we hope our learners
will attempt to emulate the Gaon of Vilna,
Rabbi Elyahu ben Shlomo Zalman. Though
he is mentioned in this story as a minor
character, the Vilna Gaon was a major figure
in the development of Jewish life.
What interesting ideas may we add to the
development of his character, beyond the
fact that he was the founder of the Mitnagddic movement, through discussions of why
there was such a schism during the 1700's
between Hasidim and Mitnagdim, how it
The Righteous Proselyte
of Vilna
The setting of the story is Vilna, Lithuania,
and the chronological time frame parallels
the life time of the Vilna Gaon, the eightteenth century.
The maturing scion of the very wealthy
Count Potocki family, whose fortune was
earned in the distillation of liquor, was
searching for meaning to his life. While
riding his horse aimlessly around the city
and the countryside toward dusk one Friday,
he strayed into the Jewish section of town.
He noticed, in one house after another, the
reflection of the soft flicker of candlelight
glowing through the windows. He dismmounted, tied his horse to a tree and began
walking toward the sound of an enchanting
melody emanating from the farthest house
at the edge of the forest. Stealthily, he peered
inside the window. He saw a Jewish family
celebrating Shabbat.
He compared what he experienced with his
own personal family life. In this house, life
was so different. In his house, everyone ate
separately; in this house, the entire family
ate together. In his house, everyone ate the
most expensive cuts of meat; in this house,
it seemed that dinner would consist of a
twisted loaf of white bread and a herring. In
his house, everyone was always shouting; in
this house, the family was singing together.
He stood by the window, enchanted by what
he saw, until the candles burned out and the
Jewish family retired for the night.
Determined to explore further, he returned
for many weeks until he had enough courage
to knock on the door. He was invited to
experience Shabbat with the family, first
Friday night, then the entire Shabbat day.
Ultimately, he decided that he had to become
like the members of this family, that he had
to convert, for he experienced with them the
Divine Presence each week. The family was
not surprised, for they had seen him change
as his yearning to study Torah intensified, to
find out what it means to be a Jew.
Because the gentile world condemned people
converting to Judaism, he had to find a
way to covertly execute his intentions. In
consultation with the leaders of the Jewish
community, and with the encouragement of
the family who had sheltered him, he traveeled to Amsterdam, where Jews lived in relattive security at that time. He converted and
took the name of Avraham ben Avraham.
He immersed himself in study. Soon people
referred to him as “the learned Jew.”
After five years, he decided to return “home,”
hoping that he could marry one of the
daughters of the family that had sheltered
him. The newlyweds lived near her parents
and they davened in the same shul. The
“learned Jew” loved to lead the davening.
Disturbed with the worshiper’s talking, he
gently chided one. The worshiper angrily
shouted: “how dare a convert reprimand me!”
Those few words ignited a conflagration. The
police arrested Avraham ben Avraham. His
former family was alerted that their long
lost son had been found, and the church and
the government being one, demanded that
he renounce Judaism. He refused and was
condemned to death by fire.
He asked to speak before his execution. He
said: “I know that I am accused of heresy beccause I converted to Judaism. I want you to
know that I believe you will only be burning
flesh and bone. As for the man who revealed
my identity, please tell him that I forgive him
because he gave me the opportunity to die
for the sanctification of God’s glorious and
Holy Name.”
At that moment, a messenger from the
Gaon of Vilna told him that it would be posssible to save his life with kabbalistic secrets.
He refused to consider it, preferring to die
a martyr’s death. When his flesh could no
longer withstand the pain of the scorching
flames, he cried out: “Blessed be You, O Lord
our God, mekadesh et shimkha barabim, who
sanctifies His Name before the multitudes.”
The yahrzeit of Avraham, the learned Jew,
is observed on the second day of Shavuout.
The year was 5509 (1749). According to
our tradition, the Vilna Gaon requested that
when his time came, he was to be buried
next to Avraham ben Avraham.
Applications: The Effective Use of Holy Stories
was solved, and whether there is a big differeence between the two movements today?
The story provides the perfect background
for delving further into the writings of the
Vilna Gaon, his Talmudic thoughts, his
mussar thoughts, and so much more. Our
learners need to understand his outlook on
mussar and be exposed to his ethical will.
Exploring Jewish Message
Exploring Jewish message: Jewish message
is found in our classic, sacred texts and in
our tefillot. For example, the blessing of
mekadesh et shimkha barabim appears in the
daily prayers. Discovering with our students
how many years have passed since the formmulation of this blessing, why our sages saw
fit to incorporate it into our daily prayers,
and how the other morning brakhot teach
us to express gratitude to God, are all topics
that can arise from the study of a story.
When students ask: how do I know this
information? It is imperative for the educattor to open up the volume in question and
point out where it is written (or to assign a
class research project, or to admit that the
answer needs to be investigated.). Students
will learn that they and we are dwarfs standiing on the shoulders of giants, that we have
continued our tradition from generation to
generation, by transmitting that which is
sacred and holy.
Integrating these four components – place,
time, character and message – makes the tottality of Jewish living relevant. It points out
that each generation is a continuum of the
previous generation, and it helps our learneers understand how holy their neshamot are
and how precious it is to have been born a
Jew. The educator can focus on those topics
in the story regarding tikkun olam (that is,
that we are God’s partners in improving this
world for the betterment of mankind. This
can be done by guiding students to perform
mitzvot of social caring, inspiring students
to pay attention to the wonder and mystery
of the world, and helping them to recognize
God’s presence through tefillah and the
recitation of brakhot.
This pattern of discussion/questioning can
be adapted to stories that fit the definition
of a “Jewish story.” I have shown how time,
place, character and message merge beautiffully within an appropriate story to integrate
disciplines and to enhance spirituality.
I have yet to meet any person who does
not love stories. The goal of educators is to
use a story for maximum effect. I dream
not only of enhancing our classrooms with
an exciting new method to integrate every
discipline in the limudei kodesh curriculum,
but through the effective use of appropriaate stories, to provide the inspirational
role models that we hope our students will
emulate. In addition, what more effective
way do we have with which to enhance our
Shabbat and Yom Tov tables than with the
words of a holy story?
Application: The Art of Tefillah
The Art
of Tefillah
A colleague recently reported a conversattion with a high school senior who had been
asked why she did not take davening serioously. “When I was in elementary school,”
she said, “we were offered stickers for good
behavior in minyan and there was sometthing exciting and encouraging about it. But
as I got older, it simply became routinized
and ritualistic and there was no longer
anything engaging or compelling. I’ve simply
stopped finding any meaning.”
The challenge to create meaning or, more
correctly stated, to help students create their
I began to use with a group of tenth grade
students, makes use of synagogue art dispplayed in the ruins of a synagogue in Poland.
For tefillah education to be most effective it
must take place during tefillah itself rather
than as a class at some other time in the day.
The associations that students make must
be related to the act and the place of prayer,
at which point it can be properly internaliized. The following presentation was initially
designed to be used during the final minutes
of shaharit, but over the course of time
Jay Goldmintz
could last one minute or five, all depending
upon the time available and the mood of
the tzibbur. Mood, openness, sensitivities
are everything – and I refer to those of the
teacher as much as those of the students.
Polish synagogue art is largely untapped
resource for teaching about tefillah. While
the use of the visual arts to teach about
spirituality is somewhat unorthodox – the
prohibition against images in the Torah is
quite dramatic – the Orthodox shuls and
shtibels of earlier generations suggests a
The challenge to create meaning or, more correctly stated, to help students create their own meaning, is a
daunting one. The challenge is particularly great in light of the fact that our structured tefillah is so wordoriented while the essence of tefillah relates to matters of the heart.
own meaning, is a daunting one. The challlenge is particularly great in light of the fact
that our structured tefillah is so word-orieented while the essence of tefillah relates to
matters of the heart. It occurred to me that
visual aids may thus provide a useful bridge
between the two worlds. What follows is
one such example designed to challenge
students to create their own cues for more
meaningful tefillah. The presentation, which
the discussions moved to various points
throughout tefillah.
The chart below reflects aspects of the
presentation and their rationale. The stages
of the presentation do not necessarily reflect
the actual number of sessions. A slide could
be left on the screen for a few minutes or a
few days without any comment; a discussion
Jay Goldmintz is Headmaster of Ramaz Upper School in New York City where he initiated and
conducts the annual Senior Experience to Poland and Israel. He has written extensively on issues
related to formal and informal curriculum and, most recently, on religious development in adolescence.
more open approach to the use of visual
stimuli in the context of prayer. As Rav
Kook (Olat Re-Iyah, introduction to Shir
Hashirim) writes:
Literature, painting and sculpture stand ready
to bring to realization all the spiritual concepts
imprinted within the depth of the human soul.
And as long as one line well hidden in the soul’s
depth has not been realized, there is still an
obligation on the service of art to bring it forth.
Jay Goldmintz
Presentation
Rationale
At the end of tefillah or at the beginning,
this slide is shown of the ruins of the shul in
Rymanów (pronounced Ri-ma-nov), Poland.
The synagogue dates from the turn of the
17th or 18th century.
Students must be helped to find meaning
in tefillah while they are engaging in tefilllah, and not in some separate class about
tefillah. Associations made in tefillah are
much more likely to be recalled and drawn
upon when the person is in the synagogue
the next time.
As you look into the doorway of the structture, you can make out the remnants of
paintings and words on the walls. Think for
a moment about the decorations on your
synagogue’s walls. What do they look like?
Why are they there? Think about it for a
minute.
When introducing additional elements to
tefillah, it is important not to overdo it. A
“lesson” of a minute or two can be far more
powerful than a daily five minute speech,
which some see as simply another routine.
They will likely be more attentive when
they feel that their time and attention
span are being respected. Indeed, somett
times speaking less allows more room for
the heart to engage.
This is a painting on one of the walls. It
clearly depicts the Kotel. Why do you think
someone would paint this on the wall of a
synagogue?
Students need to be encouraged to come
up with their own interpretations and
meanings, and every effort should be made
to validate these. To the extent that tefillah
is “service of the heart” then every heart
must find its own meaning. I was amazed
by the variety and sensitivity of the studt
dents' associations with the photo.
Why do some people feel that tefillah is
“easier” at the Kotel? What does that mean?
The following slides highlight how central,
and universal, an image can become to
tefillah.
Presentation
Rationale
(A different view of the picture is projected
onto the wall and remains there throughout
tefillah.) I wonder if anyone came up with
any reasons we have not mentioned yet?
Does the different lighting or perspective of
this picture evoke different feelings for you?
Projecting the picture at the beginning
of tefillah means that it is now no longer
“just” a picture but a picture that has pott
tential meaning for tefillah and is worthy
of attention during tefillah.
When I stand near a wall in the synagogue
I will sometimes put my hand upon it and
imagine that I am touching the cool smooth
surface of the Kotel stones. I can feel
transported there, and my tefillah is affected
accordingly. Maybe that’s something you can
try another time.
It is valuable to get students to recall
places where they have had meaningful
tefillah. By doing so, we can help them tap
into their associations with that place or
moment and draw upon those recollectt
tions of feelings for use in the everyday
setting of tefillah.
Teachers need to share their own internal relligious and spiritual lives. It is unreasonable
to expect students to pick up the vocabulary
and spirit of religiosity without modeling.
Let’s assume for a moment that the painting
was done on the synagogue wall in order to
enhance people’s kavannah (intent). Why
would such a thing be necessary? After all,
aren’t people coming to the synagogue to
pray?
Praying with kavannah is not always easy
and we sometimes need help or inspiration.
Why do you think that is?
28 || JewishEducationalLeadership
Here we come to one of the key goals of
the exercise – to highlight that kavannah
during tefillah is, and always was, a challt
lenge. For our students to hear that adults
struggle with it can be liberating.
Jay Goldmintz
Presentation
Rationale
The people who prayed in Polish synagogues
in the 19th and early 20th century, as well
as the artists who painted these pictures,
had probably never been to Palestine. How
might this change the meaning of the
painting for the people who prayed in that
synagogue?
Associations with tefillah need not emerge
from of our own experience, but can also
emanate from abstract ideas with which
we identify or from part of our collective
consciousness.
Many shuls have pictures of the kotel. Do
you think that the different depictions
represent different ideas?
In addition to the painting of the Kotel,
there are other paintings on the walls of the
synagogue. These are part of a series that
go together. These paintings represent the
mishnah from Avot 5:20.
Yehudah ben Teimah says: ‘Be bold as a leopard,
light as an eagle, swift as a deer, and strong as a
lion to the will of your Father in heaven.’
Grappling with issues of tefillah through
the prism of a centuries-old synagogue
potentially binds the student to a past that
struggled with many of the same issues.
Each aspect of the mishnah can be analyzed.
Again, the students can interpret for themsselves why these particular animals and why
these particular attributes were chosen, so
that each student can come up with his or
her own personal association. And, again,
the analysis can be done piecemeal, covering
but one or two aspects a day or even once a
week.
This was a common motif in many Polish
synagogues. Why do you think that these
images were placed on the walls? What
purpose did they serve?
The teacher or the class as a whole may deccide which image to leave up on the screen
during subsequent days.
You may have noticed from one of the previoous photos that there is yet a third series of
paintings on the walls consisting entirely of
writing rather than pictures.
If you had to guess, what do you think they
might say?
Here we begin to get students to project
their own sense of what they think might
be appropriate. One can thereby gain
insight into what they are thinking about
tefillah or about their own perceived needs
for inspiration.
Presentation
Rationale
These consist entirely of quotations from
the Talmud or the Zohar on issues related
to tefillah. We’ll look at only one or two of
them.
Here we make a transition from pictures
to words, but those words themselves
are painted on the walls and thus form a
religious-aesthetic function as well. (Indeed,
the earliest forms of synagogue art in Eurrope seem to have been calligraphied prayers
and sayings more than pictures or symbols.)
As you look at them, consider:
Why were these particular sayings chosen by
the artist? What needs or emotions was he
trying to address? Have you ever felt these
same feelings?
Were they intended to be read before tefillah
began? During tefillah? Can you imagine
that they might have been a distraction
rather than an inspiration?
Talmud Bavli Brakhot 6a
It was taught: Abba Binyamin said: A person’s
prayer is not heard except in a synagogue as it
says (Melakhim I 8:28) ‘to hearken to the song and
to the prayer;’ The prayer is to be recited where
there is song.
Rabin bar Rav Adda said in the name of R.
Yitzchak: ‘How do you know that the Holy One,
blessed be He, is to be found in the synagogue?
For it is said: (Tehillim 82:1) ‘G-d stands in the
congregation of G-d.’ And how do you know that
if ten people pray together, the Divine Presence
is with them? For it is said: (ibid.) ‘In the midst
of the judges, He judges.”
Talmud Bavli Brakhot 8a
R. Levi said: Whoever has a synagogue in his
town and does not go there in order to pray,
is called an evil neighbor. As it says: (Yirmiyahu
12:14) ‘Thus says the Lord: as for all My evil
neighbors who touch the inheritance which I
have caused My people Israel to inherit.’ And
more than that, he brings exile upon himself
and his children, as it says (ibid.) ‘Behold, I will
pluck them up from off their land and will pluck
up the house of Yehudah from among them.”
Just as with the pictures, students may
explore what these sayings of Hazal were
intended to convey to the worshiper trying
to pray.
