What is Jewish Education?*

“Only beware for yourself and greatly beware for your soul, lest you forget the things that your eyes have beheld and lest you remove them from your heart all the days of your life; and make them known to your children and your children’s children.”

The challenge with the above pasuk is that it does not explain at any point what is it that we are supposed to “not forget” and what is it that we are supposed to transmit to our children and grandchildren. As an aside – the Rambam points out that the Torah is referring to both physical children and spiritual children, i.e. our students.

There are three basic approaches taken by the commentaries as to what is it that a Jewish educator is supposed to “pass down” to the next generation.

1. Rabbeinu Yonah’s approach to this pasuk is that the most important part of our tradition is that it is an instructional manual to performing Mitzvot. A parent’s role is to ensure that their children know what to do on a practical level. Education is an instructional exercise to turn the next generation into productive and knowledgeable citizens.
2. The Rambam’s approach is different, and the Rambam outlines that a person’s role in the world is to study Torah and to gain knowledge of the ultimate truth. In order to do this, a person must study and learn their entire life. Even on one’s deathbed one must be learning. The Rambam states that education is not just a practical exercise, but it is to further our knowledge. Torah and knowledge are limitless and therefore our job is never complete and we must constantly be working and striving for more.
3. The Ramban’s approach is vastly different to both of the previous two commentaries. The Ramban states that when the Torah is giving us a commandment to educate the next generation, it is referring to the intangible parts of faith. The Ramban tells us that a parent and a teacher’s job is to instil in the next generation a sense of Yirat Shamayimand emunah – fear of G-d and faith. A Jewish child should be raised to recognize the awesome nature of Hashem. Obviously there must also be instructions on what to do, how to act and how to learn, but our tradition is so much deeper than that. Our tradition contains events so incredible and inspirational that every parent and every teacher for the rest of history must impart them to the next generation.

For me, the most worrisome part of being a teacher and a father is the mystery of not knowing whether I am going to find the perfect words to say or the most impactful lesson to teach on any given day. The Ramban’s lesson is that there is no magic. Have faith. Remember the faith that our parents and our teachers had. Remember the challenges of previous generations. Learn from them and study them. Approach every class with the attitude of trying to impart a tiny piece of this to the next generation, and this is what constitutes a successful lesson.

*Based on a shiur heard from Rabbi Zvi Sobolofsky