4 | AUGUST 24 • 2023 

PURELY COMMENTARY

column

It’s Not Only Children Who Will Be 
Returning to Classrooms this Fall
I

t’s August, and our inboxes 
are already beginning to 
clutter with countless emails 
about back-to-school sales, 
while at the same time the 
educators and parents among 
us are working 
on preparing 
and transitioning 
students back 
into their 
classrooms. But 
while we typically 
think about the 
back-to-school 
season as one for children, 
one of the most interesting 
emerging trends is the growing 
number of Jewish adults who 
will also be returning to text-
based and classroom learning 
over the next few weeks.
Adults are seeing continuous 
learning not only as a way 
to connect with and explore 
our rich tradition, including 
Torah, Talmud and philosophy, 
but also as an opportunity 
to engage in an enriching 
atmosphere of discussions 
and experiences that foster 
connectedness and build 
community.
We are seeing more learners 
from a wider range of ages 
coming together. Perhaps what 
is most interesting is that in 
the post-COVID era, more 
and more of these learners 
are choosing to do so in the 
classroom rather than from 
self-paced options. While the 
pandemic fostered innovation 
in the education environment, 
we are seeing even stronger 
interest from learners returning 
to the classroom and away from 
Zoom fatigue.

As educators, we always 
believed that bringing students 
of any age together created a 
more stimulating and dynamic 
environment for learning. 
Nothing compares to the 
sharing of opinions, questions 
and general discussion that 
takes place between everyone 
in the classroom — and the 
statistics are proving it.
A Talmudic commentary 
(Babylonian Talmud, Berakhot 
63b) on a curious verse in the 
book of Deuteronomy makes 
this point clearly:
“When Moses took leave 
of Israel on his last day in this 
world, he said: ‘Keep silence 
[hasket] and hear Israel; this 
day you have become a people 
unto the Lord your God’” 
(Deuteronomy 27:9). 
The Talmud interprets 
the word hasket in this verse 
homiletically, as an acronym 
of the words as, make, and kat, 
group. Form [asu] many groups 
[kitot] and study Torah, for the 
Torah is only acquired through 

study in a group.
While many of these 
“groups” can meet in person at 
Jewish centers, synagogues and 
Jewish Community Centers, we 
also see even more significant 
growth in interest within the 
immersive travel and learning 
experiences like those offered 
by the Melton School of Adult 
Jewish Learning.
These trips, curated to 
develop the most impactful 
learning opportunity, enable 
adults to experience the 
history and culture of Jewish 
communities around the world, 
using their experiences on the 
ground to facilitate a better 
understanding of the context 
of different time periods and 
sages, and the customs and 
culture of Jews from different 
regional backgrounds. 
The learning opportunities 
these kinds of trips provide 
are second to none, and the 
community they build among 
participants transcends city, 
state and sometimes even 

continental borders. 
Teacher and First Lady Dr. 
Jill Biden once told a group 
of educators at a lecture she 
gave at Stanford University 
in 2018: “Education teaches 
us compassion and kindness, 
connection to others. Education 
doesn’t just make us smarter. It 
makes us whole.
”
Education is in the eye of 
the beholder. For some of the 
children going back to school 
this season, it will take years for 
them to fully appreciate what 
they learned in the classroom 
from both the teacher and their 
classmates. For most adults 
though, appreciation of their 
in-person learning experience 
is immediate because in 
essence, for many, learning as 
part of a motivated group and 
a community is the key reason 
for their decision to take the 
course. 

Rabbi Morey Schwartz, Ed.D., is the 

international director of the Melton 

School of Adult Jewish Learning.

PIXABAY

Rabbi Morey 
Schwartz
JNS.org

