Jewish Educators Challenged by Time

 Jewish educators are charged with teaching their students the knowledge and skills they need to participate in Jewish life as well as giving them the experiences they need in order to develop the desire to do so.  This  includes 4,000 years of Jewish tradition; 2,000 years of Jewish history; all Jewish holidays and their practices; primary Jewish texts; Israeli culture; prayers; mitzvoth; halachot (Jewish law); Holocaust; Middle East conflict; and ever-changing current events.  We have between 80 and 160 hours (2-4 hours/week for 40 weeks) to accomplish this task.  

And, in reality, we don’t have 2-4 hours of class time.  We have to take out time from teaching to perform administrative tasks (like taking attendance); to move students from class to class; and to provide class snacks.  Periodically, we lose additional time due to bad weather, Steeler football games and traffic jams.  This adds up to perhaps an additional 20 hours a year, leaving us with a mere 60-140 hours a year to provide the ideal Jewish education. 

Complicating our task is student absence. Our students are absent for many reasons: family emergencies and celebrations; public/private school activities; hobbies; sports; youth group activities; and family trips.  Even a few such absences on the part of each student cumulatively reduces our total teaching time by many, many hours.  What is not reduced is the responsibility to enable our students to participate fully in Jewish life.  What is not reduced is the number of years of Jewish history or the number of Jewish holidays or the complexities of learning a foreign language. 

How much time is 160 hours?  It’s the same amount of time the average teen spends texting and using social media in two months.  It’s the same amount of time the average American spends watching TV in four weeks.  In the same 40 week period to time, people will watch as much time of TV COMMERCIALS as our students attend J-SITE.    

Succeeding in life requires three steps:

1.  Show Up – Unless you show up you can never move forward.

2.  Step Forward –       In the words of Mishnah, “The bashful cannot learn.” 

3.  Be There --             Be in the present and avoid anything that distracts from that kavanah.

Jewish educators show up, step forward, and are there—day after day, week after week, year after year. 

We invite our students—and their parents--to do the same.