The pictures may be left on the screen
every day throughout tefillah so that studt
dents may begin to reflect upon them and
perhaps even to internalize their messages.
Alternatively, they may all be reproduced
and distributed in a size that fits into the
student’s siddur, or posted on the walls
around the synagogue prayer room.
From here it is but a short step to asking
students to supply their own photographs
or sayings that may be posted on the walls
or projected onto the screen. Different indivviduals may be invited to submit personal
contributions, and after public display for
a day or two (giving the other students the
opportunity to contemplate it), the student
may explain why it is so meaningful to
them.
One could imagine a class/school project
in which students undertake to paint the
walls with their own pictures or sayings
that are designed to enhance the tefillah
of the community. Such a project could
involve meaningful deliberation about
tefillah and kavannah, and could involve a
variety of students with different interests
and talents, thereby engaging the entire
community. In the end, the students
themselves will have constructed their own
place of worship, a place where they themst
selves have created meaning and will have
thus come one step closer to appreciating
the art of tefillah.
Silence For Renewal:
The Power of
Yoga and breathing exercises
can be used to bring about
an awareness of Jewish
spirituality.
Silence
in a world that is so fast paced that when
we slow down, we almost metaphorically
topple over. What a true sign of imbalance!
What would it be like if our lives weren’t so
frenetic and we took time out of our busy
days to just slow down? What would the
classroom look like with periods of silence?
In the Classroom
Nancy Siegel
It is only with the heart that one sees rightly.
That which is essential is invisible to the eye.
-Antoine de St. Exupery
What does silence in the classroom look
like? What are the benefits? Can teachers
use silence to increase spirituality in the
classroom? How can silence be used for
renewal? And most importantly why?
This paper will address these very rich and
intriguing questions. Through a philosophiccal examination of silence as well as through
self-reflective exercises, it is hoped that this
will speak directly to the reader’s heart and
spirit. However, questions can sometimes be
Sometimes, we just need to stop before we
can continue. Stop and listen to the silence. At first, the silence can be deafening. But,
if we continue to take the ‘passive’ action, if
you will, of sitting quietly, the chatter in our
brain can slow down, and if we do it long
enough we might even be able to watch it
go away.
more profound than any proposed answers.
How can a topic that needs to be experieenced be discussed in words? How can you
give verbal expression to a non-verbal experrience? What follows is a humble approach
to address the power of silence, in general,
and in the classroom in particular.
The gifts of silence touch the cognitive,
psychological, physiological and spiritual dimmensions of our lives. But, silence and stillnness are very foreign to our culture. We live
If you look at a muddy pond, and you stare
long enough, the mud will settle on the botttom of the pond and the water will appear
clear. It is the same with our thoughts. If
we can find the courage to sit quietly with
gently closed eyes, giving ourselves the
permission to leave the outer world and
enter our inner one, our thoughts will settle
and our minds will become clear. It is in
this stillness and solitude that the potential
harmony of the heart and mind reside.
Why is it that we have to give ourselves
permission to be silent? It is as if our cultture tells us that if we aren’t making noise,
verbally or otherwise, we are not being
productive, the yardstick for success. It is
through listening to the silence that resides
deep within the heart that we can hear and
find our own voice, our true essence.
Nancy Siegel is the Director of the Nesheemah Yoga Center. A former early childhood educator, she
currently trains Jewish day school educators to develop their teaching presence, helping them reignite
the joy of learning in themselves as well as in their students.
Application: The Power of Silence in the Classroom
In my yoga-inspired work with children,
it has become very clear to me that we are
born with the desire deep in our hearts to be
heard. In order for that to occur, we need to
first find our inner voice, our true essence.
Then we need to know that our voice will be
listened to with complete and honest openhearted respect.
In Tanakh, there are many references to
the heart. The one that holds a special
significance for me is in Bereshit 24:45,
when Eliezer, Avraham’s faithful servant,
is recounting his first meeting with Rivkah,
Yitzhak’s future bride. He says that he had
not yet finished meditating (translation
from The Stone Chumash) when he saw her.
In Hebrew the wording is ledabar el libi literaally translated as, “to speak to my heart”. It
doesn’t say he was speaking to himself, but
to his heart. Speaking, or more appropriaately, listening to what our heart is telling
us, is crucial in our daily lives. Because, if
we can truly sit quietly and listen, there is so
much to hear.
The ancient art and science of yoga offers us
a system of using the breath, neshimah, in
Hebrew, to help us find stillness and silence.
The breath is the vehicle into the inner
world. It is the bridge between the body
and the mind, the gateway to the soul. It is
through the breath that we enter our inner
world, and in turn have the opportunity to
quiet our thoughts so we can listen to our
heart.
In Hebrew neshimah, (breath), and
neshamah, (soul), have the same shoresh,
(root). It says in Bereshit 2:7, “And Hashem
God formed the man of dust from the
ground, and He blew into his nostrils the
soul (neshamah) of life, and man became
a living being.” Rabbi Abraham Twerski,
MD, in his book Twerski on Spirituality says,
“Judaism teaches that spiritual drives are an
expression of the neshamah (soul)... and the
Zohar points out that when one exhales, he
exhales something from within himself.
Thus, God breathing a breath of life into
man means that He put something of
Himself into man, and the human spirit is
therefore a ‘part’, as it were, of God Himsself.” So this means that our soul is the
breath of Hashem. What does that mean
about our own breath? An example of a
question being more profound than any
proposed answer.
(Editor’s Note: Throughout this article, four
exercises will be suggested to help the reader
experience the silence more deeply, and/or to
share this experience with faculty and studdents. The exercises themselves can be found
on our website at www.lookstein.org/journnal.htm along with guidelines for implementtation. Following each exercise title within the
article below are deeper explanations of that
particular exercise along with Torah and other
sources on the value of developing silence for
both teachers and students. )
Exercise 1: The Journey Inward
What happens when we first sit in stillness?
The “monkey chatter” begins in the brain.
As my 6 year old friend Matan says, “It is
hard for me. First, I get one thought, then
another thought, then another thought and
then another thought and I just don’t know
which one to listen to.” We are all so busy
rushing about doing the next thing that
when we try to stop for a moment and sit in
stillness, our thoughts continue to race. We
find it very difficult to find this inner sense
of quiet. We want to be anywhere but here,
right where we are. All of a sudden, we forggot to turn off the oven, or we are overcome
with the irresistible urge to mow the lawn,
something we have never done before, or
even considered doing before.
This type of silence is more a quietness of
the heart, rather than the absence of sound.
There is a stillness that resides deep in the
heart that The Lubavitcher Rebbe called “a
Quiet Heart.” He said, “The human heart is
beautiful. The human heart can know seccrets deeper than any mind could know. The
mind cannot contain God, but deep inside
the heart there is a place that can... Let the
heart be quiet and hear out the mind. In
that quiet listening, she will discover her
true beauty and her deepest secrets will
awaken.”
To enter this quietness means to relax
into it, no matter what the distractions are
around you. In other words it means to
approach it with “effortless effort”, as the
world renowned yoga instructor Baron Bapttiste says. It is a journey into the quiet to
find that place of solitude and balance. It is
the place where it is clear that God is closer
to us than our own breath.
There is a transformative power, a renewal
that occurs after periods of focused silence.
As with the muddy pond, when the mud
settles and the water is clear, so too, after
periods of silence, the thoughts settle and
the mind can become clear. Quiet reflection
can be very self-nurturing and is accessible
to us at any time. This might sound very
New Age, but as we see with Eliezer, this
practice is quite Old Age.
Silence in the classroom has to start with
the teacher. It is only when the teacher
has had her own self-reflective experience
with silence, that she can in turn facilitate
experiences of silence and stillness for her
students. The teacher’s role of providiing a calming presence in a safe nurturing
environment can be supported by offering
moments of silence in the classroom.
Exercise 2: Silence at the Desk
After doing this exercise with a group of 10
year olds, we discussed why we place our
hands on our hearts to listen in. One girl
said, “Because we relax from our hearts.”
What would happen in a classroom of noisy
and loud students if the teacher offered
the permission to be silent? To relax from
their hearts? What would it look like if she
guided her students inward? Inviting them
to gently close their eyes, to slowly drop
inside and just listen. Listen to the sounds
in the room. Listen to their own heartbeats.
Listen to silence.
When the teacher understands the power
of silence, because of her own personal
Nancy Siegel
heard very loudly and clearly if the students
can only attune to it. Through silence, an
awakened deeper awareness can develop.
It is a place beyond words. It represents
recognition of the depth in us that needs no
words, the place that represents spirituality.
We have seen that there are many benefits
in using silence in the classroom and they all
speak right to the heart. It is a simple tool,
yet is very challenging. Used for self-reflecttion and awareness, silence offers an oppportunity to develop a strong understanding
of self.
experience with it, she can create a safe
environment where silence is a welcomed
break from the frenetic and hectic school
day. If the teacher can find her way into her
own heart, she can be present to help her
students do the same and help them find
their own way inward. Isn’t this the essence
of spirituality, finding your way into your
own heart, and discovering the place inside
you where God resides?
The Lubavitcher Rebbe, when reflecting on
spirituality, said, “X is an enlightened being.
He spends his life in the wilderness far from
humanity, focusing his mind on the higher
realms. Harriet Goldberg is a schoolteacher.
She spends her life cultivating small minds,
hoping to give them a sense of wonder for
the world they live in. Who is closer to God?
If the world came from God as light comes
from the sun, spontaneously, but with no
real interest, then X is closer. If God created
a world deliberately, because that is what He
desires and cares for, then Harriet is closer.”
Exercise 3: Magic Carpet Ride
Psychiatrist Anthony Storr, in his Solitude:
A Return to the Self, found that “learning,
thinking, innovation and maintaining
contact with one’s own inner world are all
facilitated by solitude.” Richard Mahler in
his brilliant book Stillness, refers to silence
and solitude as “creative allies” that we can
“enlist in a personal campaign to create
simpler, more balanced, less frenetic lives”.
He says if we slow down, and “help the
distracting exterior clamor to subside” we
will be able to really see, hear and even
feel what is going on inside us, within our
hearts. Mahler says, “Getting away from it
all helps us get close to it all. We are likely
to be more at peace with ourselves when we
occasionally stop to sit quietly and attenttively.” Mahler calls this, “the undefined
interior space.”
Exercise 4: Rainbow Journey
After 9 year old Devorah went on a Rainbbow Journey she said, “ I am going to try
this at night to help me fall asleep. I will
take myself to the rainbow. I will look at all
the colors, but I won’t have thoughts about
the journey and the colors, I will just have
the feelings that I get from the colors.”
Devorah and I are working on her problems
with anxiety during the day, and we are
looking for ways to help her sleep better at
night. From her comment, you can see that
she understands how the silence of her rainbbow journey can give her the opportunity to
tune in to her feelings and help her relax.
While being silent, teachers have the ability
to offer a certain presence, which can be
As each self-aware student comes together
with other self-aware students, a sense of
community develops. This coming together
of the hearts creates an experience for
spiritual awakening and offers an opportunnity for deep and profound renewal. When
we allow ourselves to go into our own inner
world, we find who we really are.
Give yourself the gift of silence and listen to
who you really are. But remember, it is only
when the mud settles in the pond that the
water is clear. Who and what we experience
after the stillness and silence is the true
guide.
These exercises offer a very powerful way
to get in touch with your inner world. They
can take just a few minutes, not less than
two, or this can be the beginning of a much
deeper and longer experience in guided imaagery. Notice how you feel when you finish
the exercise. You might want to write down
or draw a picture of what you are experienciing. What are your thoughts? What are
your feelings? Are you more relaxed? More
anxious? Frustrated? Do you feel exhilarateed? Sad? Inspired? Check in with what is
going on for you right now. As you honestly
scan your thoughts and feelings, imagine
being with others right now. Who are you
to them right now? If you are a teacher who
is the teacher who is showing up? Do you
recognize that teacher? Has your perspecttive changed at all? Listen carefully to what
comes up for you. That is the true guide!
Applications: Feeling at Home in their Own Skins
Feeling at home
in their own skins
and with each other
How is Friday different from all other days?
On all other days my seventh graders stroll
into my room, but on Fridays, there is a
headlong rush. On all other days, we begin
the day with a warm up activity and move
on, but on Fridays we do PassageWays.
“Mrs. F., can we do the sock game first
today?
This request is met with a chorus of ”No, we
need a council meeting in a circle. We have
things to talk about.”
We compromise and do both activities. The
bag of socks comes out and we do a little
warm-up. Names are called. Socks and
stuffed objects are tossed. Eye contact is
made as the children focus on one another.
After a few minutes, we stop and the
children sit in a circle. Out comes Pedro the
Penguin. Pedro is our talking piece in this
particular class. No one may speak unless
they are holding him. Each of my classes
has its own rituals, and they may vary from
council to council.
Taking a Hershey Kiss, Myra dedicates our
council to friendship and our first topic is
‘What causes us stress’. This is a daily probl-
Arlene Fishbein has taught seventh grade English at The Samuel Scheck Hillel Community Day School
in North Miami Beach, Florida for the past seven years, before which she taught at RASG Hebrew
Academy in Miami and SAR in New York. She agreed to try PassageWays this year in order to provide
students with a tool for transitioning effectively into middle school.
How PassageWays is
working to help middle
school students grow in
Miami
By Arlene Fishbein
lem in middle school, and something very
much on their minds. Council helps us sort
it out in our group. Holding Pedro, I share
my own stressful times. I am met with nods
from some of the children. Moving around
the circle, some of the children pass, while
others share their personal stories.
Changing friendships, school, and everydday challenges are all shared. The tone is
very serious, and when we finish the first
round, Lee, who had passed, now wants
to be heard. She shares her tale. Chloe
acknowledges her bravery in expressing her
thoughts, and shares a similar experience.
We debrief and share a moment of sitting
in silence. I take a moment to reflect on the
changes in the climate of my class, thinking
back on how this began for me.
*
*
*
Arlene Fishbein
It is June. School is over and the lassitude
of summer has descended upon me. The
echo of my classroom still rings in my
ear and next year's lesson plans are still a
distant thought. So it is with mixed emottions that I find myself in Boulder, Colorado
attending a seminar. I am here with three
colleagues to attend the summer session
of PassageWays, a program developed by
Rachael Kessler with the idea that the
emotional and spiritual well being of a
child are important aspects of learning. When children feel safe and comfortable in
their environment, academic achievement
is enhanced. Kessler’s book, The Soul of
Education: Helping Students Find Connection,
Compassion and Character at School (ASCD
2000) gives teachers tools for working safely
with the inner life – that essential aspect of
human nature that yearns for deep connecttion, grapples with difficult questions about
meaning and seeks a sense of purpose and
genuine self-expression.
I must admit that a bit of skepticism acccompanies me into the room that first night. By nature, I am an outgoing person, but
when confronted with sixteen strangers and
three friends all embarking on a spiritual
journey, I am a bit daunted. The lulling
voices of our coordinators, Ron, Chuck and
Batya, quickly draw me into the circle where
we are asked to share our reasons for attendiing the seminar.
Ron has been through the program already
and wants a deeper connection with his studdents. Phyllis wants to infuse more meaning
into her curriculum, whereas I want to find
more tools to reach my students and help
them have new learning experiences.
