According to our ancient texts, the existence of a common Jewish peoplehood is a self-evident fact. We recite in synagogue: "…Who has chosen us from all peoples, and has given us His Torah". In this prayer (that we all learned preparing for bar-mitzva), we declare ourselves to be one of the peoples of the world – an ancient people that has its own religious tradition. The prophet Jeremiah (31:34-35) promises the continued survival of our peoplehood which he defines as "the seed of Israel", clearly presenting the Biblical perception of common descent. Similarly, the rabbinic tradition defines the Jews as an "umma" (a people or nation) and a "lashon" (a language), one of seventy peoples and languages into which humanity is traditionally divided. It is of importance to note that the term "umma" is derived from the very same root as the word "imma" (mother), indicating yet again that the Jews defined themselves as a people sharing a common descent.
A visit to the local university library will demonstrate that our ancient self-perception is also an obvious fact in the modern world of academics. Next to many books entitled "The History of the Jewish People", we will not find any books entitled "The History of the Catholic People" or "The History of the Lutheran People"; rather, we will find books such as "The History of the Polish People" or "The History of the Armenian People" or "The History of the American People".
The Yiddish-speaking world of Eastern Europe before the Holocaust was a reality in which Jewish peoplehood was a clear fact of life and the substance of one's core identity. The Jews spoke their own language which was a clear reflection of their living in their own society. They were one of the peoples of Europe, defined as a national minority group in Poland, in the Soviet Union and elsewhere – not merely a religious community. The Jewish society in Israel today is the direct continuity of this destroyed Yiddish world. Modern Hebrew has replaced Yiddish, national majority status has replaced minority status – but the essence remains the same. The Jews speak their own language, live in their own society, create their own cultural life and understand their place in the scope of Jewish history.
Is the American Jewish world another way of expressing a Jewish peoplehood continuity? Well, bar-mitzvah boys continue to declare that we are a people, chosen from among the peoples. The smashing of a glass at every Jewish wedding together with the cry "if I forget thee, O Jerusalem…" would seem to indicate that our central historic memories remain relevant in our lives. Yet, sadly, the social reality of American Jewry broadcasts a very different message, negating the very content of an ancient civilization. American peoplehood has replaced the historic Jewish peoplehood, limiting the Jewish experience to religious ceremonies for a mostly irreligious community. The drama of American history is alive and very familiar, whereas our own story is simply foreign and mostly unknown. It's such a well-to-do community that knows no persecution, and yet Jewish education is so unimpressive. There is no Hebrew creativity; most don't even know the alef-bet.
The American Jewish public at large seems to be unaware that something has gone very wrong, and that there has been a dramatic break in Jewish continuity. Crisis, so it seems, is elsewhere in the Jewish world where a seemingly unsolvable historic conflict fills our agenda. Yet, that dramatic crisis should not overshadow the urgency of the crisis in Diaspora Jewry: the collapse of an ancient identity. Some might argue that this crisis of identity is unsolvable, and the unseen sociological forces of the dynamic and impressive American world are simply too overwhelming. Yet, with just a bit of old-fashion Jewish self-criticism, and with a renewed willingness to be comfortable in our own distinctiveness, perhaps we could try to take a first step back from more than a century of assimilation – returning to a primary Jewish identity based on our peoplehood.
In addition to a tradition of common descent, peoplehood always includes a narrative that the community cherishes. Jewish education must include a serious encounter with the central chapters of our history. The circumstances that brought about the creation of Biblical literature, the impact of the destruction of the Temple on the shaping of Jewish civilization, the medieval Jewish community, the crisis of modernity, Exile and Return – all these memories and more should be the self-evident basics of every educated Jew.
There is no Jewish peoplehood without our own language. The aim of Jewish education must be the renewal of Jewish creativity in Hebrew. The Hebrew language and the culture that it carries distinguish us as a civilization, connect us to our past - and with all other Jews.
Finally, peoplehood includes a homeland. All peoples in the world feel a connection to a particular territory which they see as theirs. Therefore, the American Jewish community must renew the concept of exile. It is self-evident that our homeland is the Land of Israel, the memory of which has shaped the Jewish world. Some of us live in the homeland, and some of us live in exile from it. Homeland and exile are two sides of the very same essence, enabling all Jewish communities to share a common awareness and a common heritage.
And the most urgent issue of all is worthy of repetition: American Jewry must be self-critical. There has to be a general recognition of the multi-generational failure to provide quality Jewish education. This self-criticism is the vital tool for returning to ourselves.
Wednesday, April 29, 2009
Friday, April 10, 2009
"Making Hebrew a Priority"
The Forward newspaper accepted an article of mine for publication ("Making Hebrew a Priority"). Generally, there is very little criticism of the American Jewish experience in the Forward, so I am pleased that it was possible to analyze one particular failure (Hebrew language achievements) and to propose a possible solution (Hebrew immersion schools). Here's the main argument:
"In the not-too-distant past, Jews typically lived in a bilingual environment. Within the family and the community, Yiddish was the spoken language of Ashkenazic Jewry during the course of the last thousand years. For contact with the non-Jewish society, one would communicate in the local non-Jewish language. By and large, the immigration to America brought an end to this historical reality: Instead of replacing Russian or Polish (one’s second language), English replaced Yiddish (one’s primary language), and Jewish bilingualism came to an end.
