אֶֽל־הָאִשָּׁ֣ה אָמַ֗ר הַרְבָּ֤ה אַרְבֶּה֙ עִצְּבוֹנֵ֣ךְ וְהֵֽרֹנֵ֔ךְ בְּעֶ֖צֶב תֵּֽלְדִ֣י בָנִ֑ים
And to the woman G-d said, “I will make most severe Your pangs in childbearing; In pain shall you bear children.
בעצב תלדי בנים תגדלי אותם בצער יותר משאר ב''ח. כי אמנם תאמר מלת לידה על הגידול כאמרו חמשת בני מיכל בת שאול אשר ילד' לעדרי אל בן ברזלי המחולתי:
בעצב תלדי בנים, you will experience anguish while engaged in raising them, by comparison to the other creatures on earth who do not experience such prolonged periods during which they have to look after all the needs of their young.
Questions:
- What do these texts convey about the nature of raising children?
- Why is parenting the way it is? Is it because of the children or parent?
This is the blessing said over children. The Lord bless you and protect you! The Lord deal kindly and graciously with you! The Lord bestow the Lord's favor upon you and grant you peace!
Questions:
- How does this compare to the texts above? Why does it focus on "the Lord's" actions rather than those of the parents?
The Gemara comments: According to this interpretation, we learn in this mishna that which the Sages taught in a baraita: A father is obligated with regard to his son to circumcise him, and to redeem him if he is a firstborn son who must be redeemed by payment to a priest, and to teach him Torah, and to marry him to a woman, and to teach him a trade. And some say: A father is also obligated to teach his son to swim. Rabbi Yehuda says: Any father who does not teach his son a trade teaches him banditry [listut]. The Gemara expresses surprise at this statement: Can it enter your mind that he actually teaches him banditry? Rather, the baraita means that it is as though he teaches him banditry. Since the son has no profession with which to support himself, he is likely to turn to theft for a livelihood. This baraita accords with Rav Yehuda’s interpretation of the mishna.
Questions:
- What is the obligation of a Jewish parent? What happens if those obligations aren't fulfilled? Are these obligations a burden or a privilege?
- How do these obligations compare to the prayer for children? What does this say about who is responsible for which parts of a child's life?
Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk
If you truly wish your children to study Torah, study it yourself in their presence. They will follow your example. Otherwise, they will not themselves study Torah, but will simply instruct their children to do so.
Operation Shylock
Phillip Roth
Hebrew school wasn't school at all but a part of the deal that our parents had cut with their parents, the sop to pacify the old generation—who wanted the grandchildren to be Jews the way that they were Jews, bound as they were to the old millennial ways—and, at the same time, the leash to restrain the breakaway young, who had it in their heads to be Jews in a way no one had ever dared to be a Jew in our three-thousand-year history: speaking and thinking American English, only American English, with all the apostasy that was bound to beget. (124)
Questions:
- What do Phillip Roth and Rabbi Mendel's writings add to the list of obligations for Jewish parents?
- What does the connection between the two show about current Jewish parenting? How have things changed and how have they stayed the same?
Jewish Summer Camping and Civil Rights: How Summer Camps Launched a Transformation in American Jewish Culture
Riv-Ellen Prell
However, at the end of the war a new type of educational camping, denominational camps, developed that was closely linked to larger structural changes in American Jewish life. The Reform, Orthodox and Conservative movements sought to bring children into year round Jewish education and experience through their summer camps. They aimed to link the Jewish activities of the school year in religious school, Hebrew school, or Day Schools, and youth groups to intensive summer experiences, and thus to shape, or more likely reshape, children’s Jewish environments...Despite substantial differences among these camps, and among Zionist and denominational camps as well, Jewish camps that sought to educate and transform children shared an approach that differed from recreational camping.
Questions:
- What do these texts show about how parenting has changed, or not?
- What can we learn about the responsibilities of Jewish parenting? Who has the responsibility?
Questions:
- How are the obligations of Jewish parenting reflected in these statistics? How are the current practices of Jewish parenting reflected?
- Who has the responsibility for raising Jewish children? How must they model a commitment to Judaism? How can a non-Jewish parent play this role?