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| Is the Charedi school in Israel the new model for American schools? (Reuters) |
While this should be obvious to most of us, I am convinced
that a lot of parents don’t even think about it. Even among those that do, they might seek an opinion from a rabbi whose Hashkafos do not necessarily match their own. This
happens a lot in mainstream Orthodoxy. If you are a member of a Shul whose rabbi is a beloved
charismatic figure, he might be asked by a member with young children where he thought you should send your child.
If he is Charedi (which is becoming more prevalent in Orthodox Shuls) his answer will be sincere but might not have
anything to do with your Hashkafos or what kind of Jewish education you believe is
best for your child. He could easily just tell you send to a School where his own Charedi Hashkafos are taught. Not
that he is doing anything wrong, underhanded, or nefarious. It is just that he really believes his values to be the truest to the Torah.
It has been my experience that this choice whether made without too much thought or based on advice from a beloved rabbi has led to a lot of children not following in the footsteps of their parents. No matter what kind
of values they want to instill in their children, the majority of their day will be spent in a school whose values are not the same as their parents.
In cases where the Rebbeim (Torah teachers) are all Charedi and teaching children year after year in elementary school - that is almost a guarantee that it will be their values that will eventually be adopted by a child. Not because they are old enough to make those decisions. But because the schools they attend beyond elementary school will have the same Hashkafos and will continue until they are old enough to make those decisions. That is clearly the most likely outcome.
Most parents will accept those results even though they may
not fully agree with them. The
trend in Orthodoxy is in that direction anyway. And a lot of the parents in those schools (most of them - probably) actually have
those Hashkafos in the first place. For those that don’t, they just learn to live with
it. They still love their children very much. I believe there re a
lot of parents like that. Parents that would have been happier to see their
children have a Jewish education more in line with their Hashkafos and the values based on them.
But they chose a school by believing that it is better to send them to a school that is to their right than
too their left,or because of the influence of their rabbi - despite his having values different than their own.
What are these Charedi values? In short they are based on something called Daas
Torah. Which literally means the wisdom of the Torah. The fact is that the wisdom of the Torah is what we all must follow. The question is how we determine what that really is. In our day that term has been co-opted by the Charedi world and interpreted as following a group of rabbinic leaders they call the Gedolim. Rabbis universally recognized as highly knowledgeable in Torah.
The problem with that is that not all rabbinic leaders agree on what Daas Torah really is. Especially when it comes to educating our young. What exactly does that mean in our day? It does not matter to the Charedi world what anyone but what their own Gedolim say it means. Making matters worse there is a phenomenon we all all familiar with called ‘moving to the right’. This phenomenon is most prevalent in the Charedi world.
If a school is oriented that way, and they see others
schools adopting certain values, they will often adopt them too. Not necessarily because there is any intrinsic Torah values in them. But because other
schools to their right have adopted them. Values that on the surface make sense to their Hashkafos. Like spending more of their day - and of their year - studying Torah. So if
a school wants to maintain their credentials as Charedi, they will follow suit and do what other schools have done.
What about their parent body? Does their opinion matter? Not
really. Why? I have heard this dismissive common response made many times rabbinic and lay leaders of such schools: ‘What does a parent know about Daas Torah?!’ ‘It doesn’t
really matter what they think.’ ‘All that matters is Daas Torah.’ Which they
see as the ultimate will of God. If a parent doesn’t agree they can send their kids to one of the other non Charedi schools (which they look down upon as inferior or Krum - meaning that they have a warped Hashkafa).
The problem with that ‘option’ is that it is totally unrealistic. You can’t
pull out a child from a school where all of their friends are; a school they are
familiar with in all its facets... and send them to a place they won’t recognize; whose
curriculum and environment that is entirely different than what they are used to,and whose students and teachers are
unfamiliar to them. That can severely traumatize a child, hinder his progress, and even cause him to go OTD. Besides, why would they want to send their child to a school they have been indoctrinated to believe that their Hashkafos are Krum?
For those parents that are Charedi and believe in the concept of Charedi DaasTorah... they might just object to some of the particulars added to those schools for very good reasons. They would never, however, consider
a non Charedi school. They are basically told to love it or leave it. But they will neither love it nor leave it.
What a wide disparity between the Hashkafos of the home and of the school can easily produce is an increase in the possibility of child going OTD. When new and difficult rules are implemented over the already difficult old ones - it is not stretch to believe this can be a result.
The school day for boys is very long and very intense. The trend is towards increasing both - not only the expansion of the school day – but of the school
year too. The current thinking in the Charedi world is that Torah study should be maximized as much as humanly possible. Free time or vacations should be minimized since it is otherwise considered Bitul Torah (a waste of Torah study time).
The belief is that the boys can handle it –
just like so many other boys in schools like that where these new conditions have already implemented. They look not only to their right. They look Eastward
as well. Seeing the Israeli Charedi model as the ideal. This means the
ultimate abandonment of Limudei Chol (secular studies) - seen as a form of Bitul Torah. This is the direction the Charedi world is going. And Charedi Israel is their model. I am not talking about Chasidic schools. I am talking about many mainstream Charedi schools of the Lithuanian variety.
Is this what parents looking into a school for their child
want? Even if they are Charedi? I suppose that some do, But I’ll bet that a lot
of them don’t and still prefer what was once considered the norm for a Yeshiva
education – even a Charedi one.
My guess is that a lot of parents don’t even realize this
trend is happening. But they should.
I believe that Charedi parents ought to start thinking for
themselves and look to other schools with a more traditional approach to a religious
education. This does not mean going to the left or sending a child to a coed
school – even if it is Orthodox. But that is not the only other choice.
There
are schools that actually have the values that many parents in those schools
have and yet still send their children to a school to their religious
right. They may eventually be happy with
their choice. But not because their children have adopted their values. But because those children are loved and still love their family. Those values have not changed. They are good people that have become well adjusted to their life choices.
Meanwhile there are children that simply cannot hack it in those
schools. Because the very trend towards excellence
in Torah studies is the same trend that a lot of young students are not
capable of handling. They are the ones that fall though the cracks. And this new trend will surely increase that.
Parents need to consider all of that and not just look to their right…or rely
on rabbis whose views mirror those of the right wing schools.
What about a parent that want their children to be Charedi - but
would also like them to have a decent secular education and a more ore less normal school day and school year? And do not believe in
the long extended hours spent daily in the classroom or the extend school
year?
I believe they too can be happy in a school that caters to both the right
and the left. A school whose philosophy is “Chanoch L’Naar Al Pi Darko’ educate
the child according to his personal ability.
A child can go to a school like that and remain influenced primarily by
their parents’ values. The school will not contradict them. If they want their children to be Charedi –
they probably will be. Such schools have Charedi role models as well as non Charedi ones.The values
they learn in the home plus those they learn in school will help them make moire informed choices in life. Sometimes those
choices will be to the right of a parent and sometimes to the left. But they informed choices.
I therefore urge parents not to follow the crowd and instead to choose
a school wisely based mostly on how your values will be treated by the school.
Will they be ignored or will they be considered? That is the question that
should be uppermost in the mind of a parent before deciding which school to
send a child to. Because once the decision is made. It might be too difficult to
change upon the experiencing disappointing results
