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Dear Shalom,
I would like to weigh in regarding the question of promoting ethics
and morals within the Jewish education context, the topic raised by Rabbi
Herring. I would argue that having Yemai Iyun, of whatever length they may
be, is only a cosmetic solution at best. Dismissing the impact of modeling
as "obvious" lies at the very heart of the matter. Until each individual
in the school, i.e., not only the teachers of Jewish studies as well as
general studies, but literally every individual with whom students come
into contact during the day--office workers, coaches, lunchroom employees,
bus drivers, drama advisors, etc., understands that it is his/her role in
addition to whatever specific responsibilities that person may have, to be
an exemplar of ethics and morality, lessons that are learned in one
context will be duly unlearned and mitigated. Although this may sound like
an unreasonable expectation, like all other things, it is something that
must be approached asymptotically over the years of an institution's
existence and a professional's employment. Therefore this is a matter that
should powerfully be present in teacher training programs, and should be
part of a supervisory evaluation of an educator's performance. See my
"Sensitizing Day School Teachers to Issues in Values Education" in Ten
Da'at, 6:1, Spring 1992.
In addition, ethical and moral issues should be sought out to be
introduced in as much of the curricular and extra-curricular program as
possible on an ongoing basis. This will require the school to articulate a
mission that clearly includes as a priority, rather than an idea that is
only given lip-service, the matter of character development and ethical
sensitivity. See my "Jewish Education for Jewish Commitment" in Ten Da'at
12 Summer 1999.
I am also of the view that this is not an issue that can exclusively
be relegated to a school. The "It takes a village" philosophy clearly is
operant with regard to moral development, and these issues must be both
modeled and regularly addressed in the home, in the synagogue, in youth
movements, in summer camps, wherever and whenever children are present, in
order to potentially have a significant effect. In our age of
specialization, it has become too easy to attribute blame to one or
another institution, without considering the organic and synergistic
nature of how the individual is educated and evolves his/her personal
value system and identity.
Sincerely,
Jack Bieler
Silver Spring, MD</HTML>