Outside the windows, the mountains seem
to touch the sky, and as the sun sets in the
horizon I feel as if I am in a place that is
truly touched by God. There is no doubt
that this setting opens the curtain for three
enlightening, enriching days. I become an
active participant in games and circles, and
a new world opens for me, and thus, for
my students. We unmask ourselves as the
days fly by, and I leave as a true "believer".
As we participate in Pack Your Past, a game
in which we each share our own memory
and then assume ownership and capture
the essence of the memories of two of
the other participants, my memory of my
grandparent’s yard comes alive through the
voices of others. Hearing it retold, and retelliing others’ vignettes, enhances our ability to
identify with and relate to each other and I
soon find myself building a strong relationsship with this group of twenty people.
We were strangers three days ago, and now
we have a unique bond. The idea of establ-
Summer passes all too quickly, and when
August rolls around I am again confronted
with the daily chores of teaching. The sense
of self and challenge that I took with me
from Boulder now need to be translated to
my classroom. Can I evoke the emotions
and connections we felt as adults back here
in an environment where hormones and
sensitivities rise and fall like the waves in
the ocean? Will I be able to meet the challlenges of a vigorous curriculum and have
the time to spend on PassageWays? The
PassageWays differs from other programs that I have attended in that it
goes beyond the typical issues that we address in middle school. Along
with fitting in, the changing bodies of teens, stress, communication, and
friendship, is the added component of “the soul”.
lishing this type of connection in my classes
excites me. I almost wish that I could walk
back into my class and try out some of these
new ideas.
PassageWays differs from other programs
that I have attended in that it goes beyond
the typical issues that we address in middle
school. Along with fitting in, the changing
bodies of teens, stress, communication,
and friendship, is the added component of
“the soul”. Although my school is a place
where Torah values are strong, and indeed
addressed daily in our curriculum, there is
often a void where I wish that hearts and
minds could make connections and be
moved at a deeper level and. I am hopefful this course will help me fill that void. Rachael Kessler, the author of The Soul of
Education, and the founder of the course,
believes that “who we are and the kind of
environment we create in the classroom are
just as important as our technical teachiing skills.” Within each and every class is
the need for presence. This means that as
a teacher I have to be conscious of my own
feelings and thoughts, and present an opennness that my students can model. Hopeffully, I will set an example, and the environmment of my room will change as the children
become more open and sharing as well.
*
*
*
mission, I feel, is a formidable one.
Thankfully, I have a curriculum to work enttering the culture of middle school and thus
I am able to plan the sessions. We begin
with Community Building. The Sock Game
and People Bingo are our first activities.
Laughter fills the air. As the games progress
there is an obvious change. There is conccentration on the part of all the children.
Instead of working as separate units, we are
working as one unit.
Our purpose is to follow a pattern, maintain
eye contact, keep the various objects moviing, and keep an eye on our surroundings.
It is not an easy task. The activity is met
with excitement and anticipation. The
children are able to keep an eye on what is
going on around them, and are aware of the
necessity of timing.
Clearly, the skills we are developing far
surpass just having fun, yet word quickly
passes and I see noses pasted against my
windows. By the time my next five classes
enter, they are eager and ready to begin. I
repeat this activity in each of my six classes.
Another week finds us sitting in a circle and
practicing Ah So Ku.
This is a series of hand movements which
requires intense concentration on one’s
Applications: Feeling at Home in their Own Skins
self as well as on the others in the circle.
When the wrong action is performed, the
child leaves the circle to become the heckler,
challenging those remaining to focus with
laser-like attention. The game moves quickly
and finally a winner is proclaimed. Afterwwards, we debrief. Rather than tell them the
purpose of the activities, I choose to elicit
their ideas.
Thus, PassageWays becomes part of our
weekly routine. As time passes, we grew
more at ease with one another and with the
activities, and the focus begins to shift to a
more profound and personal level.
As the weeks progress, so do the activities
in the curriculum. We move into dyads and
circles, and the topics become deeper. They
reflect the children’s greatest hopes and
thing you like about yourself and something
that you dislike about yourself. When we
had done this in dyads at the beginning of
the program, the responses ranged from, “I
really like my hair,” or “I like my best friend.”
The typical response to what they disliked
was homework or peanut butter.
Three months later when we sit in a council,
the responses are totally different. One boy
“PassageWays is a way for me to connect to my classmates as well as to my own thoughts. It is a strong bond
being built on a thin sliver of silver string. As the students in my class base their trust upon it, it keeps growing
stronger.”
- quote from a student speaking to parents about why PassageWays is an important part of school to her.
Responses range from, “It was okay to mess
up, and then fix it” to “ we had to really
work as a team” and “this was a lot of fun.
It teaches us to concentrate when there are
other things going on.”
fears. As we debrief, students frequently
note that we all share the same things.
Students talk to people that they may not
usually talk to, and a level of trust has been
established.
Following this activity we move into a PasssageWays “deep listening” practice called
“line-up” where students get to speak one
on one to several different partners. The
students form two lines and take turns
talking. It is different from regular dialogue
in that as one student speaks, the other
listens. There are no comments and no
interruptions. A time limit is set, and after
the time is up, the second student begins to
speak. We begin with simple topics like our
summer vacation, and our favorite room in
our house. There is some awkward giggling,
but after a little practice I notice more eye
contact, and nods and smiles. When we
debrief we talk about our reactions.
The proof of change is visible after the first
three months. In circles we talk about the
power of our words. We follow this up by
creating personal heart cut outs. Each child
has to write something positive in the heart
of all of his/her fellow classmates. When
we regroup, the discussion arises about how
much more difficult it is to say something
nice. How put downs are so much easier
and make us less vulnerable. This is an
enormous “eye-opener”, and as a group we
realize it is a large break through.
“It is hard to look someone in the eye,”
Faith exclaims. “It makes me laugh.” While
eye contact is not required for this activity,
many students experiment with it while
they practice deep listening.
“I learned things about Andrew that I
never knew, and I am his best friend,” said
Shmueli.
“Are we going to keep doing these things?”
asked Henry.
Danny said, “ When I say something nice
I am afraid that
people will laugh.
In this group I
know that I can be
more of myself.
I am safe, and
nobody makes fun
of what I say.”
This growth is also
seen in month
three when we
come back to one of
our earlier topics:
describing somet-
shares that he really dislikes the fact that it
is so hard for him to focus and concentrate
in class. Another young man dislikes his
smart alecky remarks, but says that he cannnot keep them in. One girl likes her artistic
abilities, whereas another likes the fact that
she can keep her friends’ secrets.
I feel we have made huge progress with
one another. Sharing like this shows
trust in one another. There is a chance to
acknowledge one another’s remarks, and as
we end the circle, one of the children turns
to another and says, “You know you have
always been my good friend, but I learned
new things about you. I hope I can be a bettter friend now.” The bell rings and off they
go. While I am careful as their teacher not
to encourage them to expect or promise conffidentiality, I see my students just naturally
Arlene Fishbein
Seven Gateways to the
Soul of Education
1. The yearning for deep connection describes a quality of relationship that is proffoundly caring, is resonant with meaning, and involves feelings of belonging, or of
being truly seen and known. Students may experience deep connection to themsselves, to others, to nature, or to a higher power.
2. The longing for silence and solitude, often an ambivalent domain, is fraught with
both fear and urgent need. As a respite from the tyranny of “busyness” and noise,
silence may be a realm of reflection, of calm or fertile chaos, an avenue of stillness
and rest for some, prayer or contemplation for others.
3. The search for meaning and purpose concerns the exploration of big questions,
such as “Why am I here?” “Does my life have a purpose? How do I find out what it
is?” “What is life for?” “What is my destiny?” “What does my future hold?” and “Is
there a God?”
4. The hunger of joy and delight can be satisfied through experiences of great
simplicity, such as play, celebration, or gratitude. It also describes the exaltation
students feel when encountering beauty, power, grace, brilliance, love or the sheer
joy of being alive.
5. The creative drive, perhaps the most familiar domain for nourishing the spirit
in school, is part of all the gateways. Whether developing a new idea, a work of
art, a scientific discovery, or an entirely new lens on life, students feel the awe and
mystery of creating.
6. The urge for transcendence describes the desire for young people to go beyond
their perceived limits. It includes not only the mystical realm, but experiences of the
extraordinary in the arts, athletics, academics, or human relations. By naming and
honoring this universal human need, educators can help students constructively
channel this powerful urge.
7. The need for initiation deals with rites of passage for the young – guiding adolesccence to become more conscious about the irrevocable transition from childhood to
adulthood. Adults can give young people tools for dealing with all of life's transittions and farewells. Meeting this need for initiation often involves ceremonies with
parents and faculty that welcome them into the community of adults.
www.passageways.org
keep in the circle what has been said in the
circle.
I teach Language Arts, and the program
enhances my curriculum. The essential undderstanding that I want my children to have
is that literature connects us to our world, to
others and to ourselves. However, how can
I expect children to connect to characters
before they connect to themselves? PasssageWays is yet another tool of connection.
There are times when I adapt the activities
to the literature we are reading. We packed
three memories of Young Ju from A Step
from Heaven by Anna. In dyads in one class
and in a circle in another we shared the
impact of those memories on her life. We
created Coats of Arms with themes like
where I see myself now and in the future,
identity, my family and me, values, interests,
for characters we read about and then
compared them to our own. These types of
exercises help us see how literature imitates
life. Interacting with one another helps us
interact with our curriculum.
As for myself, I am changing as well.
Though my classroom environment has
always nurtured a certain comfort for
students, I am now in the process of making
that final leap from “teacher” to “human”
or “person”. I am still the adult, the person
in charge, yet I find myself connecting with
more of my students than ever before. In
past years, I would say that 20% of my
students would bond with me and could be
found in my room during lunch, breaks and
at “problem times”. This has changed and is
continuing to evolve as the year goes on and
the students continue to grow closer to me
and to one another.
This year as I sit in the Councils with each of
my classes, I too have to be “present”. I am
able to see my children in a different light.
They reveal themselves to me and give me
glimpses into their souls, and I allow them
to look back into mine. I become more humman in their eyes, and therefore am building
stronger bonds with a larger percentage of
my students.
There are my own frustrations though. Duriing the time that I devote to the program,
we are one unit. The children are very prottective of one another, and the caring that
is displayed is palpable. However, at other
times, I feel it just is not translating to the
times when the children are not in my class.
Patience is not always my virtue, and I have
to take a step back and acknowledge the
fact that even if the children feel safe and
accepted for one hour each week that affects
their lives in a positive way. Sometimes a
small touch makes a difference. As teachers
we never know when the moment happens.
Hopefully this program paves the way for
many “happening moments.” During the
second semester of the program, I will be
receiving coaching from the PassageWays
staff to help me facilitate greater carryover of lessons learned
in the circle to the rest of the school day.
As with any program, it is the evaluation of the children
that is most meaningful. To them, PassageWays is now an
important component of middle school. Brad relates, “I find
PassageWays very helpful to me. After a whole stressful week
of doing homework and studying, I can finally relax and disccuss my problems. I feel that as a class we can communicate
and there isn’t a feeling of being embarrassed.”
Bracha adds that it is a way for others to know how she feels
about something. “I feel more comfortable with my classmmates and I am becoming closer with my friends.”
PassageWays can be very important for someone who is shy
because he/she can learn to share and not feel self conscious.
Sivan, who is new to the school, expresses that is fun at times
and everyone can say what he/she feels. “It’s like the circle of
trust,“ he says.
Sheryl feels it is a time to reflect on difficulties we see
everyday. She feels that it helps us watch what we say to
other people because it can really affect them. “PassageWays
is a time to trust people and learn to be comfortable with
one another,” she shares. She is concerned that some people
do not take it seriously. Avigail talks about the time she
had to interview her mother, and as they sat and spoke, the
interview questions were put aside as the two spent the night
talking about their own dreams and hopes. It brought her
closer to her mom. The commonality is always trust, bonding,
listening, expressing, and talking to kids that you normally
would not speak to.
I truly did not realize the impact of PassageWays until Open
School Night, on December 5th. Student guides were herding
groups of parents through our classes and when I finished
discussing my curriculum, I turned to one of them and asked
if there was anything that I left out. She quickly replied, “PasssageWays” and then began describing it to the parents.
She expressed, “It is a way for me to connect to my classmates
as well as to my own thoughts. It is a strong bond being
built on a thin sliver of silver string,” she continued. “As the
students in my class base their
trust upon it, it keeps growing
stronger.”
Last Friday I knew that I was not
going to be in school. One of my
classes asked if they could do the
program without me. They found
something that could be carried
out that did not need a group
leader, and upon my return they
reminded me that we needed to
share and debrief. Perhaps this
is the best part of the program.
The ownership is no longer mine.
It belongs to all of us.
Helping Students Launch Their By Devorah Katz
Spiritual Journeys
• Name three spiritual foods. What makes
them spiritual for you?
A Practical Program for Spiritual
Exploration
Spirituality. Where to find it; how to attain
it; how to define it? Nobody can make
anyone else spiritual, nor can anyone define
for another what spirituality is. Perhaps
because it is so personal, and so related to
experiences which are individualized, any
educational program to address it must
place the students at the center, allowing
their own innate sense of spirituality as they
define it to emerge.
Toward that end I propose a program
designed to help students launch and
navigate their own spiritual journeys. It is
appropriate for day schools or supplementtary schools, and can be adapted to work
with elementary or high school students.
Participation in the program should help
open the students to thinking about their
world through a spiritual lens, without guilt
and without preaching.
The program is intended to be implemented
over an extended period, up to a year, with a
time commitment of one hour each week. In
the introductory session, the class brainsstorms together on a working definition
of spirituality by no means an easy task.
Once some ideas have been suggested, it
is up to each student to create his/her own
definition of what spirituality is to them.
Each student receives a journal, and the first
assignment is for each student to arrive at
their own definition of spirituality.
After the initial class, on a fixed day of the
week (perhaps at the beginning or each
week or maybe as a preShabbat activity),
a question is posted on the board. The
question focuses the spiritual quest for that
week, as students are asked to consider the
question and log entries in their journals
of their thoughts about the question. The
questions posed depend very much on the
student population including essential
factors such as age and religious orientation
of the school. At the conclusion of the week,
the class meets and the students share their
journals and thoughts. At the end of the
discussion, teachers can choose to review
the student journals.
On a weekly basis, students are challlenged to look into themselves to see what
moves them and affects them. As the year
progresses, students learn to view their
worlds using “spiritual eyes”, and their
journals become records of their spiritual
journeys. Unlike much of what they learn
in the classrooms, these journals are highly
subjective and personal, and there are no
“right” or “wrong” responses as the teacher
encourages independent thought, reflection
and introspection.
Sample questions
The following is sampling of the kinds of
questions that can be used as the weekly
triggers. This sampling can be modified
and adapted for the variety of schools and
student populations.
• Is there a physical activity of sport that
makes you feel spiritual?
• Are emotions spiritual? When you cry is it
spiritual?
• Identify a mechanical device that has
brought you close to spirituality.
• Do you know anyone (outside of yourself)
who had a lifechanging moment?
• Is there a place on earth where you think
it would be easier to feel spiritual? What is
special about that place?
• Which tefillah affects you the most inside?
• Where is your ideal place to pray?
• Can you only be spiritual when you are on
your own?
• Can you only be spiritual in a group?
• Are you inspired by playing a musical
instrument or listening to a specific piece of
music?
• Have you been deeply moved by a passage
from Tanakh?
