I went to Yeshiva of Flatbush High School and we addressed an analogous situation.
STATEMENT OF PROBLEM: It was explained to us that many students who did well in Yeshiva were accepted in top colleges. They would sometimes dorm or share facilities with less religious Jews, non-observant Jews or non-Jews. These people would (non-maliciously) ask Yeshiva students why they did certain rituals. They might also share critiques they had received of religion. The Yeshiva students were not prepared for this.
YESHIVA OF FLATBUSH SOLUTION: In response to such confrontations the leadership at Yeshiva of Flatbush developed a Hashkafa (World-view) course in which these issues were discussed. This prepared Yeshiva students for offering responses when confronted later in life.
SYLLABUS and TEXT: The syllabus and text were not fixed by the Yeshiva leadership. Rather each instructor approached the course the way they wanted. I remember for example that one instructor used the Hebrew text Doreynu Mool She’eloth HaNetzach (Our Generation Opposite the Eternal Questions).
I think this High School incident points to a direction for Yeshiva leadership: a) Ask alumni what problems they are facing, b) create courses addressing these issues.
Here is another story which I heard from the Rav (Rabbi Dr. Joseph Baer Soloveiitchick). A parent called the Rav and asked the Rav’s opinion about sending his daughter to a very prestigious University to which she was accepted where however there were no Jews and no Kosher food. The Rav replied, “Do not send her.†The father protested that she could get by with a vegetarian diet. The Rav counterresponded, “Would you force your daughter to live with non-Jews for 4 years.â€
The story ends four years later when the same father called the Rav. “Rabbi: Please help me: My daughter has made some Indian friends at her school and she is considering marrying one of them.â€
Rabbi Blau started this thread with the statement, “When star students burn out.†I would rename the thread, “Why do star students burn out.†The correct word is *why* not *when*. The word *when* pessimistically assumes it will happen even if only to a few. The word “why†seeks reasons. This is also an answer to Sasson who said, “I don’t have a good suggestion on how to deal with this.†I think the two stories above show that by asking why and addressing it in high school we can save a significant number of students.
Russell Jay Hendel; Ph. D; www.Rashiyomi.com/
RashiYomi Home Page
www.rashiyomi.com
The Rashi website explains the 7800 Rashi comments on the Bible using database methods. Each Rashi is defended using lists of COMPARABLE Rashis.
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 08/17/2017 02:51PM by mlb.
