Sorry for getting into the conversation at the 11th hour! To be totally above board (with myself, as well), I think I was waiting to see if someone would preempt me!
Rabbi Eis has articulated very clearly some of the "disappointments" that await those of us who teach young men and women who come to Israel after high school to learn in a Yeshiva or Seminary. And yes, the inability to properly read a pasuk of Chumash and translate it even superficially, is one of the most glaring and serious deficiencies when one considers the skills needed to progress in one's learning.
However, I do not believe that the "shortcoming" is based solely, or even primarily, on the two deficiencies Rabbi Eis mentions, namely, a lack of standards and a lack of aligned testing.
I have had the zchut to teach in such programs for the last nine years and I have found that there are more egregious gaps in the preparation in Limudei Kodesh that these students are receiving. Let me cite a few examples:
1) The inability to define, even broadly, the terms "mishna" or "gemara"
2) A lack of "recognition" of the names of the 24 Sifrei Kodesh; let alone, the ability to "name" them
3) A lack of knowledge of the "English/Latin" common names of the five Chumshei Torah coupled with the inability to translate the common Hebrew names of the Chumashim
4) No grasp of the most basic elements or parameters of the chronology of the almost 5,800 years of human existence (even within a 500 or 1,000 years!). For example:
-When did Avaraham live?
-When was the Torah given?
-When was the first Beit Hamikdash built? Destroyed? Second built? Destroyed?
-When was the Mishna compiled? By whom?
-When the events recorded in the Megilla take place? Chanukah?
5) The inability to name the 12 Tribes
6) A lack of understanding of the following terms:
- "Pirkei Avot" (What? When? Who?)
- "Shas"
- "Haftorah"
The above are all "fact-based." The same can be said, unfortunately, regarding many of the essential philosophical and theological underpinnings of Yahadut.
Should a graduate of one of the programs we are discussing "recognize" the title "The Thirteen Principles of the Rambam" and, perhaps, cite one or two? How about "Mishne Torah?" or "Morah Nevuchim" or "Kuzari"? How many of my students don't understand the difference between Written and Oral Torah or, worse yet, tend to discard Oral Torah as the creation of the Rabbis? How many have never been given a reasoned approach to the complex problem of Theodicy? or "Free Will?"
Unfortunately, the above only represent a rather small sample of the limitations and deficiencies that I have encountered in my decidedly limited experience.
If "standards" and "aligned testing" are what are required to overcome this catastrophic situation, then the problem is even worse that Rabbi Eis portrays it to be, for, it is inconceivable to this writer, at least, that all these schools do not have curricula of some sort, and, even if there were lapses and omissions, that certainly, under any circumstances, much of what I cited above would have been covered as a matter of course!
I think that the problem is even more fundamental: I think the decision has been made NOT to teach Yahadut! I don't know if it is economics or political correctness or parental pressure or heterogenous student bodies or some combination of these factors, but there seems to be a general aversion to "giving" too much Torah!
It should be clear to everyone that as a teacher in the post-high school environment, I have the luxury of "passing judgment" on those who preceded me. I don't have to accept the blame for past misdeeds! That may bias my perception and conclusions and I am willing to accept that blame!
Chag Kasher ve'Same'ach!
Norman M. Meskin
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 04/21/2016 02:51PM by mlb.
