Dear Shalom,
I join Rabbi Bieler in thanking you for opening discussion on my recent Lehrhaus piece. I was gratified to learn that Rabbi Bieler advocated and practiced adult education as a school administrator nearly thirty years ago. And I agree fully with his point that such classes add a measure of respect for the teachers and the school's overall educational program.
Rabbi Bieler raises the concern that the variety of hashkafot among teachers often proves confusing for students and is likely to do the same to parents. I am skeptical that this is a significant cause of the limited religious passion manifested by our students and parent bodies. I would sooner use the term "apathy" rather than "confused" to describe a high percentage of children in Modern Orthodox schools. Moreover, I would argue that the apparent discrepancy between the "success" of our day schools and their gap-year Israel counterparts is best attributed to a number of other factors, including developmental differences, the role of choice in students' decisions to opt for a year of post-graduate study as well as their choice of yeshiva, the distance from home, etc. The success of gap year programs that intentionally feature diverse teacher hashkafot seems to confirm this perspective. For similar reasons, while I do agree that the presentation of a multiplicity of hashkafot can be a source of confusion for our students and parents, I would not overplay this concern as it applies to schools playing an active role in providing adult education.
Rabbi Tzvi Sinensky
Rosh Beit Midrash
Kohelet Yeshiva
Koheletyeshiva.org
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 03/20/2017 07:03AM by mlb.
