Comments on: In Defense of Reform Sunday School Education

By: sharona

sharona — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 01:18:26 +0000

Interesting both perspectives. I agree that both perspectives are true for diff people. For some, it’s better to start with a clean slate. And for some, they need a little framework to start with and go forward from there

By: Nathan

Nathan — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 01:24:17 +0000

Gay Rabbis + Patrilineal Decent + Phony Conversions + Elimination of Kashrut + Elimination of Kohanim + Denying Har Sinai and the Exodus + Ignorance of Torah + Prayer Services in Churches + Women Writing Torah Scrolls and Wearing Talis and Tefllin + Frequent Orthodox Bashing = Reform Judaism

By: Neil Harris

Neil Harris — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 15:23:07 +0000

My memories echo those of Ellen L.

I was just in my hometown of Wichita, KS and had plenty of interaction with both the traditional synagogue I grew up in and the congregants. As walked the halls where I ran during Hewbrew School, looked at my confirmation picture, and stood on the bima where I was “Bar Mitzvahed” to deliver a hesped for my father, I was thankful for the positive memories of Judaism that I was able to use as a foundation towards the move to Torah Judaism that I made in high school.

By: Ellen L.

Ellen L. — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 01:57:21 +0000

I, too, dreaded Tues. and Thurs. afternoons when I had to go to Hebrew school, but I actually felt a sense of pride going 3 times a week as opposed to my more shvach counterparts attending only on Suns. for their confirmation parties when they were 16. But I enjoyed a number of the extra-curricular experiences that went with Hebrew School and Sabbath school (yes, we went on Shabbos). That included going to the tail end of the davening and getting a kiddush afterwards. And all of us attendees participated in Purim (costumes, parading around the shul on megillah night, and hamentaschen), Simchas Torah (parading around the shul with flags), getting an Israeli penpal, etc. Most of my best home memories are related to our Conservative Jewish upbringing (seders, Chanukah, my mom decorating our porch for Sukkos). I believe because of the positive experiences, despite the negativity, that I chose to go further with it.

I also suspect that the kids that have some affiliation are more likely to go on Birthright than those of no affiliation. That gives them greater connection, and possibly more of a likelihood that they will hopefully keep their Judaism all in the family, and the beat goes on. What I’m trying to say is, as long as Judaism is kept alive through the generations, I suspect the greater the likelihood that someone (and probably more than one someones) will find his/her way back to frumkeit.

By: Bob Miller

Bob Miller — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 22:19:55 +0000

Reform support for Israel has been eroding because of today’s liberal/PC values.

By: Judy Resnick

Judy Resnick — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 21:15:55 +0000

Reform Judaism Hebrew school has four main goals: 1) get kids ready to perform at their Bar or Bat Mitzvah; 2) teach kids to read and speak Hebrew; 3) teach kids to love and support Israel; 4) teach “Jewish values.” These schools do not oppose intermarriage and assimilation because their biggest financial supporters are intermarried and assimilated Jews. If this limited curriculum does overcome apathy and awaken a thirst for more, then it’s great. If however it turns off the students completely and makes them swear never to enter a synagogue again, then it’s worse than nothing.

By: Neil Harris

Neil Harris — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 19:41:03 +0000

Great post. I tend to agree w/ Dixie Yid.
Especially in “smaller Jewish communities”, those who are connected to their reform or conservative/traditional congregations have that sense of pride in their Jewish identity that can be used as a great springboard.

By: Bob Miller

Bob Miller — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:05:24 +0000

My last “what” above should have been “was’

By: Bob Miller

Bob Miller — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 16:04:41 +0000

Lechatchila is “from the outset” (what is best to do now starting from scratch).

Bedieved is “after the fact” (what is best to do now after some error or bad judgment has already been made). However, Dixie Yid used this term in a comment above in the sense of “what, in retrospect, what the better choice under those conditions”

By: mem

mem — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 15:47:37 +0000

Bob,
Please define these terms:
“lechatchila”
“bidieved”?
thanks,
mem

By: Dixie Yid

Dixie Yid — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 23:32:12 +0000

Shmuel, I definitely agree and had similar experiences personally.

By: Albany Jew

Albany Jew — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 22:11:32 +0000

Hmm, the range of conservatism is so great these days that it is hard to have a pat answer but, given the same hard choice, I still wouldn’t change my answer. But there would be different feelings behind the choice for sure. By the way, this is a real choice for some here, but it is mainly an unaffliated (or conser. membership without being active) choice because the active conservative jew will generally not consider the orthodox school anyway.

By: Bob Miller

Bob Miller — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:55:18 +0000

AJ,

Do you differentiate between students at such a school whose parents are Conservative and those whose parents are not affiliated?

By: Albany Jew

Albany Jew — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:48:23 +0000

Ok BM, you have officially abstained from this forced choice. I am going to give some kind of answer. I think the Conservative Day school is better because I see it making the chance of intermarriage smaller. Once the secular Jew marries out, it becomes much harder for him or her to come back.

By: shmuel

shmuel — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 21:13:05 +0000

My own personal experience was that the reform activities I was involved in laid at least the groundwork for the possibility of becoming shomer Torah uMitzvot later in life becuase these activities gave me a clear sense that I was Jewish (though I didn’t know what that meant at the time). I disliked Hebrew school, though I very much enjoyed (for social reasons) the reform youth group that I was involved in during high school. Neither one had much Jewish “content,” but they gave me enough of a Jewish identity and a good feeling about it to be curious when I was older regarding what the Torah might actually be about. So although today I don’t agree at all with the approach of the reform institutions I was involved in as a youth, I have to be thankful that (totally unintentionally) they perpared me to eventually be open to being exposed to Torah.