By Rabbi Abraham Unger, Ph.D.
Executive Director
This Week’s Torah Portion
The Most Important Thing We Can Do
It’s common knowledge that the Jewish community has historically valued education. Both Jewish families and the wider non-Jewish world often share this perspective. The well known statistic referencing a disproportionate number of Jewish Nobel Prize winners is typically used to demonstrate the results of this tradition.
Indeed, Judaism prizes education, placing it among the most foundational of mitzvot (commandments). But that’s exactly the reason for this value. It is not some folk belief or vague ethnic commitment. The Torah itself commands us to value education. No matter how far a Jew may have wandered, he or she has a deeply rooted sense that their heritage compels learning at the highest level available.
This week’s Shabbat Torah portion makes the significance of education clear. When the Cohanim, the priests who officiated in the desert and later the Jerusalem Temple, are given the laws governing their ritual purity to officiate on behalf of the Jewish people, Rashi explains that the adult Cohanim have to instruct and reinforce these laws with the younger Cohanim who are not yet serving. Rabbi Shmuel Rabinowitz, the Rabbi of the Western Wall, writes that here “the Torah focuses on the role of education, a role that is so important and that devolves on every parent.”
Indeed, in Halakhah, Jewish law, the obligation to teach one’s children does not fall on schools and teachers. The parent is the primary teacher. The instructor is just a contracted agent of the parent. This is the strength of Jewish continuity. We are a people obsessed with learning, and with learning comes progress and innovation.
No matter how small or persecuted our community might be in any given historical period, we never fade away. Education and the life of the mind keep us not only vibrant. They make us resilient and dynamic.
Weekly Parenting Message from the Parsha
Learning and Doing
How do we instill our values in our children? That is perhaps the biggest question every parent asks. Judaism has an answer.
In this week’s Shabbat Torah reading, the Children of Israel – including the first generation of Jews born in freedom in the Sinai desert – are instructed to “observe My [G-d’s] commandments and perform them.” The most widely cited commentator Rashi suggests that “observe” means study, and “perform” means to practice.
Our role is to facilitate our children’s learning, first conceptually, and then by living out the values we hold close. Indeed, there can be no doing without learning, but this sounds easier than it is. We have to first frame for our children what we are trying to teach them.
Why, for example, do table manners matter? Why does keeping one’s room tidy matter? Why does kindness matter? Why do reading and writing matter? Children ask “why” all the time. We must be confident enough in our own behaviors and convictions to meaningfully describe our values to our children.
When the learning is underway, the doing becomes organic. That is why the Torah mentions study first. Children will then try to imitate and experience in real ways the ideas and lessons from stories they imbibe. But it is up to us as parents to take the time to reflect with them on the role of this kind of experiential education in their lives as they grow.
Let’s talk to our children about what we think a good life entails. Let them know the sky is the limit, and we’re just giving them the wings to fly.