Parshas Tzav (Hagadol) 5778
The name of this week's Torah portion is Tzav, which means "command", and the very first commandment discussed in the portion is that of the Olah, or elevation-offering, that was brought up on the Altar and whose meat was burned in its entirety.
Most of the Torah's commandments regarding the sacrificial offerings were introduced with Omarta, “sayâ€, or Daber, “speakâ€. The Sages explain that the stronger term Tzav, command, implies that those who are being commanded are being urged to be especially zealous in performing this mitzvah, and that this exhortation must be repeated constantly to ensure its continuity in future generations. The Sages add that this exhortation is especially relevant to commandments that involve a monetary loss, such as the “elevation-offering†of this passage.
Now this might seem like a trivial point to many of us, but I believe that this one small word Tzav talks to one of the most perplexing issues facing the North American Jewish community today - that of Jewish “continuityâ€. As was widely reported quite a few years ago in the Jewish press, a January 2000 report on Jewish day school enrollment in the United States commissioned by the Avi Chai Foundation showed that virtually all Orthodox school-age children in America attend day schools, but barely 5 percent of non-Orthodox Jewish children do. [Click here for a more updated Avi Chai census of Jewish Day School attendance in the U.S.: http://avichai.org/knowledge_
Strange thing, isn't it? In 1990, when an NJPS study got everybody all alarmed over the skyrocketing rate of assimilation and intermarriage amongst Jews in North America, Jewish federations and other important institutions commissioned studies to find solutions to the problem, and all the studies pretty much agreed that one of the most potent ways of reversing this unfortunate trend was to enroll as many children as possible in Jewish day schools.
So what happened? Why is it that only 5 percent of the general Jewish population picked up on the idea? Could it be that most Jews disagree with the findings of all those "Jewish continuity studies"? Has anyone yet come up with a better solution? Why has there been such a weak response to the call that was issued to the general Jewish public to enroll our children in Jewish day schools?
Maybe the answer to this perplexing problem has to do with that one small word at the beginning of our Torah portion - Tzav. The Torah is teaching us by using this word, that if we want to teach and impress upon our children Torah values, mitzvah observance, and Jewish identity in a way that we can be sure will continue for future generations, we have to be especially zealous in our exhortation. Anything short of that will not do the trick.
And especially when it involves a monetary loss. According to one estimate, even a modest doubling of non-Orthodox enrollment, to 10 percent, would require billions of dollars to build new classrooms and endow scholarships and train new teachers. Not to mention the lure of free public school education for those who don't have the funds to pay for private school.
When we’re up against all this, it's simply not enough to publish "studies" about the alarmingly high rates of assimilation and intermarriage. There has to be a Tzav - a real push, a very determined, all-out effort on the part of all those who feel responsible for the future of our people to get those around us thinking about Jewish day schools.
IS JEWISH DAY SCHOOL THE ANSWER?
The truth is that even enrolling our children in Jewish day school is not the end-all solution to the continuity problem. I can't even begin to tell you how many Jewish adults I have met over the years who have told me that they attended Jewish day school, and that it was the Jewish day school experience itself that turned them away from Judaism! Maybe it was a bad teacher, or a feeling conveyed in the school that Judaism was just a bunch of rules, or one of a million other reasons why they were turned off and moved away from Judaism after their Jewish day school experience.
And how about all the people whose parents sent them when they were kids to Hebrew school once a week, while all their other friends were playing in the park and having a good time. I have heard many Jews tell me how much they disliked that experience and were turned off because of it.
So, you see, just being in a Jewish day school environment is not always enough to instill a Jewish identity and pride in our children - it really depends on the type of experience the child will have upon attending a particular school.
HOW DO YOU CHOOSE A JEWISH DAY SCHOOL?
As Rabbi Dovid Orlofsky writes in a wonderful essay in the book Jewish Matters (Targum Press 1999):
It is important to look for a school where the children are happy. Don't worry so much about the facilities, worry more about the staff. Do they love teaching? Do they love their students? Will they fill your child with a feeling of awe and delight for Judaism? That's what you're looking for in a Jewish school. But if there are more rules than smiles, more honor rolls for grades than for good deeds, more tests than questioning, you've found a great private school, but not a great Jewish school.
In truth, the obligation for educating children is the parents' responsibility. We only hire teachers to help us do our job. We have to take an interest in our children's schoolwork and communicate with the teachers to reinforce the studies at home.
But that’s not all that we need to do to keep our children Jewish.
MAKING JUDAISM FUN OR MAKING FUN OF JUDAISM
In an amazing verse in the Haftarah [selected reading from the Prophets] for Shabbos Hagadol that we read publicly this weekend in the synagogue, the prophet Malachi castigates the Jewish people:
“You have spoken harshly against Me, says G-d, yet you say: ‘How have we spoken against You?’ “(Malachi 3:13).
Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, in his commentary Darash Moshe, asks how it could it be that the Jewish people were not aware of how they had spoken harshly against G-d. For right there, in the very next verse, the prophet records that the people had said: “To serve G-d is useless and what did we gain for keeping His charge …â€!
The answer he gives is a shocking one.
Rabbi Feinstein explains that, in reality, the Jewish people were very meticulous in their observance of the mitzvos (commandments), and they made sure to pass on the teachings of the Torah and all the religious observances to their children, as well. Yet the message that they conveyed to their children was that we don’t really gain anything in this world for keeping G-d’s charge and observing His mitzvos, and that the main reward will come in the World to Come. They consciously or subconsciously taught their children that it’s very difficult and involves great sacrifices to live a Torah life, since there are so many restrictions that don’t allow us to partake from all the pleasures that this world has to offer.
It is for this reason that the Jews living during Malachi’s time were not aware of how they had spoken harshly against G-d. They thought that showing their kids how to “sacrifice†for the religion would keep them in the fold. But what they were really conveying to the next generation is that “To serve G-d is useless and what did we gain from keeping His charge†– and to do that is to “speak harshly against G-d†and to “make fun of Judaism†and is virtually guaranteed to turn off all His children from the religion forever!
So the most important thing for us to remember is that if we are to succeed in instilling in our children a love for Judaism and a pride in their Jewish identity, we must convey to them the message that it is fun, exciting and wonderful to be Jewish and that we ourselves wouldn't give it up for all the money in the world.
If, in our schools and in our homes, we only show our children the solemn face of Judaism - such as the fasting and long prayer service of a Yom Kippur - but we never expose them to the fun and excitement of a Purim or a Simchas Torah, we might as well quit now. It will never work.
But if we give our kids the feeling that being Jewish is great and really worthwhile, and we can make Judaism fun for them, then there is at least a hope that our kids will grow up to be proud Jews who will one day bring us true Jewish nachas (joy), instead of their being, G-d forbid, just another statistic in a grim Jewish continuity study.
[Sources: Artscroll Stone Edition Chumash, Mesorah Publications]
http://www.torchweb.org/torah_detail.php?id=507