Section archive - Adult Education

In the beginning — November 2014 — Benny Lau, a Modern Orthodox rabbi in Jerusalem, taught the first chapter of Genesis. More than three years and 929 chapters later, he’s starting it all again on Sunday. But this time in English as well. “I want to give the Bible back to the people,” Lau told The Times of Israel recently. “For too long it has been held captive by the yeshivas and universities. It was lost from the rest of the nation and I want to return it to them.”

At this precarious moment for ensuring a vibrant Jewish future, there are many priorities for sustaining Jewish life. But among the many fine efforts to ensure a sense of continuity of the Jewish experience – Hebrew schools, summer camps, and engagement of young professionals – there is a route of engagement that has perhaps received the least amount of attention, the least amount funding, and the least prioritization in the greater consciousness of Jewish pedagogy. I am referring to Jewish adult education.

When our synagogue, Bet Torah in Mt. Kisco, NY, announced a learning project with Project Zug, an online-based paired learning platform powered by Mechon Hadar, I really had no idea what to expect. We have had many adult education programs over the years, but nothing that was as self-directed as this looked to be. It was to be spread out over more than ten weeks and required significant amounts of discipline.

Day Schools are confronted with a particularly daunting mission. In addition to providing a rigorous dual education, they work indefatigably to inspire students religiously. At times, this mission feels Sisyphean. Our children are saturated in modern culture. Too often, turning their attention toward a Torah lifestyle is a terrifyingly daunting task. Even when our efforts appear to meet with success, students often regress to the mean. Moreover, despite their remarkable commitment to day school education, not all parents are positioned to inspire religious growth in their children. Indeed, any honest educator will confirm that this is one of the greatest challenges confronting Modern Orthodoxy. It follows, then, that to best inspire our students, we must inspire our families and communities. To thrive religiously, our children must inhabit spiritually nurturing ecosystems. In a word, schools have begun to invest in community education because it is critical to the success of their mission of educating children.