WHO NEEDS RELIGIOUS SCHOOL?

Elul 27, 5781 / September 3-4, 2021
Parashat Nitzavim
Torah: Deuteronomy 29:9 – 30:20
Haftarah: Isaiah 61:10 - 63:9 (Seventh Haftarah of Consolation)

For the past few years, I have created a Cheshbon Hanefesh Worksheet to help get us ready for the spiritual side of the High Holy Days (sorry, no recipes or floral arrangements!). You can download it from my blog at: 
https://rav-rich.blogspot.com/2021/08/cheshbon-hanefesh-worksheet-5782-edition.html 
 
Also, some excellent on-line resources are available for your Rosh Hashanah preparations at:
https://www.myjewishlearning.com/  

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IMPORTANT INFO FOR HIGH HOLY DAY SERVICES AT B'NAI HAYIM

Services are live in person and on Zoom. You must register in advance as a Chaver in order to get tickets and the Zoom link. For those attending in person, a vaccine attestation is also required. For more info, go to:

https://bnaihayim.org/high-holidays/ 

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This d'var torah is offered for a refuah shleimah for Chanah Elisheva bat Minnie Leah, Feigel bat Kreina, and D'vorah bat Feigel. 
 
This d'var torah is offered in memory of my grandmother, Cora Slome, whose yahrzeit falls on Sunday, Elul 28. Y’hi zekherah liv’rakhah.
 
NO Lunch and Learn on Tuesday, September 7 – Rosh Hashanah! Resume September 14. Shanah Tovah!
 
Check out our wonderful community, and get lots of info about becoming a Chaver and our various programs, including the High Holidays, at:
https://bnaihayim.org/ 
 
Our Rabbi Jason Van Leeuwen has a blog of Divrei Torah which you should read at: 
https://rebjasonblog.wordpress.com/blog/ 
 
Please feel free to pass this on to a friend, and please cite the source.
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WHO NEEDS RELIGIOUS SCHOOL?

"Gather together the people - the men, the women, and the little ones, and your stranger at your gates - so that they will hear and they will learn and they will hold in awe the Lord your God, and be careful to perform all the words of this Torah." Deuteronomy 30:12

Rashi: Why should the little children come? To reward those who bring them.

Rashi's response seems strange. One would think that the children are there for the reason stated by the Torah - to learn. But, according to halakhah, children are not obligated for mitzvot, precisely because they are children. Only when one becomes bar or bat mitzvah, at the age of 13, does one become obligated to fulfill the commandments (that is the actual meaning of "bar mitzvah"). Thus, children are not obligated to study Torah.

Some people might stop at this point and conclude that their children should decide for themselves whether they will attend religious school - maybe soccer or karate is more important to them. After all, when they are adults, they can determine what kind of spiritual path they will take. That's what America is all about, isn't it? Freedom of choice? 

Well, not exactly. We don't let our children decide that they are never going to eat anything for dinner except chocolate ice cream. It's not healthy for them. We don't let our children decide whether they are going to go to math or spelling classes, or that they will go only when it is convenient for them - they have to go to school because it's the law - and because it makes sense. They cannot get along as adults in our society without an education.

Judaism is not about freedom of choice either. It's not spiritually healthy for our children to let them decide if they will have a religious education. And we know that they cannot get along as Jewish adults if they are undereducated. That is why so many of us feel Jewishly inadequate - because our parents left us to fend for ourselves, religiously speaking.

Sadly, perhaps because of our perceived inadequacies, far too many of us treat Jewish education as an afterthought, as if our children don't deserve to have lives based on the ethical and moral values of the Jewish tradition. Even worse, a great number of us persist in the notion that our children need only the barest Jewish education in order to survive as Jewish adults.  It is as if we are proud of ignorance.

Behavior is learned. If we know that children who see their parents smoke cigarettes are more likely to smoke, and that children who see their parents read frequently are more likely to enjoy reading, then we ignore at our peril, and at the peril of our children and our people, the commandment to educate our children (and ourselves!) in the ways of Jewish tradition and practice - "And you shall teach them diligently to your children, and you shall speak of them while sitting in your home, while walking on the way, when you lie down and when you awaken." Deuteronomy 6:7 

What is the reward for those who bring their children to religious school and to the synagogue? It’s the knowledge that they and their children will have more meaningful and fulfilling Jewish lives. Who needs religious school? Every one of us!
 
Shabbat shalom! May you be written and sealed for a happy, healthy new year, full of learning and meaning.
 
Shabbat Shalom! L'shanah Tovah Tikateivu V'Tichateimu!
 
Richard A. Flom, Rabbi Emeritus
TBH/CBM
Sherman Oaks, CA
".איזה הוא חכם? הלומד מכל אדם"
Who is wise? The one who learns from every person.
Ben Zoma - Pirkei Avot 4:1
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