Rabbi Eddie Shostak, Rav-Mechanech at the Hebrew Academy of Montreal, recently drove Rabbi Lord Jonathan Sacks to a speaking engagement for NCSY Montreal. He took advantage of their time together to ask him, “Where can one make a greater impact—in a day school or a synagogue?”
Rabbi Sacks responded: “Without question one can make the most impact on day schools, and communities should have their primary focus on day schools, but in partnership with strong synagogues.”
He said that shuls are where day-school graduates are integrated into the community, and their strength will help determine the success of the day-school experience.
Rabbi Sacks then shared two anecdotes. The first was that in the mid-19th century when Rabbi Samson Raphael Hirsch was invited to become Rabbi of a community in Germany, he was asked to build a new synagogue. He refused and declared: “First I will build a school, then I will build the shul.” And so he did, building the famed Realschule in Frankfurt.
The second observation was more personal. In 1983, he was to be appointed Rabbi of the prestigious West Marble Arch Synagogue in London. Rabbi Sacks was told that he would have to give up teaching at Jews College, the oldest rabbinical school in the world. Not wanting to leave teaching behind, he sought his rabbi’s advice. His rabbi answered matter-of-factly: “And why can’t you do both?” And so it was, Rabbi Sacks assumed the post of senior Rabbi and became Principal of Jews College in 1984.
The takeaway is if our shuls are going to be successful, our schools need to be successful. And if our schools are going to be successful, our shuls need to be successful. Not independently, but in partnership.
This leads us to a number of important issues:
• In day schools, our tefila programs aim to go beyond keva (form) and focus on proper meaning, kavana (intention) and enthusiasm. Often when our students come to shul, prayers feel flat, without life and lacking in dignity. Our synagogues often don’t look and feel like what is experienced in day schools.
• There is also a perceived gap between school-honored values of Torah Lishma (study for its own sake) and lively discussion. Often our shul lectures are sparsely attended, Torah reading time is noisy and crowds empty out during the Haftarah. Children who perceive being deceived by not experiencing in practice the theory they are taught in school are less likely to become excited about their Judaism.
Rabbi Sacks advocates for strengthening the relationship between schools and synagogues to secure a more engaged, active and enthusiastic next generation of Jews.
He also made the following observations:
• Parents are teachers: Rabbi Sacks quoted Rabbi Moshe Alshich who asked: “How do we act in order to succeed in educating our children?” And answered: “It is what you love that your children will learn to love.” Rabbi Sacks continued: “It is the way your life reflects your loves, those are the things that our children will absorb and eventually make their own.” Parents must say and do, but it is by reflecting our love for Jewish life and practice that our children will choose to commit to become engaged and enthusiastic Jews. Children are very perceptive. If parents just talk the talk but don’t walk the walk regarding davening, learning, tzedaka, communal involvement, shmirat mitzvot etc. they will pick up on it. They value consistency and honesty and see through phoniness.
• Meaningful interaction must be present between professional and lay leadership of schools and synagogues: Synagogue leaders need to know what is going on in their members’ schools and school leaders need to know what is going on in their students’ synagogues. Many rabbis, and lay leaders, have only visited their own children’s school, and therefore have only seen schools from a “parent lens.” What if rabbis and lay leaders went on official school tours of their members’ schools observing them through a “synagogue lens?” And vice versa. This could be one way to gain knowledge on what they need to produce in order to close the “shul-school partnership” gap.
• Communal responsibility should include day schools: As part of every shul’s tzedaka allocations, each school should receive an annual per capita distribution based on the number of students enrolled who are also members of their synagogues. It is an expression of “putting your money where your mouth is” in investing in our future. Investment in synagogue programming for youth is important, but study after study has also shown that Jewish engagement is dependent more than ever on day-school education.
Rabbi Sacks underscored the importance of focusing on day-school education in securing the Jewish future while challenging us to think about their partnerships and interdependent relationships with synagogues and parents so that children see a love of Judaism in all walks of their lives.
By Wallace Greene
Rabbi Dr. Wallace Greene has had a distinguished career as Jewish educator and administrator. He was the Executive Director and Principal of the Joseph Kushner Hebrew Academy, Dean of Ohr Torah Institute and founder of the Sinai Schools, and is currently the Executive Director of The Shulamith School of Brooklyn.
