Scribal Roundup #3
It has been a while, so why not? Thoughts about some things I’ve seen online.
a. Rabbi Gil Student on Is Sefaria Kosher. Some overlap with my expanded article, which I decided to hold back for now. But also about using non-Orthodox texts more generally. He comes down on the side of not personally using it.
For reference, here is my earlier post on the subject.
b. In the Jewish Link, “courtesy of Darco”, which means authored by them to recruit people to join their learning pod, Sending Your Child to Public School.
I managed to get several of my children through yeshiva. Until that one child. The one with the adorable smile and face full of freckles, whose IQ is off the charts but who has limited understanding of social interactions and so gets bullied by children he thinks are his friends. The one who sometimes has a hard time sitting still but can tell you facts about pretty much anything you want to know. Who came home from yeshiva day after day looking sadder and sadder, believing he was a bad and angry child. Who could probably be a real talmid chacham if given the chance. Instead, after trying and trying to make yeshiva work for him, we finally gave up and did the thing we had never thought we would. We sent him to public school.
…Before deciding to send our precious Jewish child to public school, I searched and looked and called every single yeshiva within an hour drive. I asked, could they help my child, would they take my child? But each time the answer was the same. “Sorry, we really can’t help you; try to work with his current school.” Try we did. We consulted with experts and rabbis and finally came to the conclusion that there was just no other choice. It took many sleepless nights and many tears cried. Initially, he did not want to go, and he kept asking why we were sending him to public school. He cried and he fought, and finally he started to go, and now he’s happy. He doesn’t wear a yarmulka or tzitzit, and doesn’t daven, but he comes home with a smile on his face. He finally feels good about himself and that he can be successful in school.
To expand on this, it is not about the high tuition, or that the kid is within the population served by Sinai Schools. If a kid is outside of the box, has sensory sensitivity issues, really gifted and not just smart, etc., most Jewish schools are just too rigid. Their way of working with such kids is to say:
medicate the kid, even if it isn’t really appropriate
get a full time shadow , because we don’t want to deal with him. (at enormous financial cost, and essentially meaning that they are getting a full time teacher because the regular teacher won’t be dragged down)
It is all in the best interest of the learning needs of the child, of course. They convince themselves of that. And because there are other schools, and because there is Sinai, they don’t need to go out of their way to make sure every Jewish kid gets a Jewish education and a Jewish social environment.
This school / pod looks promising, but who knows how it will turn out.
c. Related, back to this Pesach column, also in the Jewish Link. The Seder: Masterclass in Chinuch from someone teaching at RYNJ and going for an EdD at Azrieli. The author claims that the author of the Haggadah was ahead of his time, suggesting very modern approaches to dealing with kids in their learning needs. This requires a bit of a kvetch, as you might imagine, because she doesn’t suggest that a modern approach is to blunt the child’s teeth!
Also, there are specific approaches that are indeed modern educational methods practiced in public schools but applied overzealously in Jewish day schools. For instance, many Jewish schools will mandate a shadow, because they don’t have to pay for it, and if the parents don’t agree, they can kick the child out. Public schools will suggest a shadow far less often.
So let us see how the Haggadah promotes these modern education methods:
1. Inclusion: While progress has been made since the 1980s in including all types of learners in an educational venue, this concept was already highlighted in the Haggadah as the format for our Seder. The חָכָם, רָשָׁע, תָּם, וְשֶׁאֵינוֹ יוֹדֵעַ לִשְׁאוֹל sit around the same table with equal rights to an educational experience.
Sure, though the rasha is effectively kicked out from the experience in the Haggadah.
2. IEP (Individualized Education Plan): The root of IEPs—the concept of catering education to each child—is illustrated admirably in the Haggadah. The Baal Haggadah illustrates how to חנוך לנער על פי דרכו, offering concrete suggestions regarding the approach for various learners with different abilities, interests or emotional/behavioral challenges.
3. Differentiated Instruction: While the חכם might represent a gifted child who will gain from greater intellectual stimulation, the רשע may present emotional or behavioral challenges. The תם needs a brief, clear summary, and the שאינו יודע לשאול might require a shadow to provide one-on-one support. Furthermore, varied learning styles are catered to at the Seder, as kinesthetic learners benefit from all the dipping and leaning, auditory ones await the familiar tunes and visual learners stare at the matzah and Seder plate.
So the rasha is the one they use behavioral interventions. But did you see the she’eino yode’a lish’ol?! In the Haggadah, the parent / teacher draws him out, instructing what is different or doing weird things to elicit questions. For this Masterclass in Chinuch, the teacher wouldn’t think to engage the student, and try to get them to ask questions, try to get them to participate. Nope. Not the teacher’s job. You get a shadow to provide one-on-one support!
Also, visual learners stare at the matzah and seder plate?? How about acting out leaving Egypt with the sack over your shoulder? Looking at the matzah as “ha lachma anya”, this is the very bread of affliction that our forefather’s ate? I’m being mean because I’m already annoyed, but if this is how we envision targeting visual learnings, of course some kids are going to be lost…
d. The latest silliness on Twitter is that a particular Covid scientist (Peter Hotez) has been challenged to debate RFK Junior on Joe Rogan’s show, with a (now) 1.5 million dollar reward. And his refusal is taken as cowardice. or of the weakness of his position.
I agree with the sentiments in this tweet:
I recall back in the day, when Rabbi Natan Slifkin was arguing with Dr. Isaac Betech. And Isaac Betech kept challenging folks (including me) to a public verbal debate at some venue, and the winner would be the winner, thus resolving the issue.
I declined, as did Rabbi Slifkin. Someone can be a master kiruv professional, or a master debater, in public, on the spot. That is not how I operate. Someone brings up some evidence, I will take an hour or two to think about it, see what the evidence really indicates, consider counterarguments and counterevidence, and so on. I don’t think on my feet and have an immediate off-the-cuff response. Particularly when the other person has a history of making misleading statements which require careful evaluation, to spot the trick.
That one person has better skills at public arguing does not mean that their position is necessarily more correct. And refusing to engage in this manner doesn’t mean anything in terms of your own position’s validity.
Of course, this all started with this tweet from Dr. Peter Hotez calling on Spotify to suppress the opposing viewpoint from RFK on Joe Rogan, and Joe Rogan responding by asking him to put up or shut up. Hotez has been on the Joe Rogan Experience, back in 2020. So I have mixed feelings here:
And some may consider his positions clamping down on on misinformation extreme, for instance being in favor or extending federal hate crime statutes to researchers.
d. This was fun to see:
e. YU Ideas Podcast, Rabbinic Tell-Alls with Rabbi Dr. Jacob J. Schacter.