• Find something on Tuesday night which
makes it spiritual.
• Who has the greater facility for spiritual
progress man/woman, elderly/youth, teenaager/middle aged, sick/healthy?
• What season makes you feel most spirittual?
• What mitzvah causes the greatest spiritual
reaction in you?
• What cartoon character most represents
spiritual values?
• Where is your soul?
• Can you achieve religious heights without
doing mitzvot?
• What is the most spiritually uplifting hag
(Jewish holiday)?
• Describe a moment which changed your
life.
• Is tefillah a spiritual experience? What
would you change to make it one?
• Where is the most spiritual place in
nature?
• Have you read a book or seen a movie
which touched your neshamah?
• Which is more spiritual, daytime or nightttime?
• What is the most spiritually inspiring
building in the world?
• Is there a work of art or artist who affects
you spiritually?
• Which is more spiritual for you, a sunny
day or a thunderstorm?
Devorah Katz received her BA from York University and her MSW from Wurzweiler. She is on faculty at Young Judaea’ s Year Course, and has written
curriculum for the Lookstein Center, Camp Moshava and Babaganewz. Her four young children ensure that her house is often precariously balanced between
the spiritual and the spirited.
Applications: Tefillah Motivation through Relationship Building
Tefillah Motivation through
Relationship Building and Role Modeling:
One Rabbi’s Approach
Moshe Drelich
I was raised in an observant home. I atttended yeshiva from grade 1 through 12.
Yet, I was 18 before I prayed every word of
Shaharit for the very first time
How could it be that I had to wait until I was
18 and studying in Israel to experience and
engage in meaningful tefillah? I think my
experience is not unique and is probably the
rule more than the exception among many
children. I offer my reflections to help frame
the challenge and suggest some successful
strategies to help transform tefillah into a
positive, inspiring spiritual experience.
How do we make davening meaningful to
our students? How can we help them take
ownership of it? In what manner, shape or
form do we, as role models, demonstrate
“our” attitude and approach to tefillah?
What is tefillah and how can we give our
students the ability to make it a personal
time of meaningful spiritual growth and
connection to God? I have no doubt that
teachers and administrators regularly
struggle with this question, and can all share
their stories of frustration.
I have the responsibility of overseeing and
running a 7th grade minyan. I see my role as
a conductor of a large orchestra, made up of
many individual musicians with their own
unique style of playing many diverse instrumments. Following the musical notes takes
great coordination and discipline of focus.
The job of the conductor is to get the best
from his musicians and lead the orchestra in
the program to create a beautiful symphony
of sound and emotion. When we run a
minyan, as ‘conductors’, we try to create a
beautiful symphony of words.
The first challenge we must face is our atttitude towards the placement of tefillah in
the school day. Where does it fit in? What is
its function vis-à-vis our students and the
If a teacher perceives leading children in
tefillah as a chore, it will be impossible for
the teacher to convey the joy and warmth
of davening to his/ her students. I often
speak of the “mirror effect.” If the teacher
demonstrates a sincere desire to connect to
God, the students may try to imitate you
and channel their energies towards this goal
as well.
school day? I'd like to illustrate this point
through a personal experience during a
tefillah workshop I was giving for Jewish day
school teachers.
Partnering and mirroring with studt
dents
Almost all of the twenty participants in the
workshop identified tefillah as their least
favorite part of their school day. One teacher
commented that supervising davening was
as enjoyable as covering lunch duty! This
Rabbi Moshe Drelich is the Associate Principal for the Junior High School at SAR Academy in
Riverdale, NY. He has two decades of experience conducting tefillah services for youth, and is pursuing
a doctorate in education at the Azrieli Graduate School.
truthful revelation is at the root of the basic
dilemma. Davening is meant to transform
and elevate us. Davening is rich with the
basic Jewish fundamentals of faith – trust
in God, love of God, love of Israel, integrity,
honesty, etc. These concepts are supposed to
penetrate our consciousness during tefillah.
If we relate to davening time as something
we need to hurry through, like lunch duty,
then this is will be the message we convey to
our students. If at the conclusion of daveniing the teacher did not feel “elevated,” then
both teacher and students probably have
missed the spiritual experience of tefillah.
Honesty is a crucial element if teachers are
to inspire and motivate their students. Once
the students are settled in their seats, usuallly before the beginning of pesukei dezimra, I
will often share my personal “inner” feelings
with them, whether I am struggling with my
own davening and asking God for help, or
whether I am feeling energized and grateful
and desire to express it during tefillah. It's
important that teachers not be afraid to
share their personal spiritual struggles with
students. Many students welcome it and
often relate it to their feelings of spiritual
striving as well. Children, like adults, are
spiritual beings. We have to partner with
our students and introduce and acquaint
them with their spiritual voice.
Moshe Dreilich
One useful exercise I use is to give students
two minutes of quiet time to reflect about
something in their life they would like to
either change or improve. After that I tell
them to focus on it and to ask for God's
guidance and partnership. This brief spirittual reflective moment can sometimes set
the correct tone for the rest of tefillah.
Discipline and talking
always be treated with respect. In my many
years of leading tefillah I have found that
punishing or berating students has never
been an effective method of cultivating a
love for tefillah. There are calm and polite
ways to encourage students to focus on tefilllah Sometimes all that is necessary to help a
talking student focus on tefillah is placing a
finger on closed lips or a fix your eyes on the
student until they stop.
I am often asked about control and discippline during tefillah. Again, I am a strong
believer in partnering with the student.
We need to balance between setting clear
expectations of them as young Jewish adol-
Teachers need not be afraid to say “the only
talking during tefillah should be between
you and God.” I explain to students that
talking to their friends during davening is
a selfish act because it hinders others from
synagogues, many of those very synagogues
are far from the models we would want our
students to emulate. They find that tefillah
meaningless, and project it to tefillah in
general. I recall a letter I received at the end
of the year from a student. She writes:
I always have admired how you never gave up
on a single 7th grader, even when they talked.
Because of this, you have helped so many people
to daven on higher level.
Too many teachers become frustrated when
they do not see the results of their efforts in
the tefillah groups they lead. My experience
has taught me that even when I think they
How do we make davening meaningful to our students? How can we help them take ownership of it? In what
manner, shape or form do we, as role models, demonstrate “our” attitude and approach to tefillah? What is
tefillah and how can we give our students the ability to make it a personal time of meaningful spiritual growth
and connection to God?
lescents and trying to achieve and maintain
the proper decorum and atmosphere of
the minyan. Outside of the school environmment, many of our students are barraged
by and immersed in activities, images and
experiences which often run counter to
healthy Jewish values. Creating and having
a welcoming and inspiring makom tefillah as
a sanctuary, both literally and figuratively,
from the assault on the neshamah, can
serve a valuable function in this area. The
sanctuary is a safe place where worshipers
can escape from outside distractions and
concentrate on connecting with God.
Talking during davening is a chronic problem
for most minyanim (including adult minyannim). The key to deal with this problem is
patience and persistence. When leading tefilllah, I try to remember that I am God’s repressentative. If the students are talking during
tefillah, I need to ask myself why they are
talking. What is distracting them? Are they
bored? Is there something troubling them?
Did they have a difficult start to their morniing? In order to be an effective tefillah leader
one must be sensitive to the many possible,
yet unknown factors. Students should
forming their relationship with God. There
are two images I regularly use to convey the
negative impact talking during tefillah has
on a minyan. One is the image of “second
hand smoke,” harmful not only to the
smoker but to everyone in their environmment. The other is ripples in a pond. Every
interruption in the calm of the tefillah has a
ripple effect on the rest of the group.
If the student persists, in the short term I
may change their seat. For a more substanttive approach, I will wait until davening is
over and all the students have left the room
and will then sit with the student, discuss
the situation and together try to create a
solution. By bringing them into the process;
they then can take ownership of the issue.
It empowers them to find the solution
and become an active player in their own
spiritual journey. By spending a little private
time connecting with the student, the
teacher demonstrates faith in the student
and respect for him/her as a thinking and
valued individual.
The need for patience with the students
is only heightened by their home experieences with tefillah. For those who attend
are not listening, they really are. Every year
I have a few difficult students who seem
bent on having it their way. I will dedicate
the time necessary to calmly, gently and
respectfully connect with the student about
the issue. The process may take an entire
school year, but these students do mature
and begin to take their place in the minyan
and start own personal dialogue with God.
The results may not be immediate, but
the ultimate goal is in the long term. And
teachers who stay the course to touch their
students' hearts can ultimately touch their
souls as well.
Personal focus points
To make davening meaningful to the student
in the school minyan, it has to feel personal
and special to them. For many students
entering my tefillah program it is the first
time they will hear that:
God is your best friend. You can share your
secrets and desires with God. God can help you
with anything. God is not judgmental. God is
eternally patient and slow to anger. God only
wants the best for you. God created you so He
understands you better than anyone else… The silent amidah is a
moment of intimacy with God. Imagine that you are whispering
in God's ear. The conversation is only between the two of you. You
have God's full attention!
As part of guiding the students on their spiritual journeys
through tefillah, I will intersperse brief explanations of
special words, the structure and format of the tefillot. Over
the course of the year we will discuss from birkhot haShahhar through the shir shel yom. Never overbearing, I usually
introduce an average of one idea per tefillah and introduce
them slowly, one by one, over the course of the year. After
each concept is introduced, it will be reinforced on a regular
and consistent basis. This includes daily reminders of posittive mitzvot such as focusing on the unity of God prior to
the recitation of the shema or remembering the Exodus
before ezrat avotenu. The daily routine helps the students
become familiar with the words and assists them in mastery
of the sacred texts.
What about the unmotivated student who just doesn’t feel
or want to daven? How can s/he be motivated? Once again,
the image of God as being their best friend is powerful. They
can speak with God in their own words or just meditate on
what they can be grateful for. Friends love to share their
thoughts and sometimes real friends don’t feel like talking.
It is important to allow students to remain silent during
tefillah, with the proviso that they not disturb other people's
prayers.
This image is important for responding to the question of
why God does not answer the prayers. True friendships
and strong relationships are built on a healthy trust that
comes over time. No prayer goes unanswered, but just like
a true friend will know what, how and when to respond to
a request we make, so too with God. The relationships we
Moshe Dreilich
wish to help our students forge with God can be modeled by
forming the same type of relationship between our students
and ourselves. And once again, teacher modeling of this
behavior by demonstrating their own personal trust in God
is invaluable.
Personal reflection
Returning to my original question, why did it take me 18
years to achieve a full and meaningful davening? I truly
believe that somewhere around the time of third grade, the
technical skill of davening becomes taken for granted. In
other words, once we learned the mechanical aspects, such
as pronouncing the words or when to stand, sit or bow, it
was assumed that we would figure the rest out on our own.
We dare not rob our students of the direction to continue
their exploration and learning beyond the mechanical.
When I arrived in yeshiva in Israel at age 18, I met my rebbe,
who taught a course on the meaning of the amidah. The
experience of this class was transformational; it was as if
I was given a key to unlock a precious treasure chest. Yet
beyond the wisdom and insights offered in the class, I had
the opportunity to witness my rebbe’s devotion and deveikut
baShem (cleaving to God) during tefillah. This touched and
penetrated my heart and soul; I wanted to experience that
same intensity and closeness with God as did he.
When I think of tefillah I often think about the image of
Yaakov wrestling. Real and lasting spiritual growth is about
wrestling with our own angels. And as teachers of tefillah,
both we and our students grow when we model, encourage
and empower them to become wrestlers with their own
angels as they embark on their own spiritual journeys.
Features: Classics
Seeking
Spirituality
outside Torah
Levi Cooper
Many great thinkers have grappled with the relationship
between spirituality and non-Jewish wisdom.
Here is a sampling.
Spiritual pursuits are generally understood
to be activities aimed at affecting the human
soul, the inner self. They are often religious
in nature and do not have a material or
physical goal. Our sages saw the fulfillmment of Divine Will through the study of
Torah, the performance of mitzvot, and
through pietism as the means for attainiing spirituality. Thus they widely shunned
the idea of non-Torah study as a vehicle for
spirituality. Indeed, a license for teaching
non-Torah subjects was granted for utilitariian purposes, yet there was widely a ban on
instructing the youth in Greek language or
wisdom, the prevailing secular culture in
talmudic times.
For a fascinating discussion regarding various spiritual
paths in Judaism see: Neil Gillman, “Judaism and the
Search for Spirituality” Conservative Judaism 38:2 (Winter
1985-86), pp. 5-18. The thrust of Gillman’s discourse is
that “spirituality” in the Jewish tradition is not confined
to the new-age perception of the term. Gillman discusses
three models of “spirituality”: behavioral, pietistic and
intellectual (though he acknowledges the possibility of
other paths). Thus, for instance, an analytical scrutiny of a
difficult talmudic passage concerning ritual purity can be a
spiritual exercise for those so inclined.
For a more detailed discussion of the talmudic position
on the study of Greek language and wisdom, see: Saul
Lieberman, Hellenism in Jewish Palestine, New York, 1950,
second improved edition 1962, pp. 100-114. More recently
see: Levi Cooper, “It was Greek to me” The Jerusalem Post,
authorities who were willing to turn to extternal sources when pursuing the meaning
of biblical passages:
Our Sages of blessed memory said: Whoever
utters wisdom – even among the nations of the
world – is called wise and we must transmit
[the wise utterance]. Apropos of this, (Shmuel)
Hanagid (Granada, 993-1055/1056) relates in
his Book of Well-Being, after citing many Christtian Bible interpretations, that R. Matzleah
ben Albatzak, the Sicilian judge, told him that
when he came from Baghdad with a letter that
contained the life story of our master Hai Gaon
(Pumbedita, 939-1038) and his acclaimed
ways, and in this document it was related that
one day the academy reached the biblical verse
Let my head not refuse such choice oil (Psalms
141:5) and those present disputed its meani-
Rabbi Levi Cooper is a rabbi in Tzur Hadassah and teaches Jewish Studies at Machon Pardes and
other university level programs in Jerusalem
Despite the pervasive distaste in the Talmud
for foreign wisdom, subsequent generations
– particularly in the Judeo-Spanish milieu
– openly acknowledged the merit of such
sources of knowledge. Rabbi Shimon ben
Tzemah Duran (Majorca, 1361 – Algiers,
1444), commenting on the mishnaic directtive to know what to respond to a heretic,
suggests that engaging in secular wisdom is
crucial in the battle against heresy:
For this reason, we have adopted the license
to study those areas of wisdom so that we can
respond to them (=the heretics) from their own
words, telling them that they have no evidence
to contradict Torah and the Prophets… And
for this reason we have adopted the license to
read the book of their mistakes so that we have
a response that trumps them from their own
words.
Earlier, in a captivating passage from Rabbi
Yosef Ibn Aknin (Barcelona, c. 1150 – Fez,
Morocco, 1220) we hear of accepted Jewish
Up Front Magazine, Friday 15th December, 2006, p. 37
Tashbetz (Rabbi Shimon ben Tzemah Duran), Magen
Avot, commenting on M. Avot 2:14.
ing. And our master Hai, of blessed memory,
commanded R. Matzleah to go to the Patriarch
of the Christians and enquire of him what he
knew about the meaning of this verse. And it
was wrong in [R. Matzleah’s] eyes. And when
[R. Hai,] of blessed memory, saw that it was diffficult for R. Matzleah, he chastised him saying: Behold our ancestors and pious forbearers, who
are a shining example for us, would ask about
languages and explanations from people of
varied religions, even from shepherds and cattle
hands, as it is known.
