Perspectives on Jewish Education

Searching for Spirituality in Education

Saul J. Berman
Whether we consider the search for spirituality in education as valuable depends almost entirely on how we understand the word spirituality. So, let me begin by discussing what I mean by that term. I use the term spiritual to refer to one or more of the following: the experience of the presence of God, the understanding of Gods will in the world, and/or the actualization of Gods values. Spirituality is the state of consciousness of those elements of reality. Thus, when I say that the doing of a mitzvah is a spiritual experience, what I mean is that the performance of that religious act is a tool through which the individual either feels the presence of God in his or her life, or gains an understanding of what Divine virtue God desires to have achieved through that particular behavior, or has an experience of the actualization of a Godly value in his or her own life. This consciousness is what some refer to as kavannah. Hazal considered it essential that such consciousness accompany the performance of mitzvot. While they did not require the repetition of behavioral mitzvot if one failed to have the appropriate kavannah at the moment of performance, that was only a bidiavad, a post facto standard. Lekhathilah, ideally, kavannah was necessary in the performance of every mitzvah. In fact,

the Sages did require such repetition when the lack of kavannah was in relation to a mitzvah achieved entirely through spoken words.

With this, we can understand why the Great Assembly under the leadership of Ezra composed berakhot prior to the performance of mitzvot. The function of the berakhah was to assure that the person would be conscious of the presence of God or of Gods virtues and values during the mitzvah act. This may also explain why they felt no need to compose berakhot in regard to mitzvot in which the act bore its own meaning in which the inherent value was obvious, such as in the cases of the giving of tzedakah or of visiting the sick. We live, and serve as educators, in an era in which the life of mitzvot is no longer the simple and common cultural inheritance of every Jew. Association with the Jewish people, with Judaism, and with the performance of mitzvot, are choices which are consciously made, not made or unmade. It is therefore the distinctive challenge of Jewish educators in this era to educate persuasively to invest the process of study with such manifest meaning as to lead the student, youth or adult, to cherish the opportunity for Jewish and religious engagement. One essential tool available to us in this endeavor is that of spirituality. Maimonides, in The Guide to the Perplexed (III: 27), offers a foundational contention that every one of the mitzvot has some human purpose. He argues that all of the purposes fall into one or more of three basic categories. First, they teach truth and thereby enable people to avoid the belief in falsehood which is detrimental to the very

essence of the human person. Second, they serve to refine the human personality, help us to integrate noble virtues and to avoid the learning of ignoble and degraded personality qualities. Third, Rambam contends, mitzvot provide us with understanding of the social values which make for the development of a just social order, and enable us to avoid injustice and societal disorder. Ought we not teach all Jewish texts and all Jewish experiences from the perspective of this Maimonidean position?! The impact of doing so would be to produce an extraordinary level of spirituality in every aspect of Jewish education a deep consciousness of the presence of God, of the Divine virtues and of Torahs social values. We may not be able to directly cultivate the experience of Gods presence in our classrooms, but we could shape them as safe places in which people could talk about the experience of God, could engage in God talk, without embarrassment and without the fear of ridicule. We could certainly explore all texts, and all Jewish experiences which we provide in educational settings, from the perspective of what they reveal about human virtues which we aspire to achieve. And we could benefit from a more profound awareness that God desired not only personal improvement, but the formation of an ideal society in which social justice is the religious foundation of the social order. This latter awareness, the shared aspiration of the Jewish people for the shaping of the State of Israel as the embodiment of Jewish values of justice, mercy and mutual responsibility, is the way in which the study and experience of Israel could be made part of the spiritual experience of Jewish education. In this most challenging era, Jewish education is charting the path towards Jewish survival and Jewish renaissance. Another powerful tool to enhance that progress is unfolding itself as we engage in an intense search for the proper use of spirituality in Jewish education.

Rabbi Saul J. Berman is Director of Continuing Rabbinic Education at Yeshivat Chovevei Torah. He also teaches Jewish Law at Stern College and Columbia University School of Law.

 | JewishEducationalLeadership