Pathway to salvation lies with us

I write this article from the Prizmah Jewish Day School Conference in Boston, where I have come together with 1 500 educators from around the world – including a good number of South Africans, current and in origin – for three days of discussion about the future of Jewish day school education.

While the impact and takeaways of this conference are too great to summarise in a short article, one session that stood out for me was run by Dr Alex Pomson of Rosov Consulting on a more than 10-year study that he has run on the impact of Jewish day school education in England, America, and beyond. One of his findings is that while Jewish day schools have a significant impact on Jewish identity, commitment to marry and raise children as Jewish, and affiliation to Israel, they don’t have a significant impact on many of the religious aspects of Jewish life, such as belief in Hashem, frequency of shul attendance, or keeping Shabbat. This is despite the fact that so many of our excellent educators invest so much in exactly these areas, and so many of our parents and families expect exactly these changes to come from Jewish day school education.

“Rabbi Sam,” I imagine you saying to me, “this is very interesting, but perhaps you forgot that you were invited to write a dvar Torah on the weekly parsha?”

“Thank you,” I say to your imaginary words “for keeping me on track, but I do indeed have the parsha in mind. As the Jewish people are standing at the boundary of the Yam Suf (the Sea of Reeds or perhaps the Red Sea), they cry out to Hashem for salvation. A natural, and even praiseworthy response. There seems no way for them to save themselves, but Hashem can do anything, and it is to Him that they turn.

And yet, this isn’t the correct response. Hashem asks Moshe, “Why are you crying out to me? Speak to Bnei Yisrael, and they will move!” The answer was not to rely on anyone else, even Hashem Himself, and even though the Jewish people didn’t feel that they themselves had the pathway to salvation, the truth is that they did indeed.

I think of that when I think of the decisions we make about our children and families. What Dr Pomson’s data is telling us is that if we want our children to feel that Jewish identity, community, and continuity is important to them, sending them to a Jewish day school is a powerful way to increase the chances of it being the case. But if we want them to build a strong and meaningful relationship with Hashem, if we want them to go to shul, if we want them to make religious observance a part of their life, for this we cannot rely on our schools. For this we ourselves must be the ones to move – to go to shul, to make Shabbat special, and to model a relationship with our creator. Then we will, please G-d, see wonders.

Rabbi Sam Thurgood – Head of Jewish Life and Learning for United Herzlia Schools