In these passages all we have is a recognittion that non-Jewish sources of knowledge
can assist in the spiritual pursuit of Torah. Beyond that, we have solid evidence that
certain scholars realized the spiritual value
of secular wisdom. It is well known that for
Rambam, study of Aristotelian philosophy
and metaphysics was a prerequisite for
achieving knowledge, love and awe of the
Inkishaf al-asrar wa-tuhur al-anwar (commentary on
Song of Songs called “The Divulgence of Mysteries and the
Appearance of Lights”), translated from the original Arabic
into Hebrew by A. S. Halkin under the title: Hitgallut haSodot ve-Hofa'at ha-Me'orot, 1964, p. 495.
Levi Cooper
Divine. Less well known is Rabbi Bahya ibn
Pekuda (Spain, c. 1050), who tells us in the
introduction to his work about the sources
he uses:
Most of my proofs I have drawn from proposittions accepted as reasonable; and these I have
made clear by familiar examples about which
there can be no doubt. I added Scriptural texts
and maxims culled from the writings of our
teachers of blessed memory. I quoted also the
saints and sages of other nations whose words
have come down to us, hoping that my readers'
hearts would incline to them, and give heed to
their wisdom. I quote for example the dicta of
the philosophers, the ethical teachings of the
Ascetics, and their praiseworthy customs. In
this connection our Rabbis of blessed memory
already remarked: “In one verse it is said, After
the ordinances of the nations that are round
about you, have ye done (Ezekiel 11:12); while
in another it is said, After the ordinances of
the nations that are round about you, ye have
not done (Ezekiel 5:7) – How is this contradicttion to be reconciled? As follows: Their good
ordinances ye have not copied; their evil ones ye
have followed” (B. Sanhedrin 39b). The Rabbis
further said, “Whoever utters a wise word, even
if he belongs to the Gentiles, is called a sage” (B.
Megilla 16a).
Rabbi Bahya ibn Pekuda explicitly and
unabashedly tells his readers that he hopes
that worthy non-Torah teachings will pierce
their hearts. Here we have a noted Jewish
scholar employing general wisdom for
spiritual goals.
One of the most open – and perhaps even
inspiring – approaches to non-Torah wisdom
has lucidly been expressed by the modern
thinker Rabbi Dr Norman Lamm (1927–):
Torah Umadda is thus an effort, not at all
Duties of the Heart, Feldheim ed., English translation by
Moses Hyamson, Introduction, p. 43.
Norman Lamm, Torah Umadda – The Encounter of
Religious Learning and Worldly Knowledge in the Jewish
Tradition, 1990, pp. 12, 219-220, 222.
This term – literally translated as “Torah and science”
– refers to the philosophical paradigm that advocates a
unprecedented in the history of normative
Judaism, to expand the area of religious interest
to include all of creation, and to bring all of
humanity’s cultural creativity and cognitive
achievements within the perimeters of Torah. The intersections of Torah and Madda are not
always clear; indeed, they are more often than
not elusive and indeterminate.
Thus at the end of his book after surveying
various models of and reaction to Torah
Umadda, Rabbi Lamm suggests:
minstrel played, that the hand of the Lord came
upon him.” And the Rambam generalized: “For
the spirit of prophecy does not descend upon one
who is melancholy or indolent, but comes as a
result of joyousness. And therefore, the Sons of
Prophets had before them psaltery, tablet, pipe
and harp, and thus sought a manifestation of
the prophetic gift.” If inspiration can be drawn
from pipes and harps, why not, conceivably,
from poetry?
But should we seek first-rate poetry, we
shall have to look elsewhere. Our moral and
religious lights did not address themselves
with equal vigor to every area of spiritual
Because of the comprehensive scope of this
definition of religious growth, it must of necess-
Rabbi Bahya ibn Pekuda explicitly and unabashedly tells his readers that
he hopes that worthy non-Torah teachings will pierce their hearts. Here
we have a noted Jewish scholar employing general wisdom for spiritual
goals.
sity result in a dynamic rather than a static
conception of shelemut [=perfection, wholenness]... My musical aptitudes, if they are to be
fully developed as part of my religious growth,
may well conflict with the commandment to
study Torah whenever time is available... The
broader conception [of shelemut] must make
judgments based on the unique personality of
the questioner, the benefit of either route to the
development of his full religious personality:
How good a scholar will he be? How serious a
musician will he become? Will an artistic career
be used by him to enhance his spiritual gestalt? Of what relative benefit will he be to Israel and
to the community of believers in either case? Such examples can be multiplied manifold. Perhaps the most explicit and articulate
formulation of this can be found in the writiings of Rabbi Dr. Aharon Lichtenstein.
When Elisha sought prophetic inspiration,
he declared (II Kings 3:15): “’But now bring
me a minstrel.’ And it came to pass, when the
synthesis of Torah with secular knowledge.
"Torah and General Culture: Confluence and Conflict' in
Judaism's Encounter with Other Cultures: Rejection or Integgration, Jacob J. Schacter, ed (NJ: Jason Aronson, 1997)
endeavor. Hazal engaged little in systematic
theology or philosophy and their legacy
includes no poetic corpus.
To be sure, it would be foolish to claim that
throughout the long and turbulent history
of our tradition the mainstream approach
endorsed the pursuit of secular wisdom and
surely not spiritual enlightenment or inspirattion from outside the holy texts of the Torah. In
fact, throughout the ages, many scholars argued
vehemently against any positive spiritual conttent in non-Torah learning. Thus for instance,
Rabbi Zvi Elimelekh Shapira of Dynow in
Galicia (1785–1841), a hasidic master who
had a profound influence on subsequent hasidic
dynasties, was uncompromising in his rejection
of foreign wisdom. For Rabbi Zvi Elimelekh, any delving into
non-Torah disciplines was an effective
departure from the path of Jewish spirittuality and thus needed to be condemned
at all costs.10 This attitude, however, was
Derekh Pikudekha, negative commandment 11, section 4. See also: Rabbi Moshe Yehiel Halevi Tzuriel, Beit Yehezkiel
– Hilkhot Deiot, Benei Braq, 1981, pp. 275-276.
10 Not all scholars who rejected secular studies saw the
danger of foreign culture as potentially corrupting the
Features: Classics
confronted by the needed to the recourse to
such disciplines by Jewish thinkers of the
middle ages. Particularly perplexing was the
advocacy of non-Torah sources heard from
some respected authorities, such as the aforemmentioned Rabbi Bahya ibn Pekuda.
Responding to Rabbi Bahya ibn Pekuda and
others, Rabbi Zvi Elimelekh is quick to point
out that the rule should not be concluded
from these authorities; engaging in the study
of philosophy was an exception, an aberration
that should not be repeated:
Know that simply they had a necessity to respond
to the heretics in their arguments that they had
in days of old, and furthermore I have bundles
and bundles [of material] to explain the conduct
of the earlier groups, … because of the difficulties
Jewish spiritual experience. Thus, for instance, the modern
thinker, Rabbi Dr David Hartman suggests, inter alia:
The antipathy shown by Jewish religious communities towards
“alien knowledge” was due in large measure to the demeaning
experience of not encountering their own culture in any way
within the conceptual frameworks of the surrounding civilizations. It is extremely painful to respect an intellectual environment that
treats oneself as a cultural non-entity (David Hartman, A Living
Covenant, New York, London, 1985, p. 205).
A full discussion of Jewish attitudes to secular studies is
beyond the scope of this article. Here our primary focus is
how non-Torah studies relate to the pursuit of spirituality.
of the exile and the diaspora, the sages of the
generation could not explain Godly matters to the
masses and distance them from corporeality withoout dressing the matters in philosophical analysis. [Thus] this was necessary in order to respond in
the [way of] Torah and service [of God], and this
matter for them was like a time to act for the
Lord [they have contravened Your Torah] (Psalms
119:126)… And now you should understand that
since in the fifth millenium most of the souls were
from the world of tohu, therefore the greats who
were then in the land in those days needed to
bring the people close to Torah by means of belief
in philosophical inquiry that is akin to the sight of
the eye. Whereas in these times, when God, may
He be blessed, has illuminated for us with the
light of the seven days [of creation] since the time
of the Arizal (Rabbi Yitzhak Luria, 1534-1572)
[with] souls from the world of tikkun (repair), the
primary focus of our faith must be through listeniing with the ear, namely the received tradition
that will remain forever.
Indeed the
position of
so-respected
authorities such
as Rabbi Bahya
ibn Pekuda was
problematic
for those who
saw no Jewish
spiritual value in
secular studies. Relegating the
stance to its histtorical context
was one means
of dismissing
its relevance,
while remaining
respectful to the
authority who
believed in the
spiritual value of secular studies.
The contemporary scene takes
for granted that students will
be engaging secular study. We
do well to consider that for our
students each discipline offers a
stimulating – possibly life changiing – spiritual journey. Whether
that journey will be enhanced or
hindered by that broad currriculum is the challenge of every
educator.
My thanks to my friend and teacher
Dr Baruch Feldstern who some time
ago shared a number of the sources
quoted herein and initially piqued
my interest in this subject.
Lilian Yaffe
Lessons of Life
“Once a Teacher,
Always a Teacher”
Lilian Yaffe
Have you ever experienced a situation in
which you do not know if “today” will be
the last day of your life? It happened to me
six years ago. I was living my “perfect” life,
as the mother of three beautiful children,
and a successful economics teacher at ICESI
University in Cali, Colombia.
Then abruptly one day, I was kidnapped by
the Colombian guerrillas and held captive
for four months in the middle of the Colombbian forest.
During each of those one hundred and
sixteen nights, I did not know if I would be
alive the next day, or the following. Many
things could go wrong, therefore causing
a tragic end to my captivity: the guerrillas
could kill me if a ransom was not satisfacttorily agreed upon; the military trying to
rescue me could break into the camp where
I was being kept prisoner, and accidentally
kill me.
Living in this situation of permanent unccertainty, in which your past life, loved ones
and meaningful relationships are torn from
you, and your future does not longer belong
to you since your life and decisions have
fallen into third party hands, really forces
you to put things into perspective, and ask
yourself a very powerful question: If these
were the last days of my life, how would I
like to spend them?
Lillian Yaffe teaches economics to seniors at the Samuel Scheck Hillel Community Day School and the
Ben Lipson Hillel Community High School in Miami, Florida. She can be reached at yaffe@hillel-nmb.
net.
When, although living a nightmare, I asked
myself that question, only one answer came
to my mind. I never had one single doubt
of the fact that I wanted to spend whatever
time I had left being a good, and if possible,
happy human being. Life was a too precious
Features: Lessons from Life
gift, I realized then, and I did not want to
waste it by letting anger, hatred and rancor
invade me.
As a result, the days of my captivity were
based upon that very intimate answer, and
the decision to let the teacher inside me
come out, and teach the guerrillas how to
read and write, was a strategy I came up
with which was consistent with my desire to
live my life to its full potential.
I still remember the commander’s surprised
eyes when I asked him if I could teach those
guerrillas who were willing to learn how
to read and write. I imagine that at the
some wet chalk, that I presumed they used
when they needed to write messages at their
guerrilla meetings. Compared to the sophistticated technological equipment that I had
used during my economics classes, these
were very primitive tools for teaching, but
they proved to be enough for what I needed.
During my captivity, the sentence “once a
teacher always a teacher” attained its full
meaning for me. The first day of lessons
something happened inside me, and, as if
by magic, I forgot the terrible conditions
of my captivity. I forgot that these were my
captors and I was their prisoner, I forgot the
horrible moments that I had gone through,
As a result, the days of my captivity were based upon that very intimate
answer, and the decision to let the teacher inside me come out, and teach
the guerrillas how to read and write, was a strategy I came up with which
was consistent with my desire to live my life to its full potential.
beginning he thought it was a lie, perhaps
a carefully planned strategy that could help
me escape. The truth is that the possibility
of escaping never crossed my mind.
I was perfectly aware of the numerous
obstacles to an escape, among them the
explosive mines spread by the guerrilllas around the camp, or the peasants in
the region, who, upon finding me, would
immediately bring me back to my captors,
thus causing me to lose any slight amount
of freedom that I had gained through my
previous obedient behavior.
No, I was smarter than to try to escape. I
knew my only way out was to be patient,
wait for the ransom to be paid, and during
that time try to keep my mind busy and my
spirit solid. Engaging in teaching lessons
was part of that self-preserving strategy.
I told the commander the materials that I
would need in order to teach. Although our
living conditions were precarious, he had his
men create a writing surface by stretching
an old tent and holding it tightly by the four
ends. Additionally, they provided me with
and I forgot the uncertainty of how much
more time I would have to remain captive. I
forgot my children, my parents and my husbband, who were probably dying of despair
at this sad situation. In one second I forgot
everything, except that I was a teacher and
my students were ready, waiting.
There were eight students in my “class”,
most of them teenagers between the ages of
thirteen and twenty years old. As I watched
them strive to learn the mysteries of the
ABC’s, (some of them had attended a few
years of elementary school, and most were
illiterate), I realized that the inner desire to
learn can reside in any human being, regardlless of their circumstances and conditions.
These guerrillas were criminals, terrible
delinquents who had turned my life up-sidedown, and nevertheless when we started our
lessons under the trees, they became real
students, willing to progress and to learn
in our improvised classroom. During the
lessons they would leave their guns aside,
and I must confess that despite the fact that
I hated what they had done to me and to
my family, the teacher inside me was deeply
touched by their desire to learn, and by their
satisfied expressions at their own progress.
When I start to relay the story of those days,
people look at me with eyes filled with surpprise and disbelief. Sometimes, mixed with
compassion, I have even perceived judgmenttal expressions. It is not easy to understand
the complexity of the situation in which
I was involved, maybe it is even harder to
understand the means I used in order to
survive and save my spiritual peace, my
inner self, which was what I ultimately I
wanted to preserve. To me, acting as I did
was the life saver that guided me through a
very painful experience. And if, God forbid, I
was one day exposed to a similar situation, I
would act in the same way I did. The reward
of coming out of that experience with my
soul unharmed was worth all the efforts
that I had to make in order to preserve it.
I live a different, free life now in America,
but there has not been one single day in
this new life without remembering my four
months in captivity. Although my desire for
revenge is long gone – faded in the joy of
being free again and starting over in a new
country – the memories of those days will
be imprinted in my soul forever. They are
part of who I am, they modeled the person
I became after the experience, and I must
confess that some of the scars have had posiitive consequences. I am today a person who
values every single moment, who treasures
human relationships more than anything,
and who is unwilling to subordinate her
ideals in order to satisfy social requirements.
I became a more sensitive teacher, able to
connect to my students at more spiritual
levels. And, most of all, after surviving four
months with two shirts and two pairs of
sweat-pants, I realize how pointless our life
becomes when its main goal is to accumullate material belongings.
A kidnapping is a brutal, condemnable and
horrifying practice, which cannot, and will
never be, forgiven by our society. Neverthelless, being exposed to such a brutal experieence can inform a person’s soul, and make
one come out of the experience even strongger. I feel triumphant over my kidnappers.
