Jewish Day School in the 21st Century: Should Hebrew be Optional? Limmud NY 2018

The Torah is screaming, "Translate Me!"

...Maybe Not Such a Good Idea...

Identity Theft (and not a new problem)

Modern Observations & Polemics

"Jessica," Online comment

I find the consequences of removing Lashon Hakodesh strikingly problematic. You construct a situation where the day school authority figures have unmitigated control and discretion as to which sources shape the next generations’ Judaism – dictating their students’ source repertoire not only as they remain schoolchildren but also for their adult lives:

The student's lifelong jewish education becomes limited to those texts that contemporary jewish society has deemed valuable and thus translated or that the teacher has deemed valuable and translated for classroom purpose.

Thus, students leaving their Jewish education are able to envision and question Judaism only in the same manner it has already been envisioned/questioned for them. Granted, some imagination is possible but not much will be rooted in the text or tradition.

This impedes the dynamic development of the system or community and makes for an uninteresting and un-contributory group of worshippers, worshippers who might be wearing kippas but might not have the textual skills to identify sources where the concept of kisuy rosh is discussed/innovated, and thus understand the link between outward religious symbolism and intention of the commandments. They cannot wholesomely envision a Judaism for tomorrow.

"David," Online comment

All translations are mitigated. Direct access us only possible in the original language, by definition. Some level of meaningful access is possible in translation - but if you're rally reading it not as just another work of ancient literature, but as the foundation of *your* tradition - well, it won't feel like the foundation of your own tradition if you only read it in its American-mitigated form, just like you read the Iliad or the Analects.

Mordechai Kaplan, Judaism as a Civilization (1934)

Chief among the cultural folkways, the cultivation of which has become imperative, is the use of Hebrew language. The renascence of Hebrew as a vernacular in Palestine would not have been possible without the clear recognition on the part of a few enthusiasts of the indispensability of Hebrew to fostering of Jewish consciousness. In America and Western Europe, however, the havoc wrought by the assimilationist tendencies which have dominated Jewish life is most evident in the practical elimination of Hebrew from the Jewish consciousness. Once Hebrew becomes a foreign or ancient tongue to the Jew, he ceases to experience any intimacy with Jewish life, and he begins to look for rational justification, for being a Jew, with the consequent self-delusions and ultimate frustration...

In spite, however, of the urgent need of Hebrew as a means to a satisfying Jewish life, it is not likely that in the western countries the majority of Jews will possess a fair reading knowledge of it. Yet with the improvement in the technique of teaching the language, it is possible to reintroduce it as an important cultural factor in Jewish life.

Leon Wieseltier, Interview in Moment Magazine (July 1, 2015)

...it is the first major community that genuinely thinks that it can receive, develop and transmit the Jewish tradition not in a Jewish language. The decision of American Jews to dispense with the Jewish language, our historians and our children in my view will regard as a crime...Now, that doesn’t mean that Jews didn’t have many languages — they always did. That doesn’t mean that Jews didn’t always speak the host language — they often did...and by the way, rabbis always complained about the level of literacy, but the level of literacy about which they complained would be an embarrassment of riches for us. I mean, American Jews are illiterate. They are illiterate, and they’re happily illiterate. And I don’t know what to do about it. I have to tell you, I went around for 15 or 20 years with a fire and brimstone speech that I would give to any room of American Jews I could find about Hebrew. And then I realized that it was hopeless for two reasons: One, because the light bulb didn’t want to change, but also because I was trying very hard to make them feel bad, and I discovered that it’s actually impossible to make Jews feel bad, because when they feel bad, they feel good about it...I think that more of our tradition for this reason is slipping through our fingers in our conditions of security and prosperity than we ever lost in times of oppression and poverty. It’s quite shocking to me...The day that Haaretz unveiled its English website, my heart was broken, because I thought to myself — that does it, that does it, because now American Jews can pretend to be insiders in Israeli culture and politics without the language. And that’s what they do. And we have a language — we have many languages, but Hebrew is certainly the primary and original Jewish language, and most Judaism takes place in it. And I don’t see any surrogate for it or any way around it...

David Hazony, Memo to American Jews: Learn Hebrew (April 9, 2012)

This is true in part because of the sheer quantity of cultural creativity, but also because of the trends: Israel is quickly growing in wealth, population and global influence, while American Jews are, in the optimistic view, marching in place. American Jews have a great deal to contribute to the Hebrew discourse and therefore to our collective Jewish future — their tradition of tolerance and religious liberalism, their democratic experience and their philanthropic habits, to name just a few things. But they will do so only if they dispense with the ignorance-as-wisdom arrogance that locks them out of Hebrew-based culture...

We can’t be united by religion or geography or politics, but our common ancient language opens unlimited doors to deepening, enriching and ultimately creating new, exciting expressions of Jewish life. It will let you engage with your Bible, your Talmud, your medieval Jewish texts, without the hazy filter of translators and professional interpreters. It will let you read song lyrics and op-eds and plays at will, choose your own Israeli adventure. It will help you become, for a moment at least, an eternal Jew.

Lex Rofeberg, Every Language is a Jewish Language (November 1, 2017)

Whatever language you speak is a Jewish language. This is particularly true now, but it has been true for millennia. The Kaddish was written in Aramaic, not Hebrew, so that people could remember their loved ones in a language they actually knew. Jewish prayers (not mere “prayers by Jews”) have been uttered in languages ranging from Arabic and French to Russian and Luganda...But suffice to say, despite the love I feel (deep, genuine, emotional love) for Torah, Talmud, Hasidic texts, and more in their original languages, I have come to recognize that an absolute commitment to their conservation at all costs can and does minimize the chance that we can craft new Torahs and Talmuds that will invigorate and inspire our community in the future.

Judaism isn’t a set of past-tense teachings written by ancestors and received by us passively. If it’s worth anything, it’s because we, in every generation and language, re-create it in our image.

...It’s time for the authentic languages of Judaism to be as numerous as the stars in the sky and the grains of sand on the seashore.