A parent on Areivim relates that his fourth grade son, normally a very conscientious and responsible student, came home from school one day very distraught. His English teacher had given him a couple reading assignments that the child deemed inappropriate to a Frum 4th grader. Yes… fourth graders now know what is appropriate for a Jew to study.
The first assignment was reading about Indian mythology.
The second assignment was about how in twenty million years the earth is going to explode.
The child strongly protested to the teacher on religious grounds. But he was told he still had to do it and further protests would be subject to discipline by the principal.
First, it is interesting to note that the subject of ancient mythology is part of the curriculum of a religious school. Many people would question why this shouldn’t be considered teaching Avodah Zara. But I do not see it that way. Apparently neither does the school.
Teaching these subjects is not in conflict with Halacha, if they are taught in the context of myth and for the purpose of trying to understand people of other cultures. This is similar to when the Gemarah talks about Avodah Zara or even the Torah itself. It’s all about context and purpose. That should have been the attitude of the parent in instructing his son to do the assignment..
The second assignment was protested because the fourth grader said that it is false. The sun is going to be much stronger for the Tzaddikim L'Asid Lavo! (‘How can the earth then explode?’ …is what I assume he meant.)
But here too, one can reconcile this with a Torah Hashkafa. If I recall correctly there is a legitimate Hashkafa that era of Moshiach is not supposed to last for eternity. I leave this explanation to those more familiar with this concept than I. But an exploding earth 20 million years from now is not necessarily a contradiction to Torah. This is the context in which this parent should have insisted his son do the assignment.
But there is yet another incident this parent tells of, which is the most troubling. It happened last year when the child in question was in only third grade. The assignment was about Jackie Robinson breaking the color barrier in baseball. The child’s reaction: "I am a Rabbi's son, and I was not put in this world to learn about shvartze baseball players."
The parent then ponders whether his son’s Hashkafos are where they ought to be.
Based on these curricular assignments I have to assume that by sending his child to that school, This parent is supportive of the study of Mada. Obviously the school teaches it. Yet the child reacted so negtively that his responses are worthy of a child raised in Bnei Brak.
The school also teaches tolerance. Yet this child reacted like a bigot. The question must be asked, “How can a parent tolerant enough to send his child to a school like this get those responses?
But more importantly where did his son learn the word “Shvartze”? Where does he pick up this bigotry? And why does he think it is unimportant to learn about the history of racism in America?
The likely answer is that he either learned it from his peers, his parents, his Rebbeim, or any combination thereof. And it continues to grieve me that a young child whose father is a rabbi can have such a bigoted attitude at such an early age. Bigotry starts in the home and it starts early. This is clearly evidence of that. Third graders are about 8 years old. That a parent can hear such language from his son without so much as batting an eyelash means that he probably uses it himself, along with the bigotry. It is probably expressed nonchalantly in the home.
Unfortunately, I believe this is a common attitude. More common than I had hoped would be the case by now. And this parent is not alone in his bigotry. It is shared by all too many Frum Jews. And no matter how much time passes attitudes like this do not seem to change. And that is so wrong.
What would a father like this say if an older, somehow more tolerant son were to date a Frum black girl? I know one beautiful young woman in her early twenties who is not only black and Jewish, but she is not even a Giyores. She was born Jewish of black parents who converted well before her birth. How would he treat her? Would he refer to her as a Shvartze, too?
Why must so many of our people be so bigoted? Why must skin color be looked at before character? Are we not all created in God’s image? And aren’t Jews a Goy Kadosh, no matter what color we are? Since when is bigotry one of the Taryag Mitzvos? Yet some people seem to treat bigotry as one of the Ikarrei Emunah. When are parents going to be upset by a child coming home with a bigoted statement like this instead of just being complacent and asking whether his Hashkafos are in the right place?
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