October 2005 Education vs. Education By Rabbi Alvin Kass The climax of this month-long holiday cycle is the Festival of Simchat Torah, the Rejoicing of the Law, which celebrates the completion of the annual reading of the Torah. This sacred event calls to mind the Jewish devotion to learning that has characterized our people for two thousand years. The bright Jewish child is no accident. He/she is the result of an entire community's conscious and deliberate pursuit of knowledge throughout its history. The Jews of 2005 still value education, but often for reasons quite different from those of their forebears. Learning is considered important today because it is a "union card," the gateway to success. We go to school primarily to acquire pragmatic and commercially useful skills which will help us get ahead in our profession or sometimes simply to get a job in this increasingly complex and technological civilization in which we live. Our ancestors, however, were dedicated to the pursuits of the mind, not because it would help them to make a living, but because it was necessary to make a life. The imparting of factual information was ancillary to the more significant objective of cultivating attitudes. Thus, the study of the Exodus from Egypt was less a history lesson than an effort at transmitting compassion for the downtrodden. More important than reciting the Ten Commandments is embodying their unique moral values in our daily regimen of behavior. Holocaust reading is not an abstract enterprise but a desperate try at rescuing the human heart from a satanic madness. Zionist research aspires to far more than an academic exercise; its goal is nothing short of fostering an enduring love which will bind the heart of every Jew to the land and people of Israel, now and forever. The sages of yesteryear sought to mold the character of each Jewish person in accordance with the highest prophetic ideals. How to transform an efficient animate creature into a concerned, responsive and responsible human being was the principal goal. As Robert Hutchins phrased it: "the object of education is not manpower, but manhood!" The interest today of many American Jews with education, though derived from our history and background, has had a paradoxical outcome. The reason most often given by parents for having their children drop out of Hebrew High School after Bar and Bat Mitzvah is that he or she is too busy in public school and has too much homework. Hence, study of Torah is dropped when a young person requires it most, at the very time when the mind is undergoing its most extensive development and one is experimenting with different ideas and life styles. Who would have dreamed that a time would come when Jews would abandon study of the Torah in the name of the pursuit of knowledge! There is hardly a greater tragedy in Jewish life today than the termination of the Jewish educational process at age thirteen. Precisely at the moment when the Jewish child experiences the greatest inner turbulence amidst profound and painful changes, he/she is often robbed of the stability, the guidance, the friendship, and the values that higher Jewish education can provide. Restricting Jewish learning to ages 8-13 hardly does justice to our 4,000 year-old civilization and its capacity to elevate the perspectives of our youth. As we participate in the beautiful and inspiring fall cycle of holy days, which prepare the way for Simchat Torah, let us remember that more important than "manpower" is "manhood." The greatest benefit that human beings could derive from education is to "do justly, love mercy, and walk humbly with thy God."