I believe that Beth Hait was "right on" with her concerns and that Yocheved Lindenbaum was, unfortunately, "right off" with her response. In fact, Ms. Lindenbaum's assertions that most "savvy" students get it anyway and that most students are basically ill-prepared for discussions of the Infinite are precisely the problem! If the teacher gives up on the students, then who is going to do the dirty work? I have had the good fortune of teaching Gap-year students in Israel )both young men and women) for almost a decade and I can tell you that , in my experience, when I ask a student in a private conversation: "If you could choose, what would be the one area of Judaism that you would like to spend time studying with me?", the almost invariable response is "God!"
Teaching "skills" without grounding the need for them in Emunah is an effort in futility. I think that teachers need to stop underestimating their students and need to go back to the drawing board to figure out how to do it right.
Kol Hakavod to Beth Hait for bringing this crisis to the forefront of our concerns!