"The loss of our own language was not without precedent. In the quest for full integration in Western and Central Europe throughout the 19th century, the Jewish public chose to adopt the territorial languages as their vernacular. In the multinational Austro-Hungarian Empire, for example, many Jews vacillated between the German language of the crown and the Czech or Hungarian languages of the local nationalism. Often there were those who protested the abandonment of Yiddish, claiming that the Jewish people would lose its unique content, its very soul, with the loss of its own language - but it was all to no avail. The eagerness to take on the American identity overwhelmed even the Yiddish-language Forward, which urged its readers to adopt English, an editorial position that would seem to negate its own best business interests.
"Many would argue that the Americanization of the Jews has been a tremendous success, while perhaps a few still express pain and mourning over the loss of an irreplaceable cultural uniqueness. It is obvious that both these perspectives are true. Indeed, together with its sense of pride in many realms of endeavor, American Jewry seems to have given up on the possibility of any Jewish creativity in a Jewish language. In so doing, it has turned its back on the legacy of an ancient civilization that had almost always expressed itself in Hebrew characters.
"In many places around the world, school systems produce high school graduates who are comfortable in two or even three languages, including the ability to read good literature in these languages. In Israel, for example, we often hear harsh criticism about the achievements of the school system — and justifiably so — and, yet, it has always been self-evident that an educated Hebrew speaker is also literate in English. If a society attaches importance to language skills, there will always be results.
"That is the historic failure of American Jewry: So very few understand that language is the central carrier of culture, and so very few are aware of the power of a Jewish language in establishing individual and collective identity.
If there were a Jewish public in North America interested in the re-establishment of a Jewish identity that would include a living Jewish language as a mark of distinction and definition, it could be done. It is a matter of motivation.
"Surely, a Jewish day school or charter school system in which Hebrew is the language of instruction for all subjects and activities from the very first day of kindergarten until the completion of school would bring about the desired result: bilingual graduates whose cultural point of reference would be the natural familiarity with the Jewish text. The Tarbut Hebrew school system of pre-Holocaust Poland and Lithuania is an outstanding example of such an immersion education. Similarly, a movement that would encourage substantial numbers of American Jewish students to do their academic studies at the Hebrew language universities of Israel could also create a significant public in the American Diaspora that would be culturally expressive in a historically Jewish language.
"American Jews are a well-to-do group that claims to value education, and yet Jewish identity remains an uphill - and too often a failing - battle. The return to a situation in which a spoken Jewish language is a self-evident fact of life would re-create a reality in which Jewish self-awareness is likewise self-evident. The challenge of Jewish educators is to aspire for the very best, and not to be resigned to a Jewish cultural reality as it is. The Hebrew language, the very key to the world of Jewish sources past and present, is the very best. It is both the symbol and the tool of Jewish continuity".
"The loss of our own language was not without precedent. In the quest for full integration in Western and Central Europe throughout the 19th century, the Jewish public chose to adopt the territorial languages as their vernacular. In the multinational Austro-Hungarian Empire, for example, many Jews vacillated between the German language of the crown and the Czech or Hungarian languages of the local nationalism. Often there were those who protested the abandonment of Yiddish, claiming that the Jewish people would lose its unique content, its very soul, with the loss of its own language - but it was all to no avail. The eagerness to take on the American identity overwhelmed even the Yiddish-language Forward, which urged its readers to adopt English, an editorial position that would seem to negate its own best business interests.
"Many would argue that the Americanization of the Jews has been a tremendous success, while perhaps a few still express pain and mourning over the loss of an irreplaceable cultural uniqueness. It is obvious that both these perspectives are true. Indeed, together with its sense of pride in many realms of endeavor, American Jewry seems to have given up on the possibility of any Jewish creativity in a Jewish language. In so doing, it has turned its back on the legacy of an ancient civilization that had almost always expressed itself in Hebrew characters.
"In many places around the world, school systems produce high school graduates who are comfortable in two or even three languages, including the ability to read good literature in these languages. In Israel, for example, we often hear harsh criticism about the achievements of the school system — and justifiably so — and, yet, it has always been self-evident that an educated Hebrew speaker is also literate in English. If a society attaches importance to language skills, there will always be results.
"That is the historic failure of American Jewry: So very few understand that language is the central carrier of culture, and so very few are aware of the power of a Jewish language in establishing individual and collective identity.
If there were a Jewish public in North America interested in the re-establishment of a Jewish identity that would include a living Jewish language as a mark of distinction and definition, it could be done. It is a matter of motivation.
"Surely, a Jewish day school or charter school system in which Hebrew is the language of instruction for all subjects and activities from the very first day of kindergarten until the completion of school would bring about the desired result: bilingual graduates whose cultural point of reference would be the natural familiarity with the Jewish text. The Tarbut Hebrew school system of pre-Holocaust Poland and Lithuania is an outstanding example of such an immersion education. Similarly, a movement that would encourage substantial numbers of American Jewish students to do their academic studies at the Hebrew language universities of Israel could also create a significant public in the American Diaspora that would be culturally expressive in a historically Jewish language.
"American Jews are a well-to-do group that claims to value education, and yet Jewish identity remains an uphill - and too often a failing - battle. The return to a situation in which a spoken Jewish language is a self-evident fact of life would re-create a reality in which Jewish self-awareness is likewise self-evident. The challenge of Jewish educators is to aspire for the very best, and not to be resigned to a Jewish cultural reality as it is. The Hebrew language, the very key to the world of Jewish sources past and present, is the very best. It is both the symbol and the tool of Jewish continuity".
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