Having authored a post about the need to balance opposite values, I can only applaud Rafi Eis' appeal for a balanced approached to dealing with children raised in an anti-halachic family structure.
It isn't true that the right to a Jewish education always trumps other considerations, nor is it true that children must never suffer for the sins of the parents. Consider these cases:
1. A child is expelled for misbehavior (in part for his effect on student culture).
2. Parents can pay tuition (or more tuition) but refuse to do so.
Whether these examples are analogous is not the point. The point is to show that the right to a Jewish education is not absolute.
There is a complex dilemma in the case under discussion, which cannot be resolved by flat assertions that Jewish education is an inalienable right.
Yael Unterman's response to my post itself made me think of the polarity of authority-autonomy. She refers to a Facebook post regarding kosher food which asks "what would you do?" including one response stating "this is not a halachic issue" although it likely is. This may not have been Ms. Unterman's intent, but a reader could get the impression that this is similar to a Values Clarification exercise, and/or that students are competent to decide such dilemmas on their own. (To be fair she does suggest bringing pertinent halachic materials )
To make my own intent clear, my post was not written to promote student self-discovery but rather for students to learn about the polar mandates that Torah imposes. I further believe that even when no halachic question is involved, students are not necessarily free or competent to decide what ought to be done according to Torah. In some (not all) cases, autonomy must yield to authority.
What, then, is the role of autonomy? That is a complex question far beyond the confines here.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 12/31/2017 07:13AM by mlb.
