Education Director – January 2007 Bulletin Message

At least once a year, I take a trip to visit family and friends in Israel. Every time I drive through the hills that surround the city of Jerusalem, I think about all the trees that I planted there throughout my childhood. Every year, students in Israel used to plant trees in various locations as part of a Tu B’shevat celebration. For some reason my school always planted trees in forests neighboring the Holy City. Every year, on Tu B’shevat, we returned to that same piece of land to continue expanding the forest, and we always experienced such a strong sense of awe. We looked around and realized that we had the power to change our country’s environment and landscape.

Sometimes we underestimate our power to change the future. For generations American Jewry was of the notion that Jewish education should be rated as secondary to that of the public education system. Today we witness a new tendency in the conservative movement to change this conception. We are experiencing a revolutionary era in all aspects of Jewish education. Many Hebrew schools have already transitioned into the 21^st century in building computer laboratories and using new and modern learning tools and methods such as multimedia presentations. This approach is apparent in an old statement made by King Solomon who said: “Educate a child in the way he should go” (Proverbs, 22:6). Jewish education needs to be updated with the essential goal of bridging the gap between our old traditions and modern youth culture. Using technology and media as an integral part of Hebrew school curricula will help us achieve this goal and create a new generation of students who are engaged in learning about their heritage and tradition. In order to implement these new ideas, it is important for parents to be actively involved and supportive. Bringing this new technology into Hebrew schools depends greatly on parental collaboration.

There is an ancient story about a sage who could answer every question. One of his students decided to trick him. The student caught a butterfly and held it in his fist. He approached the sage and said, “What is in my hand; a live butterfly or a dead one?” The student thought to himself, “If he guesses a live one, I will crush it to death, and if he guesses a dead one, I will open my hand and let the butterfly fly out and show the world the sage’s failure.” But the wise man looked him in the eye and said, “It is all in your hands.”

Leading the Hebrew school into the 21^st century is in our hands. Today, we have the opportunity to change the face of Jewish education and our Hebrew school in very much the same way that generations of Israeli children changed their world through the planting trees.

On February 3^rd, Jews around the world will celebrate Tu B’shevat. Chag Sameach and happy birthday for the trees!