Lilian Yaffe
They could not harm my spirit, I preserved
it untouched, so that when the ransom was
paid, and the ordeal was over, I came back
home intact. I hugged my children and I felt
proud of having been able to survive the
experience and bring them back their mom,
as they remembered her.
Were those teaching lessons the key to keepi-
plastic tent where I was kept. You might ask:
thinking of flowers while being kidnapped?
The choice of life resides within ourselves. I
chose life over sadness and despair, and I am
thankful for having done so.
PhD. Nevertheless, I could not imagine my
life without teaching! As I said before, once
you become a teacher, you will always be
one; teaching is a bug that enters your blood
and never leaves you.
As with many other elements in my life,
my teaching has also been affected by this
experience. Moving to a new country and
I was fortunate enough to find someone
who believed in my credentials, and gave
me the opportunity to teach again, at a local
high school in Miami. That was three years
ago, and I am currently very happy and
satisfied teaching an AP Economics class to
12th graders.
Were those teaching lessons the key to keeping my mind safe during
my captivity? Were they my therapy against despair and depression? I
believe so. They were as important as the flowers that I collected every
day, during one hundred and fifteen days, putting them in an empty oil
container, inside the plastic tent where I was kept.
ing my mind safe during my captivity? Were
they my therapy against despair and depresssion? I believe so. They were as important as
the flowers that I collected every day, during
one hundred and fifteen days, putting
them in an empty oil container, inside the
starting my career all over was not easy,
especially because even though I had been
a college teacher in Colombia, and I hold a
Masters degree in my subject, I was certain
of the fact that I would not dare teach at the
college level in America without holding a
The transition from being a college teacher
to engaging in high school teaching was not
easy. At the beginning, I imagined that 12th
graders would be very similar to my former
college freshmen, but soon enough I had to
learn the big differences between them.
Although 12th graders and first semester colllege students are kids of the same age, their
attitude is completely different. 12th graders
Features: Lessons from life
are very frequently affected by “senioritis”, this chronic disease by
which they see themselves as kings of the school, and their level of
commitment and responsibility tend to decrease as they sense the
proximity of graduation.
As a consequence, discipline can become a problem if the teacher
doesn’t clearly establish boundaries from the beginning of the semestter or school year. Fortunately, I believe the kidnapping made me a
person who is more sensitive to my students’ needs, with a higher
possibility of empathizing with them. Therefore, while disciplining
and motivating my high school students is a daily challenge, I have
not thus far found it to be a problem.
While teaching at college and meeting my students three hours each
week in a crowded classroom, I never had the educational possibiliity that high school has given me. Having almost daily contact with
high school students allows me a higher level of communication with
my students than is possible in college. I feel as if, at the beginning
of each school year, I receive the opportunity to affect the lives of
many young, immature and yet good-natured students, and my daily
commitment to them and to myself is to do everything I can to really
reach them both academically and in their development as people.
In this way, my perception of education has changed. I no longer see
myself as someone who has to merely transmit a specific knowledge
in a subject, but as a person with the possibility (and responsibility)
to make my students kind, good-hearted and sensitive human beings.
It might sound an ambitious perception of education, but I believe it
is the only meaningful option that we have as teachers. This realizattion is one I gained during my kidnapping, and I honestly believe it
has helped me become a better educator.
As I reflect on the days of my captivity, I recognize that the experieence changed me as a person, and especially as a teacher. Wherever I
teach in the future, whether I stay in high school or decide to pursue
my PhD and engage again as a college teacher, my approach to
students has changed, and my perception of my role as an educator
has been modified. The understanding that I had during my captivity
about the fragility of concepts such as “life” and “tomorrow”, accomppanies me every day and reminds me of the importance of living eveery day as if it was the last one. I am glad to experience these changes,
and although they are the result of an extremely painful experience, I
am satisfied with the results that I feel every day in my life.
Editor’s Note: Though English is not the author’s first language, every
effort has been made to maintain the her voice throughout this article.
Scott J. Goldberg
Cutting Edge
Assessing
Student
Religious Growth
Scott J. Goldberg
In a recent graduate level course on assessmment, I led a discussion on establishing
learning targets as a beginning step in
the assessment process. We talked about
knowledge, understanding, skills, and affecttive targets. Throughout the conversation, a
particular student sat troubled, wondering
whether the ultimate goal of Jewish educattion resides in the affective domain. Leaving
that longtime debate aside, one wonders
whether Jewish educators are prepared for
the outcome of such a debate.
If we are at all concerned that our students
graduate with an appreciation of a Jewish
life, believing in the God introduced to them
just years earlier in their beginning tefillot,
valuing their fellow Jew and fellow person,
let alone appreciating the role that communnity, for example, might play in their lives,
we must discuss the assessment of religious
goals, as well. Substitute the word academic
or cognitive for religious and one would be
concerned if a school did not delineate both
curricular goals and methods of assessment.
However, it seems that we are far less likely
to find parents, educators, or community
leaders demanding that such clarificattion take place in the affective domain, in
particular in the area of religious goals. Yet,
why should we not expect schools to teach
toward growth in religiosity (practice and
belief) on the part of students who attend
Jewish schools and programs that target
religious performance and faith? If we do
not see such growth, the success of the
institution or program may well be called
into question.
Oser (1990) provides a framework of religgious development with which an educator
may choose appropriate texts, but one may
speculate that educators who adopt such
a tool would utilize cognitive-type assessmments of the learning of the text to assess
the students’ learning, all the time assuming
that the religious development is merely a
background process to inform textual study.
Indeed, Goldmintz (2003) points out what
is obvious to most Jewish educators – it is
not only that we must keep in mind the studdents’ religious development when choosing
and teaching texts, but we must consider
how the text itself will affect the students’
religious development.
How might we assess the affect on student
religious development in a way that is
useful for educators in school settings?
Clearly, many methods used by researchers
in religious development are impractical
for school use. For example, observations,
Scott J. Goldberg, PhD is Director of the Fanya Gottesfeld Heller Division of Doctoral Studies at the
Azrieli Graduate School of Jewish Education and Administration, Yeshiva University. Those schools
interested in participating in pilot studies should contact the author at sjgoldbe@yu.edu..
while potentially comprehensive, are timeconsuming, costly, require special skills,
and usually can only target a few individual
participants (Gottlieb, 2006). Sociologists,
such as Steven Cohen, have studied religious
attitudes and behaviors through questionnnaires and surveys, but have not created
scales of religious beliefs and practices
subject to the scientific scrutiny of reliability
and validity analyses, along with factor
analyses for subscale determination. We
may wish to merely ask our children if they
are keeping kosher, but a more sophisticated
and systematic method of assessing such
behavior is warranted for Jewish schools as
we set our religious targets and assess the
extent to which our students have met our
expectations.
Alternatively, entire schools could be
assessed with a scale of religious beliefs
and practices, examined for appropriate
psychometric properties. Each child could
complete the scale in a short amount of
time at the beginning, middle, and end of
each school year in order to determine how
students are developing (i.e., those meeting
school expectations, those at-risk for not
meeting expectations, and those who are
falling below benchmark goals). This would
provide a more efficient alternative to
observations of every student in a school
by reserving such formal observations for
those students in the at-risk and below
benchmark categories. These observations
would confirm or disconfirm the original
findings and provide insight into more
specific interventions, as needed.
With assessment information on the
religious development of our children,
we would be able to adjust our curricula,
teaching methods, and general approach for
each child, as needed. Goldmintz (2003)
advocates an approach to teaching Jewish
texts that takes the child’s general stage of
religious development into account, but
the method of assessment, instruction, and
intervention delineated above provides a
more comprehensive and individualized
approach towards the same goal. Indeed, a
scale of religiosity could provide information
Features: Cutting Edge
on a larger sample of, if not all, participants
in a program or students in a school on
a regular basis to track growth. Such a
scale could provide dynamic indicators of
religiosity in order to inform curricular and
programmatic changes and individualized
interventions.
Although scales testing Jewish religiosity
do exist they are flawed in certain respects.
The Katz (1988) religiosity scale is not
sufficiently broad. The scale consists of 20
items and therefore conflates certain issues.
For example, regarding Sabbath observance
the scale addresses the concluding Sabbath
service, but ignores other key aspects of
Sabbath observance, which could differenttiate Jews on the continuum of Sabbath
observance. Another scale (Ben-Meir &
Kedem, 1979) has similar failings. The scale
includes a mere thirteen items, each with
a yes or no response. The scale is inadeequate, as it lacks the delineation of specific
behaviors and thus fails to provide sufficient
variance in religiosity.
Due to the need for schools and programs
to assess the religious development and
growth of students, a more comprehensive
scale of religious practices and beliefs was
written. The Jewish Beliefs, Actions, and
Living Evaluation (JewBALE – pronounced
Jubilee) (Goldberg, 2006), is a self admministered scale consisting of 66 items
concerning belief and 109 items concerning
actions related to Jewish practice. It takes
approximately 20 minutes to complete.
Items were constructed by interviewing men
and women in professional and lay leadersship positions in the Jewish community in
order to obtain face validity in delineation
of categories of belief and action that each
represents a continuum of traditional Jewiish beliefs and activities. Jewish religious
activities identified by the experts include
community service, prayer, holiday and
Sabbath observance, interpersonal relations
(including sexual behavior, and appropriate
speech), keeping kosher, study of Torah,
modesty, and self-improvement. These
experts identified the following constructs
as comprising religious beliefs: divine providdence, fear/love of God, rabbinic authority,
relationship to Israel, and outlook on secular
studies.
The uniqueness of the scale is particularly
seen when the individual constructs are conssidered. For example, a student’s outlook on
secular studies should be of particular intereest to most Jewish educators. Students in
many Jewish day schools are faced with the
challenge of maintaining a balance between
a commitment to Jewish tradition and the
reality of living in a modern, largely secular,
culture. One of the areas in which this
challenge expresses itself is the fundamental
tension between obedience to authority that
is the hallmark of traditional Judaism and
the premium placed upon autonomy and
personal choice in contemporary American
culture. Indeed, our students may be regullarly faced with the need
to recognize and appreciaate various “authorities,”
including biblical charactters such as the avot and
imahot, as well as rabbinic
figures such as Tana-im,
Amora-im, Rishonim, and
Aharonim, involved in the
transmission of halakhah
and other aspects of Jewiish tradition. In addition,
students may be taught
that Judaism requires ackknowledging the authority
of modern-day figures as well, in the form of
parents, teachers, and in some communities
Posekim. In contrast, the contemporary cultture in which they all live and which exerts
an enormous influence on them celebrates
the supreme value of individual autonomy
and the right of individuals to choose their
own values and to be the sole arbiter of their
way of life. How do our students negotiate
this challenge and conflict?
Unfortunately, our educational system
rarely provides our students with the tools
to develop a religious perspective with which
to understand and live with such challenges.
Without such understanding or skill, it is ineevitable that peers, the media, and personal
autonomy will exert primary authority over
our children and an opportunity to help
shape committed and engaged Jews will
have been lost. If our schools are ready to
construct cognitive and affective learning
targets that prepare our children for such
challenges, it will be essential that schools
have the ability to assess this learning in
both realms, as well.
The psychometric properties of the JewBBALE scale are still under study, but initial
results are promising.
References
Ben-Meir, J. & Kedem, P. (1979). Index of the religioosity of the Jewish population in Israel. Megamot,
24, 3.
Goldberg, SJ (2006) Jewish Beliefs Actions and Liviing Evaluation (JewBALE), Unpublished manuscript,
Yeshiva University, Azrieli Graduate School.
Goldmintz, J. (2003). Religious development in
adolescence: A work in progress. Tradition, 37, 4.
Gottlieb, E. (2006, June). Where home and school
intersect: Everyday theological discourse among
carpooling preschoolers. Presented at Reframing
Jewish Day School Education Worldwide, Hebrew
University, Jerusalem, Israel.
Katz, Y. (1988). Student religiosity questionnaire
[SRQ] in P.C. Hill & R.W. Hood (1999) (Eds.).
Measures of religiosity (pp. 72-74). Birmingham, AL:
Religious Education Press.
Oser, F. (1990). Religious development: Foundattions, stages, and constructs. Studies in Jewish
Education, 5.
School Profile: Reut
School Profile
Reut:
A Unique Pluralistic
Jewish Community
Elana Maryles Sztokman
Tucked away in a recessed driveway behind a
busy intersection on the edge of Jerusalem’s
Old Katamon neighborhood looms a set
of olive green gates that open up into a
serene courtyard. Four teenagers are playing
basketball and others are lounging under
the broad palm tree, a girl in jeans and nosering warmly greets a girl in a wheelchair,
and a tall boy with a knitted skullcap hugs a
long-haired girl. There is a gentle buzz here
as kids lightly roam about, a calmness so
contrasted with that of so many educational
institutions, as well as with society at large,
that you have to take a moment to remembber that this tranquil spot is actually a high
school in Israel.
This wondrous universe that is the Reut
High School is a micro-society in which
educational ideals – the kind that tend to
peg its adherents as unrealistic dreamers
– form a very powerful, and very much alive,
reality. Reut students volunteer for a myriad
of causes without anyone demanding it of
them, graduates spend hours of their spare
time helping younger students, innovattive programs are conceived, managed and
fundraised for by kids, students beg their
teachers for number grades and consider
class-cancellation a punishment, and more
than anything, everyone talks about the
principal, veteran educator Dr. Aryeh Geiger,
in terms of love and near sainthood.
Reut, a pluralistic Jewish community
founded in 1999 by a group of renegade
educators and parents, is built upon the
philosophy that social activism and respect
for others are equal in importance to Jewish
learning. Moreover, the founders believe
that that this idea is equally applicable to
all streams of Judaism and all segments of
society. Here, classes are comprised of studdents from all denominations, from an array
of ethnic-national origins, from all political
movements, from heterogeneous academic
records and socioeconomic backgrounds,
and with varied physical abilities. Indeed, no
two classes are alike.
The school is brimming with new immiggrants from Ethiopia, the former Soviet
Union, and English-speaking countries,
as well as deaf students, Down syndrome
students, gifted kids, and students with
an array of challenges. Yet, no student is
relegated to the margins; students are not
separated out into groups of kids that look
and sound exactly like themselves. Instead,
they are mixed up, as if in a Lotto bowl in
Elana Maryles Sztokman, the managing editor of Jewish Educational Leadership, is a writer, editor,
and researcher living in Modi’in.
which identities and ideologies randomly
bounce around and encounter one another
in dozens of interactions, big and small. This
is a place where learning to respect differeences is as much a part of daily life as eating
and breathing.
“The school is about love,” explained Aryeh,
as he is known throughout the school. (“If
anyone called me ‘doctor’,” he insisted, “I
would be very upset!”.) “The school is a commmunity of a very diverse group of people
who have a very strong commitment to
Judaism, to spiritual quest within Judaiism, to different forms of Jewish practice,
different forms of relating to God, different
forms of relating to oneself, and the school
is about giving all of us, adults and students,
tools to carry on that search. That’s what the
school is about.“
Kids as Community
Reut is built on the educational philosophy
of Janusz Korczak, the renowned children’s
advocate who created an educational
philosophy, built an orphanage in Warssaw based on his theories, and eventually
marched along with the children in the
Warsaw Ghetto to the trains leading to
Treblinka. Janusz Korczak’s ideas around
the rights of children as a social class unto
themselves and the development of their
abilities for self-empowerment and creative
expression have had a strong influence on
Aryeh’s thinking, ideas which, he says, “for
some reason, most schools have had trouble
building on”. But not at Reut. The notion of
kids as constituting a true society of equal,
right-holding, responsible members pulsates
throughout the Reut community.
