It has seemed to me for a very long time that Judaism is best characterized as "two-sided" (or balanced) thinking. At nearly every turn, a Jew is called upon to uphold certain values together with their opposites. Any outlook that that is unbalanced will fail in certain respects. It is my faith that only Torah is correctly balanced, though that doesn't mean religious Jews are perfectly balanced.
If this is correct, this has educational implications. How do we teach two-sided thinking? What if students are inclined to one side of the polarity at the expense of the other?
Here is my list of polarities in Judaism:
1. Individual-Community
2. Tradition-Innovation
3. Physical-Spiritual
4. Authority-Autonomy
5. Faith-Reason
6. Intellect-Emotion
7. Sacred-Secular (Potentially Sacred)
8. Study-Action
9. Particularism-Universalism
10. Justice-Kindness
11. Truth-Peace
12. Fear-Love
13. Bitachon-Human Effort
I am curious which polarities interest Jewish educators and how they attempt to balance them in their teaching.
