having the schools more
closely tied to the syn-
agogues," he says, "but rais-
ing dues to pay for it is
almost self-defeating."
Rabbi Berman sees a
deeper problem. He believes
that Conservative parents
have not been prepared to
give their children even a
minimalist Jewish edu-
cation.
"Six hours is not enough,"
he says. "What can you give
kids in six hours of instruc-
tion a week? The saying is,
`A mile wide and an inch
deep.'
"Forty or 50 years ago, the
kids coming from a Jewish
home had lots of Jewish liv-
ing experiences. The after-

Jewish education
in America is
battling against
"the freest, most
open society the
world has ever
known."

noon schools were asked just
to supplement that. Now,
the schools are being asked
to give Jewish experiences
as well as Jewish learning.
"The kids are coming out
of the afternoon schools with
very few Jewish skills or
knowledge. Hebraically,
they are uncomfortable with
the prayer service. So we
have failed to educate Con-
servative children for the
Conservative synagogue.
That's why a lot of them are
ending up in Reform con-
gregations.
"The best Talmud Torahs
were 8-to-10 hours (per
week), but everyone today
expects the best Jewish edu-
cation in six hours or less.
Kids study language in their

28

FRIDAY, JUNE 14, 1991

public high schools today for
two-to-three years and we
don't expect them to come
out speaking the language.
How can we expect them to
come out speaking Hebrew
from a six-hour-per-week
program?
"To be a Jew, there's a
shared vocabulary," Rabbi
Berman says. "There are
some words and ideas that
have to be part of Jewish
life. For afternoon school
students, if they go through
Jewish high school they
have a chance. But they drop
out at bar mitzvah. Would
you drop out of public school
at age 13?"
Federation President
Mark Schlussel says the
problems of Jewish edu-
cation won't be solved until
there is a general recogni-
tion "across ideological
lines" that Jewish education
"is essential to the continui-
ty of Jewish life in North
America."
He sees Jewish education
in America battling against
"the freest, most open socie-
ty the world has ever known.
"The most encouraging
sign in all of this is, for the
last decade, support for Jew-
ish education is coming from
powerful sources who can
make things happen within
the American Jewish com-
munity.
"There is growing recogni-
tion by leadership that we
cannot survive as a com-
munity without educating
our young. That gives me a
sense of optimism.
"Jewish education is com-
plicated and change is
fraught with a great deal of
uncertainty," Mr. Schlussel
says. "But we have to take
risks of being innovative to
gain the hoped-for rewards
of a viable Jewish commun-
ity in America 50 years from
now." 0

Above: Jason Miller and
David McGlinnen study in
class.
Right: Tamar Traub's
gimmel level honors class
at Mat Shalom UHS.

THE GILES
COMMISSION

Conrad Giles

Charles Tobias

Douglas Bloom

Neil Zalenko

Lauren Liss

Richard Krugel

Claude Schochet

Ronald Riback

Cheryl Guyer

Peter Alter

Irwin Alterman

