37
ImagInIng the JewIsh Future
tional thought. In the words of Rabbi
Abraham Isaac Kook, “We need to
renew the old and sanctify the new.”
If you could remember just one He-
brew letter, it should be the letter ‘vav.’
The letter ‘vav’ means ‘and’. The word
‘
vav’ means ‘hook’. Vav is the hook on
which Jewish learning hangs. We learn
when we build connections, when we
discover associations, and when we cre-
ate combinations. The thesis of a new
book,
Powers of Two
by Joshua Wolf
Shenk, is that the greatest innovations
have resulted from partnerships – from
havrutot
,
from Lennon and McCa-
rtney, for example, rather than from
individual geniuses.
One of the things that I learned from,
with, and about each one of my
havruta
study partners over the past
thirty years is related to the text that
is before you with the heading:
חברות
ומשמעות
(
haveirut u’mashmaut
) –
Relationships and Meaning.
We live
in a time in which there is a great focus
on relational Judaism. Relational Juda-
ism is necessary but it is not sufficient.
Relational Judaism has a very different
magnification when it is amplified
through “mashmaut,” through mean-
ing, through shared dialogue. What are
the components of that relationship?
The first text is: “Find yourself an au-
thoritative teacher.” That is a necessary
precondition for learning, but not
sufficient by itself. “And acquire a study
partner.” In David Ellenson’s New York
office, these two phrases were inscribed
on a plaque given to him by his class-
mates. They are frequently cited when
an outstanding teacher of Torah is hon-
ored. However, the rabbinic aphorism
continues and grounds the first two
statements in an ethical context. “And
judge the whole person tending to the
side of merit (giving the benefit of the
doubt).”
Jewish learning is an ethical exer-
cise in appreciative inquiry, looking
for what is good in every text, in
every context, in every student,
and in every teacher.
Jewish learning not only involves
subject matter; it also involves subject
manner. How we learn intimately
connects to what we learn, and Jewish
learning, in contrast to the dominant
culture that venerates ‘critical thinking,’
is essentially kind and generous – look-
ing for what is good and worthy rather
than for what is weak or wrong.
Jewish learning is multi-dimensional.
It’s not only an intellectual exercise,
it’s not only an emotional bridge built
between people. It’s a social activity.
And it is profoundly ethical. Think of
how different your learning relation-
ships would be if, instead of looking
for what’s wrong, what mistakes people
brought, you would start with what is
appreciative inquiry.
How can you learn from every person
with whom you interact: every student,
every colleague, every one of our chil-
dren, sometimes one of our parents, our
spouses or partners, certainly the people
we love most in life?
My mother lives in an extended care
facility outside Boston, MA, where
she had served on the medical staff for
nearly forty years. (She died two days
after the Symposium.) She is my teach-
er when she tells me, “Jan, most of
the people here treat me like a patient;
thank God there are a few who relate
to me as a person.”
In education, there are too many
teachers who treat their learners as
students and fail to relate to them
as people.
I was terribly moved when I came across
the text before you from Kalonymus
Kalman Shapira. He wrote a text titled
חובת התלמיד
–
A Student’s Obli-
gation,
which was buried under the
Warsaw Ghetto, where he was a rabbi
during the Holocaust. The following
very brief statement is from the intro-
duction to this work, which was recent-
ly published in an English translation.
We need to picture the tragic circum-
stances under which he was teaching.
He actually anticipated this by saying
in his preface that this is not about the
craft of teaching. “We are interested in
the whole student. We wish to connect
to the
nefesh
,
ruach
,
and
neshama
(
three
words used to describe the soul) of Jew-
ish children to the God of Israel.” From
my perspective, Rabbi Shapira captured
the goal and the soul of Jewish learning,
to connect Jewish learners to each other,
across time and space, and to God.
Find yourself an authoritative
teacher; And acquire a study partner;
And judge the whole person
tending to the scale of merit.
(
Mishna Avot 1:6)
We are interested in the whole stu-
dent. We wish to connect the
נפש
(
nefesh),
רוח
(
ruach) and
נשמה
(
neshama) of Jewish children to the
God of Israel.
(
Rabbi Kalonymus
Kalman Shapira, A Student’s Obliga-
tion: Advice from the Rebbe of the
Warsaw Ghetto)
Jewish learning is multi-dimension-
al: intellectual, emotional, social,
ethical, and spiritual. Jewish learning,
like learning in general, has become
increasingly personal, direct, demo-
cratic, decentralized, and global.
what are the conditions, the terms
of engagement, that enable you to
be an active Jewish learner?
חברות ומשמעות
relationships and meaning