While I sometimes criticize Agudah on certain of their positions, I do not think them an evil organization, God forbid. Quite the contrary. For the most part I am a big supporter of what they do, especially in the area of public service. They have been able to achieve a great number of successes over the course of their history that has benefited all of Klal Yisroel here in America. I don’t think there is a single area where I have disagreed with them in the area of public service. My only disagreements have been with some of public policy issues. For example I disagree with their opposition to Roe v Wade for reasons I have written about in the past and am not going to repeat here.
One area that has my complete support is project “YES”. It is a “hands on” effort tackling the “kids at risk” problem in the Torah world. To put it the way they do on their website: “Our objective is to intervene before little problems become big problem – before a teen comes close enough to the edge to fall.”
Its founder and director is Rabbi Yakov Horowitz. He has posted on this blog before. I have become a huge fan of his and I don’t think I have ever disagreed with a position he has taken on subjects that he has written about. Last week I linked to an article he wrote for the Chicago Community Kollel. I do so again this week as its subject is a matter of great importance. It is a continuation of the educational matters he discussed last week.
The article focuses on how to make all children love Torah and Yiddishkeit in an environment that’s becoming virtually impossible to be sheltered from anymore. Increasingly so! Yet Yeshivos are doing little if anything about it other them condemning these outside influences. They are not providing the kind of environment that can provide attractive alternatives to these distractions.
I think the situation demands a re-assessment of the actual curricula in the Yeshivos and day schools. Instead of minimizing their importance Yeshivos should include extra curricular activities in addition to an improved secular studies department. It should no longer be characterized as a B'Dieved. Traditional secular Yeshiva subjects like science, math and English should be the core of any secular curriculum but should also include such non-traditional subjects like music, art, and shop. It should include a serious physical education department too.
The curriculum should be as broad as possible so that every child can begin to fulfill his or her destiny as early as possible in life. In this way a child will learn to appreciate the beauty of Torah through a nurturing environment where instead of frowning on secular subjects they will be endorsing them.
Another improvement that needs to be made is a bigger empahsis on Bein Adam L'Chavero. Mussar also needs to be a part of every curriculum while insuring that a child’s self esteem is never diminished.
Also, there needs to be less pressure on those elementary school children who simply cannot take it. And even in high school, not everyone is cut out to learn from 8:00 in the morning to 10:00 o’clock in the evening and then do homework. For those who have the Cheshek… sure! Give them a suitable program. But the Yeshivas must make sure that they are appealing to the right students and not pressuring all of them to do this. Those who can’t hack it are not to be made to feel inferior. In short, Chanoch L'Naar al pi Darko should be the over-riding principle of all Jewish Education kindergarden through high school.
Most importantly teaching Mechanchim how to deal with the specifics of the ever increasing amount of garbage that permeates our world is of paramount importance. It should not be swept under the carpet as though it doesn't exist but rather tackled head on. No one should go into Chinuch without learning the proper way to deal with it from teachers or mentors who are experienced in these matters.
And what about after high school? Should we emulate the model of Volozhin? The idea that a Yeshiva Gedolah is where all Ysehiva high school graduates go?
Well, here is what Rav Hutner thought. From the article:
“Rav Hutner was saying how we must change the way that we view our yeshivos. He was suggesting that the holy yeshivos of Volozhin and Slabodka were primarily designed for a tiny percentage of the outstanding achievers in Torah, as the grinding poverty of pre-war Europe forced the vast majority of children above the age of thirteen
to join the workforce. American yeshivos and Beis Yakov’s, Rav Hutner maintained, need to be geared for all children to find success and refuge.”
So the answer is, yes... for a tiny percentage of outstanding achievers. But not everyone needs that kind of program. Rav Hutner’s bottom line? Chanoch L’Naar Al Pi Darko. And that applies to any Jew… at any age.