David, a feisty 16-year old boy who is
making a cup of coffee in the staff room as
he tells me, “I love this place,” works as the
coach for the school’s basketball team. “Not
just an assistant coach,” pipes in one of the
teachers, “but a fully accredited and officially
certified coach.” At Reut, kids are not the futture – they are the present. Students take ressponsibility for many aspects of school life,
from class décor and school maintenance,
to major decision-making about educational
policy. Issues such as dress code and testgrading policies have been discussed and
decided upon in joint staff-student forums.
Perhaps the strongest example of student
empowerment is the Va’adat Haginut, the
“justice forum”, informally referred to as
the school court. In this setting, which
includes student and staff representatives,
anyone can “sue” anyone else. When a group
of older students, for example, locked the
doors to the music room to keep younger
students out, the younger group took the
older students to court – and won. Not only
were the older students banned from the
music room for a few weeks, but the inciddent led to the formalizing of ground-rules
around use of the music room.
One group even took the principal to court.
When some 12th grade students skipped
an assembly, Aryeh, in turn, cancelled their
classes – and the students were so offended
that they took him to court. “He was saying
that it’s all part of the same package,” expplained Dina Weiner, the Bible coordinator
who took me around the school. “We’re not
just about classes, and that if kids want the
classes, they have to participate in the values
aspects. But the students were very insulted.
For them, skipping class was a form of puniishment. So they took Aryeh to court. Aryeh
won, but they ended up talking it out, which
was very good.”
Active Pluralism
In the corner of the staff room, which is
brimming with graduates, para-professsionals, adults and kids, two students
are quietly gesticulating in front of the
computer screen. They call over Co-Principal
Avital Levy-Katz. “ ‘Father’ in sign language,”
explains the girl in the wheel-chair, “is like
this,” as she demonstrates a top to bottom
hand motion in front of the face. “Because
the father is tall and strong. But ‘mother’ is
like this,” she says, demonstrating a side to
side motion “because she is always smiling.”
The boy, who is deaf, clicks on the Hebrew
sign-language web-site on the screen as he
and his classmate laugh at the gender impplications of these signs. “We really should
have a course on the anthropology of sign
language,” Avital says.
At Reut, multiple perspectives are an
integral part of daily life. . “People come here
from every walk of life,” Avital explained.
pluralism is practiced and taught not only
through particular Jewish values, but also
through a more universal approach… so
as to give young people a recognition that
other cultures, religions and ways of life
exist. Our practice of including people from
all socio-economic strata and with various
The school is brimming with new immigrants from Ethiopia, the former
Soviet Union, and English-speaking countries, as well as deaf students,
Down syndrome students, gifted kids, and students with an array of
challenges. Yet, no student is relegated to the margins; students are
not separated out into groups of kids that look and sound exactly like
themselves.
“We don’t ask them if they keep Shabbat
or not, we don’t measure their sleeves. We
only deal with the things that are importtant.” As a reflection of this pluralism, for
example, Japanese, Spanish, Amharic and
sign language are part of the curriculum,
art and music are brought into classes to
enhance learning, Japanese, Spanish and
sign language are part of the curriculum,
and the entire school dedicated itself to the
Sigd Festival, a highlight of the Ethiopian
calendar. The school fills a need, Aryeh
wrote, for “creating a community in which
special needs (what others call disabilities),
this too is a way of doing pluralism and not
just ‘wording it’.”
Indeed, pluralism forms the very fabric of
the school. “We chose the word pluralism
and not tolerance. It’s not that I put up with
you – it’s that I have something to gain
from you and from your perspective, that we
need one another, and that we’re better off
with each other,” explains Dina. “We have
kids who are super leftists and kids who live
in the territories and they have to learn how
to talk about it and to love each other. We
are not afraid to talk about it. What matters
here is love, learning to love each other.”
Jewish education as fundamentally about
love for fellow human beings is an idea that
finds expression in a myriad of everyday
encounters and exchanges in the school.
Aside from all the hugging going on everywwhere, students regularly dedicate their
spare time to helping others with different
special needs, whether by assisting someone
in a wheelchair down the stairs, or studying
and reading in partnership. Graduates fill
the school on Sunday mornings before they
go off to army and university, squeezing
teacher and an assistant librarian who is a
graduate with Down Syndrome. Co-Princippal Avital Levy-Katz described the experieence of seeing a student who has difficulty
with reading and writing get up and sing at a
school concert. “He sings so beautifully that
I get chills even describing it – for that it was
worth opening this school”.
“We are creating a greenhouse,” explains
Dina, “in which we can all be honest about
who we are and still respect each other
and gain from each other.” Avital concurs
that, “Here, you’re allowed to be happy or
sad, you’re accepted as a person. It’s a safe
Three times a week, there is a girls’ morning prayer service as well,
in order to create a venue for girls who want to read from the Torah
and lead services. At those services, the leading of which is one of
Dina’s many responsibilities, “we do things our way, in a female way
that’s comfortable for us. When we have a discussion, it’s much less
Lithuanian, much less linear.”
in every moment to tutor or volunteer whereever they may be needed. The school also
employs a pluralistic staff, such as a deaf
place. It’s a family circle, much more than
just about school. It’s a spiritual connection
between people.”
“You don’t see this
anywhere else,” adds
Tzvi, a 23-year old who
worked at the school
as a para-professional
with a student with
C.P. who needed extra
help. “Here, everyone is
friends with everyone,
kids from completely
different places and
background just accept
one other as they are.
It’s a very special place.”
The pluralism and
mutual respect is also
cross-age. For example,
a twelfth grade student
who is matriculating
in dance, has a seventh
grade student helping
her. “It’s more than
utilitarian, it’s that they
have a human connect-
tion,” Avital explained. “It’s not about whose
interest it is, it’s a real connection between
a seventh grader and a twelfth grader. You
don’t see things like that in most places.”
One of the central venues for building
pluralism and mutual understanding is in
prayer. As Tchiya, who runs the Reut Instittute of Pluralist Training, explained, “Every
single person is part of the community, and
therefore everyone’s presence is important.
Everyone is equal in prayer, there is no
difference between teacher and student,
strong and weak... It is a place where eveeryone is accepted as they are, without any
connection to their belief system... It is a
place for searching for meaning.”
For several years, the school ran a “hit-habbrut” program, which means “connection”.
Before morning services, students would
choose from a smorgasbord of spiritual purssuits, including Tai Chi, meditation, jogging,
Israeli dancing and nature walks. Although
students eventually rejected the program
as too “new-age”, the school continues to
promote these practices in a less intensive
way, through occasional day-long mind-body
fairs. Moreover, while not everyone has to
pray, everyone has to attend services, in
order to respect those who want to pray.
Three times a week, there is a girls’ morning
prayer service as well, in order to create a
venue for girls who want to read from the
Torah and lead services. At those services,
the leading of which is one of Dina’s many
responsibilities, “we do things our way, in a
female way that’s comfortable for us. When
we have a discussion, it’s much less Lithuannian, much less linear.”
Similarly, the school uses Bible as a tool for
inviting pluralism. “The standard religious
curriculum doesn’t speak to many students,”
Dina explained. “Many kids walk out of the
state religious system totally anti-Bible.
By 11th and 12th grade, all we taught was
commentaries. We never taught the text. It
was never, why do we care? Here, we teach
the text, and we added hours, which gives
us the freedom to make it more alive, to feel
the characters, to feel the story. By putting
our kids together, kids from all different backgrounds come here and
learn together and learn how to talk to each other and how to help
each other. It doesn’t matter if you’re religious or secular. It’s about
saying, this matters to us, this learning is what matters to us; it’s
meaningful. Here we say, we just want to be honest about who we are,
about what we believe.”
In other religious educational settings, such honesty and acceptance
can be a dangerous pose. “I am not going to hide what I believe
because I’m afraid that my boss’ boss is going to fire me if I say what I
believe,” Dina added. This is particularly striking in light of the school
history: the staff, students, and parents who founded the school
broke off from their previous school against the backdrop of debate
surrounding the 1995 assassination of then Prime Minister Yizchak
Rabin. Aryeh, then principal, had attempted to bring in an openminded pluralistic approach by allowing students to criticize the role
of the religious educational establishment in molding some of the
ideas that guided assassin Yigal Amir – and for that, he was fired.
“Here, we try to push the arguing, to say I don’t agree, or even I don’t
agree with God. We encourage it, the arguing and the doubting and
the questioning – it’s a big piece of being Jewish.”
Indeed, Reut not only has added hours of Bible, but has created its
own pluralism curriculum, and is working on a matriculation exam
in Pluralism. More significantly, however, pluralism forms the very
fabric of daily life at the school. The school population is so widely
diverse, and students are encouraged to engage with one another at
every juncture – always with love and care.
“I know it sounds rather mundane and almost ridiculous,” Aryeh said,
“but you take almost any issue in the school system in Israel now
– certainly violence, underachievement, lack of motivation – almost
all of these have to do with the fact that students are alienated from
the schools, they don’t feel compassion, they don’t feel love, they
feel they are in a competitive, utilitarian society, they could care less
about bagrut or any of the other exams. It could change dramatically
if compassion were just back in the system.”
Social responsibility
This love and care is apparent in every corner of the school – from the
sign on the principal’s door which says, “We love you Aryeh!” to the
hundreds of amateur photos on the wall of staff and students talking,
learning, and hugging, to the dozens of flyers, announcements, and
certificates of appreciation from every social cause in Israel.
Perhaps the strongest expression of the school’s emphasis on active
love and care for fellow human beings is in The Ma’aser Program that
encourages kids to volunteer for everything from the cancer society,
to soup kitchens, to the environment. The Ma’aser Program is a
cornerstone of the school’s educational philosophy, and of everyday
school life. As one graduate, who spends her spare time in the school
tutoring students, explained to me, “The school emphasizes what
Spirituality in Leadership:
Principal Aryeh Geiger
Aryeh Geiger, unlike the people around him,
does not think of himself as invaluable in the
Reut community. “Do we really bring anything
uniquely new to the planet?” he reflects. “A lot
of innovative things have been attributed to
me, I don’t know if they’re that innovative.”
Indeed, Aryeh has been at the forefront of
many pioneering educational initiatives, like
his leadership at Pelech, the first religiousfeminist girls’ school in Israel; his work on
peacemaking and conflict resolution in educattion; on new ways in Holocaust education; as
one of the founders of Meitarim, the “third
stream” of Jewish-democratic education in
Israel, under whose banner Reut exists; and
most recently as co-founder of Ometz Hinuchi
(lit, Educational Courage), that advocates for
autonomy for school principals – or as Aryeh
says simply, to “let the leaders lead.”
But Aryeh’s outlook is that he is not an innovattor as much as a listener. “The Hasidic perspecttive of the planet is more one of horadat klipot
– revealing layers – to the extent that if one
can take the layers off, eventually you reach
the source of the kedushah,” he explained. “I
think that I have been committed not only to
action but that I can listen, I’m not afraid to
act upon my intuition, upon things I see… But
even in all these things, there is nothing new
under the sun.” Aryeh believes that the fact
that others consider his work remarkable is
“more as a negative reflection on the system
than as a great testimony to what we’ve done.”
Certainly Aryeh has reason to be critical of the
educational system in Israel. His struggles to
enable free-thinking in the religious system,
as well as the battle to create the Reut school
– which eventually came to the Supreme Court
– often affected him personally. “There have
been many difficult moments,” he recalled.
“When we created the school, many people
within the normative Orthodox community
did not hold me in high regard and that would
be the diplomatic term.” Still, he had a lot of
support from family and friends, including
MK Rabbi Michael Melchior, as well as “role
models in the past who were not exactly
submissive individuals – including my own
mother.”
Despite these battles, Aryeh has no regrets,
and is in fact educating Reut students to
develop this same courage to promote social
change. “I think that significant change asssumes risk taking, assumes stretching oneself.
It assumes the ability to think and to act out of
the box. In that regard students have to go out
there and they’re out on a limb. The benefits
for them far outweigh what they will pay...
Graduates and people who emulate the same
kind of risk taking, they pay a price in the preseent. But in terms of the timelessness of things
and in terms of life, then the benefits for them
far exceed whatever price they pay.”
The theme of timelessness is especially potent
right now as Aryeh struggles with his fourth
bout of cancer. The 52-year old father of three
addressed the school in late November to annnounce that he was taking a leave as principal.
“He told the kids that in order to fight the
cancer, he can’t be principal and battle for his
life at the same time” Dina painfully recalled,
“He talked about the sanctity of life as a suppreme value, and that’s what he’s going to fight
for. But he also said that while he hopes that
he will win his battle, that if God has decreed
otherwise, then that’s okay.”
The impact on the school is profound.
Students and staff are sad, subdued, and
according to one parent, visibly depressed.
“It’s so sad, so very, very sad,” 16-year old
Tamir reflected. “We’re like a family, we are his
family.” Many students, and staff, have trouble
even talking about it.
“We are going through a very difficult time
right now,” explained Co-principal Avital – who
considers Aryeh her teacher as well as her
children’s adoptive grandfather. “When Aryeh
is here, it’s great, and when he’s not, there is
a gaping hole. We try to continue the routine
as much as possible, but it’s very hard.” Avital,
like so many others in the Reut community,
feel personally connected to Aryeh, not just as
principal. “I feel like he raised me,” Avital said.
“He made me who I am, professionally and
personally.”
Perhaps most remarkable is that Aryeh, even
through his illness, considers the educational
and spiritual aspects of the situation, always
caring for those around him. “For Aryeh, all of
life is a search for meaning,” Dina explained,
“and he even uses his illness to teach kids that
that’s what we do.” The way Aryeh has used
his illness to teach the kids about spirituality,
concurs Avital “is just huge.”
Aryeh considers himself fortunate that he has
had the opportunity to work with the staff and
students through what he euphemistically calls
his “probable departure from the community.”
He says, “I was blessed with an opportunity
that I knew I was ill a few years ago, and it
came upon me in a way that gave me a chance
to do some soul searching and look at how I
wanted to do things, look at issues of continuiity and separation, talk to people, get advice,
communicate about it. It came about in a way
that I was blessed with the opportunity.”
He describes the process that the staff has
gone through with pride. “I think I’m most
proud of the fact that now, when, in all probaability I have to leave the community, I know
there will be continuity. I have a co-principal
and an administration and a group of teacheers and a group of students that all share in
the responsibility and have a pretty good
understanding of what makes a school like this
tick. I feel confident that it’s not centralized
just around one person and that there will be
continuity.”
Aryeh’s characteristic minimizing of his own
presence is also reflected in his description of
the students. “My satisfaction in olam haba,”
he said, “is going to be in what they do, what
kind of families they brought up, when they
get to be my age what kind of parents or
grandparents they are, what have they done.
That will be the reflection of any impact I’ve
had on their lives… The legacy is passed down
by actions, not by more words. Whatever I’ve
had to say to them, I’ve done it as time goes
by. I believe more in education through doing
than through verbiage. All I care about is that
they know that I care.”
I asked Aryeh, if he had all the money and all
the time in the world, what would he do, and
he replied, “Probably, knowing me, I would
probably go out into the forest somewhere,
have a good daven and ask God what He wants
me to do with it. Or She.” The rest of us, in
the meantime, are praying that he gets that
opportunity.
