O pinion
The Joy of Judaism
BY RABBI MENDY DEITSCH
WHEN WE WERE young, my
mother invited her OB-GYN
to join us for a Friday night
Shabbos meal. He was a fine
doctor and a proud Jew — a
survivor of the Holocaust.

He was thrilled to help bring
children into this world.

During the meal he asked
us kids if we knew about the
Holocaust. We did. He then
asked my brother and I the
names of the concentration
camps, and we were only able
to name two or three.

He was not happy.

He asked how my parents
could bring up their children —
I was 9 at the time — without
a thorough knowledge of what
had happened just a short 50
years earlier? My father simply
smiled and shared how beautiful
it was that we were learning in
the yeshiva, studying Talmud
and Jewish law, and sitting here
celebrating Shabbos, openly,
freely, joyously.

The doctor was not
impressed, to say the least.

I have replayed this partic-
ular Shabbos meal in my mind
many times over the years. I
began to wonder why I don’t
know more about this most
horrific atrocity that befell my
people, my family, just a few
years earlier.

As I got older I understood
that I actually know very much
about the torture, hunger,
suffering, killings and murder
at the hands of the Nazis, may
their name be obliterated. In
fact, many of my neighbors,
shopkeepers and the people I
sat next to in synagogue had
numbers on their arms and
spoke to us about what they
went through and the families
they had lost.

Yet, the focus of our educa-
tion was not on what the world
likes to show or teach about
Jews, mainly dead Jews and the
persecuted, but rather on the
living, breathing, vibrancy of
Judaism. My parents worked hard to
instill in us children the joy
of Judaism — the heroism, the
bravery, the eternity and the
growth of the Jewish people —
which is why we were sitting at
a Shabbos table with 30 guests.

My father brought us to the
Lubavitcher Rebbe to hear his
talks and to be in his presence.

The rebbe is upbeat, motivating
and uplifting.

The rebbe, who survived the
war, was alive. The rebbe had
joy and, at times, the central
shul where the rebbe prayed
was electrifying. It was filled
with forward motion, with
a vision toward a stronger,
rebuilt Jewish nation.

There were the lessons of
the past, yet, the focus was on
the future.

Our eyes were trained not to
look backward but to share the
vision for the future and the
potential of the Jewish people.

Over the years, I have
come to appreciate this way
of thinking much more. Not
because what happened in the
past is not important to learn
from, but it is precisely because
of the past and what we went
through as a people that the
need to reach out, uplift and
be present for each brother and
sister is essential to a thriving
Jewish people.

It is not enough to be a
proud Jew. That leaves the next
generation, unfortunately,
marrying outside the religion
and essentially ending the
Jewish line of his/her family.

We need to live an inspired
life, a happy life, to teach and
inspire those of the religion to be
an active Jew, a mitzvah-fulfilling
and proud Jewish person. This
will keep us alive and thriving
for a more meaningful life as
individuals and as a people.

It is time we embrace the
happiness of Judaism, the
positive lessons and the amazing
opportunity that G-d gives us
to connect to Him, to have a
relationship with Him. How
fortunate we are to be living in
this generation where, through
our actions, we will be able to
see and feel the fulfillment and
promise that Moshiach is here. l
Rabbi Mendy Deitsch is the director
of Chabad of the East Valley in
Chandler, Arizona.

Rethinking Fundraising for Jewish Education
BY SOLOMON D. STEVENS
I GET REQUESTS for donations
to Jewish organizations almost
every day. And there is no doubt
about it: Almost every request is
for a worthy cause.

Antisemitism (Judeophobia)
is rising. Israel is under assault.

People are in need. Buildings
must be built. And the list goes
on and on. I have no criti-
cism of any of this. However,
our people face an existential
14 DECEMBER 16, 2021
threat, and it does not get
enough fundraising attention
from Jewish organizations. Too
many of our own people are
drifting away from the religion.

Synagogue attendance is
down, and intermarriage is
up. More Jewish children are
growing up with only a vague
cultural or ethnic connection
to our religion. And this is
not enough to sustain us as
a people.

The answer to this is, as it
is with so many things, educa-
tion. But the once-a-week
religious school model that
dominates both the Reform
and Conservative movements
(which make up approximately
54% of American Jewry) is not
sufficient to keep young Jews
engaged or to cement their
attachment to Judaism. There
simply is not enough time with
this model to teach everything
that students need to know
to live vibrant, committed
Jewish lives.

I taught religious school for
many years, and the children
I taught were wonderful.

But it was always clear that
religious school was never the
center of their lives. It was an
add-on. Their secular lives
and secular education took up
most of their time. They paid
attention and did their work,
but I knew that they would
not retain what they studied.

It just wasn’t enough. We all
know how common it is for
young Reform or Conservative
Jews to attend religious school
and then abandon all Jewish
education after their bar or
bat mitzvah.

It is different for the various
Orthodox movements (which
account for approximately 9%
of American Jewry), where
JEWISH EXPONENT
Jewish day schools are the
norm. But there is a problem
here as well. These schools are
very expensive to run, and
tuition is often a real burden
for the Orthodox.

An article last year in
eJewish Philanthropy by
Sherwin Pomerantz, who is
on the board of directors of
the Pardes Institute of Jewish
Studies, was titled “US Jewish
Day School Tuition-Simply
Out of Control.” Orthodox
families are usually larger
than Reform or Conservative
families, so the cost of sending
multiple children to a private,
Orthodox school can be
prohibitive. Some elementary
schools cost around $20,000
a year per student, and high
schools are even more expen-
sive. Pomerantz estimated that
the total cost of sending his
own four grandchildren to
private Orthodox schools, from
kindergarten to 12th grade, is
approximately $1,184,000.

Yes, there are scholarships,
but they only help a little, and it
is not easy to qualify for them.

And imagine how expensive
it would be if you had more
than four children, as many
Orthodox families do.

This is unacceptable.

We are dealing with a quiet
crisis, and we need to treat
education as our main priority.

The Shema V’ahavta tells us to
“teach our children diligently,”
and we are not doing that
well enough. We need to help
our children know who they
are, where they come from
and what their place is in this
beautiful world. They need to
know the value of Jewish law
and ethics and the importance
of Israel to us all. They need to
know that they have a mission
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