Many years ago I heard Rav Mordechai Gifter ask the following during a talk.
"Will someone please tell me what the day schools are doing with the first 8 years of chinuch. They turn out a product that does not know Chumash, does not know mishna, does not know Dikduk, does not know halacha, does not know Nach, does not know RASHI. What are they doing with that time?!!!!!!" (His voice rose to a crescendo at the end.)
I was reminded of this when a young woman told me the following on Shabbos. She said that of the 43 students in her MO day school that graduated high school in 1997 only 7 or 8 were observant today. Most went to Israel for one year after graduation and a number stayed for a second year. Some of those who spent two years studying in EY are not observant today, she pointed out.
So, even though chinuch is not my area of expertise, I have to ask Rav Gifter's question, "What are the day schools doing with the 12 years of chinuch?" One can add, "What are the schools in EY doing with the year or two spent studying there?"
I do not believe that most day school graduates have what I would call an overview of Yahadus that prepares them for the "real world." My impression is that this situation is not remedied after a year or two of study in EY.
I know of a 17 year-old high school yeshiva student who was on a train going from Detroit to Toronto two summers ago. He was wearing a hat and a jacket and caught the attention of a non-Jew who was sitting nearby. The non-Jew came over to him and said respectfully, "Do you mind my asking why a young fellow like you is dressed like a business man?" The young man explained that he was a Jewish yeshiva student. The gentile's curiosity was piqued, and he asked the young man if he could ask him some questions. There then ensued a 2 hour conversation in which the non-Jew asked all sorts of questions about Yahadus. He was respectfully interested in finding out what being a Jewish yeshiva student meant. This young man had no problem discussing all sorts of issues with this non-Jew.
I wonder how many other 17 year-old day school and yeshiva products would be capable and comfortable carrying on such a conversation with a non-Jew. Not very many, I suspect. Furthermore, I suspect that the reason is because the overwhelming majority of 17 year-old day school and yeshiva students have not been exposed to an overview of what Yahadus is all about. The same I suspect is true for many older products of our Chinuch system.
I have no data and I realize the danger of basing anything on a couple of anecdotes. My understanding is that statistics show that the longer a student stays in a day school or yeshiva, the more likely s/he is to maintain a connection to Judaism as an adult. However, what about the likelihood of remaining observant? Are there statistics on this?
Recently Daniel Adler called for a "Return to Basics: A Call to Revitalize R? Hirsch?s Torah im Derech Eretz" (See [
tinyurl.com] ) He wrote
"How is it that over the past few decades, Yeshivos all over the United States have produced students that are 'un-Jewish' (to use a Hirschian phrase)" By that I mean that, after twelve years of a Jewish education, many of them are not committed to Judaism at all. Not until after high school, when students learn in Bais Medrash/Seminary for a year or two (often in Israel), do they become committed to a Torah lifestyle. A second problem that presents itself comes as a result of the Yeshiva day school system naturally feeding into a kollel lifestyle. This lifestyle has become automatic for many Yeshiva/Bais Yaakov graduates: they do not decide as individuals whether or not a kollel lifestyle is appropriate for them. These two problems not only afflict the Yeshiva world; they also affect the insular Chassidish world."
Perhaps the 12 or 13 years of chinuch that are given to young people should include exposure to large doses of the thoughts on RSRH. (I am fond of saying that one cannot truly understand what Yahadus is about without reading the writings of RSRH.) Perhaps doing so would prepare day school and yeshiva graduates to deal with the "real world" and possibly prevent the situation in which only 7 or 8 day school high graduates out of 43 remain observant.
Professor Yitzchok Levine
Department of Mathematical Sciences
Stevens Institute of Technology
Hoboken, NJ 07030
llevine@stevens.edu
[
personal.stevens.edu]