“you take almost any issue in the school system in Israel now – certainly violence, underachievement, lack of
motivation – almost all of these have to do with the fact that students are alienated from the schools, they don’t
feel compassion, they don’t feel love, they feel they are in a competitive, utilitarian society, they could care less
about bagrut or any of the other exams.”
kind of person you are, what you do with
your life, not just for yourself but for other
people. Forcing you to volunteer kind of
defeats the purpose. Here you just do it. The
school just brings out the best in you.”
his pace. “It’s a special place that teaches you
how to be a person.” Tamir credits Aryeh
with instilling these ideas in him. “The princcipal here is a legend for me. I love him very
much. Whatever he says is holy for me.”
In the entranceway, 16-year old Tamir is
busy cooking. The tall, striking curly-haired
boy has a twinkle in his blue eyes as he
hustles around the makeshift kitchen,
wearing cooking mitts and scooping out
rice into small containers. Tamir is the
co-coordinator of the Hot Meals program,
which provides 160 lunches to poor kids in
the city five days a week, as part of the Reut
Soup Kitchen run by students throughout
the year, including feeding 300 people a
hot supper three times a week. “I love the
school,” he tells me as I try to keep up with
At Reut, volunteering and social activism
are part of the rhythm of everyday life. “We
used to get up and talk about this all the
time,” Dina explained, “but now, it just is.
We don’t make anyone volunteer, because
if you are forced, then it’s not volunteering.
The kids just run everything, and teachers
volunteer too.”
Perhaps the most legendary program that
emerged from this culture is the Gidonim
program for restoring and documenting
Polish cemeteries. A group of twelfth grade
students went on the school’s “Journey of
Remembrance” in October 2003, having
spent two days of the trip cleaning and
starting to document a local Jewish cemeetery. They returned to school profoundly
disturbed: they were upset that they did not
finish the job. So they decided to go back
and spend a few weeks in Poland finishing
the job of cleaning the cemetery and workiing in other towns.
“We didn’t take them seriously at first,”
Dina recalled. “ After all, who was going to
put off the army or university? And who was
going to pay $1,000 for another two week
trip in Poland.” But to the surprise – and
enormous pride – of the communities, the
students put off their future plans for a few
weeks, worked to raise money, and went
Similarly, matriculation is neither encouraged nor discouraged. Students
are free to take as many exams as they want, and teachers assist in every
way possible. The staff prefers not to use number grades at all because, as
Dina explains, “it is meaningless. What is that number?”
back to Poland for two weeks the following
summer where they worked day and night
clearing tombstones and recording names
and dates. They even uncovered a mass
grave that had not been discovered.
Since then, groups of staff, students and
graduates have been returning to Poland
every summer to work on the cemeteries.
This program, called the Gidonim program
in memory of those who worked as inside
contacts for Jews wishing to immigrate to
Palestine, even has its own database website
– www.gidonim.com – in which people
can search for names, tombstones, and
cemetery maps.
“This is an extraordinary act of chesed
– lovingkindness,” Dina maintains, “It’s not
even a humanist act. It’s something that
happens within yourself. The kids say they
go not only for their families and for the
Jewish community. They do it because it’s
a spiritual act. This is the type of program
that, for those who take part in it, changes
who you are as a person.”
Spirituality as Life
The message that comes across perhaps
most powerfully in the school is that spirituaality is not about praying once a day, but is
woven into every aspect of living life. “When
I see kids working at the soup kitchen, after
a long day of school, staying voluntarily unttil 7 or 8 PM,” Avital recalled, “it’s holiness.
To feel it, to see them, to see their eyes, it’s
moving, it’s spiritual. It’s just holy.”
The emphasis here on spirituality as social
awareness is why Reut does not call itself a
school but a community. Individual achievemment is not valued here – commitment to
the well-being of the whole community is. In
fact, there are no academic criteria for accepttance, only that applicants have ideological
agreement with the Reut community. “It’s
not about how you do on math, it’s about,
are you a mentsch? Do you feel responsibiliity for the world around you?”
Similarly, matriculation is neither encouraaged nor discouraged. Students are free
to take as many exams as they want, and
teachers assist in every way possible. The
staff prefers not to use number grades at all
because, as Dina explains, “it is meaningless.
What is that number?” But the students
won that debate and so there are number
grades. But even those are not significant.
As Debbie, the music and Spanish teacher,
said, “The place gives me freedom to create
and to thrive.” It’s not about academic
achievement or individual success but rather
about seeing human growth in terms of care
and responsibility for the other. It’s the idea
of school life as part of a spiritual journey.
As a sign on one of the teacher’s lockers
reads, Ani betahalikh – “I am in process”.
All aspects of life at the Reut community
reflect this idea that spirituality is about
seeing life as this journey – adults and kids
alike. Spirituality is not only about praying,
but is woven into every aspect of living
life. “Spirituality doesn’t only have to do
with prayer, but is about doing Torah,” Dina
argues. “Spirituality can happen in a learniing experience, in a discussion, or in going
out and feeding the poor. Spirituality means
being touched, making your life meaningful,
changing the world. When a kid works at
the soup kitchen, it’s an act of Torah.” Kids
see everything ranging from The Ma’aser
Program to singing in a Polish cemetery as
spiritual acts. Spirituality is in the day-today acts of human encounter.
“This school is not about a job – it’s a whole
ideology, a whole way of life” Dina said.
“People give extra all along, they come at 7
AM and don’t leave the building at night.
The school attracts people who want that,
who are willing and interested in growing.
Teaching here is not easy – it challenges
you.”
According to Dina, staffers work hard on
themselves and on the students, to enable
the school to be a safe place for personal,
spiritual, emotional processing.
“I think most of our graduates are fairly well
grounded in good mental health,” Aryeh
believes. “I think there are many excellent
schools, some of which I’ve been a part
of, that stress academic excellence and
pursuits and many things that the adult
society expects of students in a competitive
society, and leave by the side other aspects
of growing up, such as being well balanced
and having healthy, good mental health. At
this school we’re very committed to a more
holistic approach. We’re not threatened if
kids act out. We would rather deal with the
issues and not leave them for later when
they’re in the army or building a family, etc.
I think for that reason, graduates who finish
here by and large are happy and healthy
individuals.”
But this is not easy, and it requires constant
attention and work. “We are trying to create
a utopian world in which everyone loves
each other and cares about each other. And
we had to work through how you do that,
how do you teach Bible, and how do you do
prayer, and how do we create a school where
a religious family feels comfortable and a
secular family will feel comfortable?” Dina
asked.
The results of this hard work are indeed imppressive. As one recent graduate said, “The
school brought out the best in me, because
it emphasizes what kind of person you
are, what you do with your life, not just for
yourself but for other people. I still got good
grades, it wasn’t one or the other, but it’s
about what your priorities are as a person.”
Another recent graduate concurred, “I left
the school knowing that I have the power to
change the world.”
Web Abstracts
Web Abstracts
These web exclusive articles can be viewed at www. lookstein.org/journal
The Experience of
the Synagogue in the
Development of Spirituality
among Orthodox
Preschoolers
David Brody
David Brody explores pre-schoolers to
explore the role synagogue plays in their
spiritual growth and the role it plays in their
lives. Beginning with the premise that young
children are spiritual beings, he interviewed
20 five and six year olds chosen randomly
from three governmentally affiliated
religious school kindergartens. Putting the
data gathered into four categories, cognitive
mapping of the synagogue, making sense
of the partitions, playing in a non-play
environment and generating significance
from pray, Brody shares the children’s
comments and makes recommendations for
the community to improve the synagogue
experience for children in this age group.
Prayer Options and Prayer
Education in Pluralistic
Jewish High Schools:
Balancing education,
socialization, and spirituality
Daniel N. Finkel
Daniel Finkel conducts a pilot research on
three pluralistic Jewish high schools to find
out the challenges they face in regard to
tefillah with a diverse population, how they
deal with them, and how these issues relate
to challenges in other areas of education in
their schools. Conducting interviews with
students, teachers involved in tefillah and
school heads, he examined tefillah issues
shared by most pluralist high schools as well
as ones unique to particular institutions and
their cultures.
Spirituality in the
Community School
Gary Levine
Gary Levine asks how the community
school, in which not all of the students
equate spirituality with God, may develop a
meaningful spiritual experience/worldview
for its students which is both Jewish
and relevant to their view of the world.
Levine defines spirituality in a way which
is appropriate for the community school
and draws implications from the definition
regarding guiding principles emerging
from it. Those principle help provide a
framework for the development of Jewish
spirituality that is truly pluralistic, with a
focus on experiential programs, professional
development and a unified school vision as
key factors in making spirituality the central
focus of life in the school.
Panoptical Prayer and other
Practices:
Rethinking religious girls’
education through tefillah
In Orthodox services, males have
legal ownership of communal tefillah,
relegating the women to a status of passive
participants. In high school settings, that
passive role often leaves girls disengaged
and takes on a particularly negative role
as their skirt and sleeve lengths often
become the object of daily teacher checks.
With tefillah as mandatory, the experience
does little to enhance spirituality. The
combination of passivity, gaze and coercion
stand in the way of girls finding meaning in
school tefillah. Sztokman suggests several
implications for creating a school prayer
service that the girls own.
The Spiritual Development
of Modern Orthodox High
School Girls
Shira Weiss
Shira Weiss interviews female Orthodox
high school students to find out what moves
them spiritually. She identifies five areas –
tragedy, Israel, music, informal educational
experiences and music, and examines each
in greater detail, with implications for day
schools and their educational programming.
Call for Papers
Jewish Educational Leadership is seeking original articles for upcomiing issues on the following topics:
At-Risk Youth in the Jewish Community – Fall 2007
We still have room in this issue for articles that cover a broad specttrum of issues around at-risk Jewish youth such as:
· at-risk behaviors including alcohol and substance abuse, smoking,
violence, abuse, drop-out, eating disorders, self-mutilation, gambling,
sexuality issues
· recognizing signs that a family may be at-risk
· educational applications
· school roles, community networks, early intervention; successful
programs and models
· research on connections between at-risk behavior and learning and
assessment; at-risk behavior and religious identity
· the role of the family such as latchkey children, divorce, and complex
family structures
· research on gender and at-risk behavior
· challenges specific to the Jewish community and Jewish education
Deadline extended to May 15.
Gender Issues in Jewish Education – Spring 2008
While research on gender in education over the past two decades
has produced a plethora of findings, the research has barely begun
to scratch the surface of Jewish educational contexts which place a
strong focus on meanings of “Jewish boy” and “Jewish girl”. In this
issue, we seek papers that explore gender issues in Jewish education
in the following areas:
· Gender inequality in Jewish education
· Gender messages in the classroom, in books and curricula, in the
overall school culture
· Body issues and Jewish education
· The single-sex versus coeducational debate in Jewish education
· Girls in math, science and technology, and sports
· Boys, books, and the arts
· Gender and school violence
· School leadership, career advancement, and gender
· Gender, culture and language
· Religious practice and gender in Jewish education
· Messages for life being communicated by Jewish educators
Deadline: October 15.
Perspectives on Jewish Education
Searching for
Spirituality in
Education
Saul J. Berman
Whether we consider the search for spirittuality in education as valuable depends
almost entirely on how we understand
the word “spirituality.” So, let me begin by
discussing what I mean by that term. I use
the term “spiritual” to refer to one or more
of the following: the experience of the preseence of God, the understanding of God’s
will in the world, and/or the actualization
of God’s values. “Spirituality” is the state of
consciousness of those elements of reality.
Thus, when I say that the doing of a mitzvah
is a “spiritual” experience, what I mean is
that the performance of that religious act is
a tool through which the individual either
feels the presence of God in his or her life,
or gains an understanding of what Divine
virtue God desires to have achieved through
that particular behavior, or has an experieence of the actualization of a Godly value
in his or her own life. This consciousness is
what some refer to as kavannah.
Hazal considered it essential that such
consciousness accompany the performance
of mitzvot. While they did not require the
repetition of behavioral mitzvot if one failed
to have the appropriate kavannah at the
moment of performance, that was only a
bidi’avad, a post facto standard. Lekhathilah, ideally, kavannah was necessary in
the performance of every mitzvah. In fact,
the Sages did require such
repetition when the lack of
kavannah was in relation to
a mitzvah achieved entirely
through spoken words.
With this, we can undersstand why the Great Asssembly under the leadership
of Ezra composed berakhot
prior to the performance of mitzvot. The
function of the berakhah was to assure
that the person would be conscious of the
presence of God or of God’s virtues and
values during the mitzvah act. This may also
explain why they felt no need to compose
berakhot in regard to mitzvot in which the
act bore its own meaning – in which the
inherent value was obvious, such as in the
cases of the giving of tzedakah or of visiting
the sick.
We live, and serve as educators, in an era
in which the life of mitzvot is no longer the
simple and common cultural inheritance
of every Jew. Association with the Jewish
people, with Judaism, and with the perfformance of mitzvot, are choices which are
consciously made, not made or unmade. It is
therefore the distinctive challenge of Jewish
educators in this era to educate persuasively
– to invest the process of study with such
manifest meaning as to lead the student,
youth or adult, to cherish the opportunity
for Jewish and religious engagement. One
essential tool available to us in this endeavor
is that of spirituality.
Maimonides, in The Guide to the Perplexed
(III: 27), offers a foundational contention
– that every one of the mitzvot has some
human purpose. He argues that all of the
purposes fall into one or more of three
basic categories. First, they teach truth and
thereby enable people to avoid the belief in
falsehood which is detrimental to the very
Rabbi Saul J. Berman is Director of Continuing Rabbinic Education at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah.
He also teaches Jewish Law at Stern College and Columbia University School of Law.
essence of the human person. Second, they
serve to refine the human personality, help
us to integrate noble virtues and to avoid
the learning of ignoble and degraded perssonality qualities. Third, Rambam contends,
mitzvot provide us with understanding of
the social values which make for the develoopment of a just social order, and enable us
to avoid injustice and societal disorder.
Ought we not teach all Jewish texts and all
Jewish experiences from the perspective of
this Maimonidean position?! The impact of
doing so would be to produce an extraordinnary level of spirituality in every aspect of
Jewish education – a deep consciousness of
the presence of God, of the Divine virtues
and of Torah’s social values.
We may not be able to directly cultivate
the experience of God’s presence in our
classrooms, but we could shape them as safe
places in which people could talk about the
experience of God, could engage in God talk,
without embarrassment and without the
fear of ridicule. We could certainly explore
all texts, and all Jewish experiences which
we provide in educational settings, from
the perspective of what they reveal about
human virtues which we aspire to achieve.
And we could benefit from a more proffound awareness that God desired not only
personal improvement, but the formation of
an ideal society in which social justice is the
religious foundation of the social order.
This latter awareness, the shared aspiration
of the Jewish people for the shaping of the
State of Israel as the embodiment of Jewish
values of justice, mercy and mutual responssibility, is the way in which the study and
experience of Israel could be made part of
the spiritual experience of Jewish education.
In this most challenging era, Jewish educattion is charting the path towards Jewish
survival and Jewish renaissance. Another
powerful tool to enhance that progress is
unfolding itself as we engage in an intense
search for the proper use of spirituality in
Jewish education.
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