Shining a light on diversity:
Immediately following the homeroom bell, the hallways bustle with students scurrying to their respective minyanim. For some, this means a traditional service with a mechitza; for others, it is a time for discussion and reflection about the merits of prayer. The wide range of different minyanim is only one representation of students’ various Judaic backgrounds that create this school community. According to a Lion’s Tale survey distributed to Upper School students during the week of March 18, 61 percent of students affiliate themselves with the Conservative movement, 13 percent affiliated themselves with the Orthodox movement, seven percent with the Reform movement, and five percent with the Reconstructionist movement. A number of students, 14 percent, considered themselves unaffiliated. Because of the students’ various religious backgrounds, the school has made efforts to create a pluralistic environment in which everyone feels comfortable expressing their religious beliefs. According to Principal Rabbi Reuven Greenvald, the goal of JDS is to provide an environment in which all students can feel comfortable with their own level of observance. “We want this to be a school for Jews of all different affiliations,” said Greenvald. Head of School Jonathan Cannon emphasized the fact that JDS’s goal is to be a school of Jews of all denominations and add-ed that the school also hopes to foster a sense of understanding and tolerance for the various levels of observance. “JDS is a day school and is founded with a commitment to pluralism and a commitment not just to tolerate other people, but a commitment to being inclusive and nonjudgmental, a commitment to understanding where people are coming from, and really a commitment to celebrating all aspects of Judaism,” said Cannon. Despite this claim, some students feel that the school is not accepting or open to their personal beliefs. “By trying to cater to all observances the school has stretched itself too thin and has not been able to cater fully to any observances,” said junior Michal Falk. “Through the school trying to be tolerant of everyone’s views and opinions, more attention is brought to the differences,” said Falk. “When people hear I am Orthodox they assume all sorts of extreme behavior and come to conclusions about who I am based on that label,” she added. According to seventh grader Adam Bradlow, “I feel comfortable expressing myself but a lot of the time my observance [Reconstructionist] is not perceived as a legitimate or a real type of Judaism.” In order to insure everyone’s comfort while at school, the administration has enforced regulations such as a dress code, which includes males having to wear kippot, and also requires students to observe the laws of Kashrut within the school. “We’re building a common school community,” said Cannon. “You want everybody from wherever they are within that constituency [of the sch-ool] to have a good co-mfort level within the school.” Cannon added that these required observances are also a way of increasing awareness about differing religious practices and maximizing the range of students for whom JDS will be the school of choice. “We are encouraging commitment and we’re encouraging people to be aware and more knowledgeable about all levels of observances across the range and philosophies and ideals of Judaism,” he said. Over half of the survey respondents supported the rules regarding Kashrut, while only 25 percent supported the enforcement of a dress code. “The dress code is restricting,” said eighth grader Ari Kobren. “Students should be allowed to wear and do what they want, as long as it is not obscene. For example, I think students should be allowed to wear shorter shorts and sleeveless shirts.” Yet some students supported the dress code, saying that it made sure all students feel comfortable. “I have no problem with the dress code,” said Bradlow. “Certain rules should be in place so as not to exclude others. Wearing a kippah does not make me uncomfortable and it only makes others feel comfortable.” According to Tanakh teacher and Orthodox Rabbi Reuven Slater, “We need to be more strict in the dress code in terms of enforcing it throughout the sch-ool.” Another way that the school tries to cater to students of different backgrounds is through offering a variety of minyanim. Among the many minyanim offered daily are an Orthodox minyan, an Egalitarian minyan, a Drisha minyan, which encourages discussion of one’s beliefs and observances and Sephardic minyan with a mechitzah. Along with the daily minyanim, the school offers several minyanim that meet once or twice a week. Among those are the Chasidic minyan and a Chavurah minyan. The Chavurah minyan “is a creative minyan in which we explore different paths to spirituality,” said Chavurah minyan leader and Jewish History Department Chair Cynthia Peterman. “Some days we daven from a siddur made by our own students from the Class of 1996, some days we discuss God, and some days we meditate and do yoga,” she added. According to junior Jessica Brooks, the different minyanim are a way to incorporate everyone into the school’s policies. “I think it is good that the school has added many different minyanim like the Drisha minyan,” said Brooks. “They allow people with different beliefs to discuss and explore those beliefs and talk about God in their own way.” Despite the wide range of minyanim offered, some students feel that there is no minyan in which they felt comfortable. “There is no minyan in between the Orthodox and Egalitarian minyanim,” said Kobren. “I do not feel comfortable in the Egalitarian minyan because not enough kids wear a talit or tefillin, but I do not feel comfortable praying in an Orthodox setting. “I would like a minyan with kids who are Egalitarian but are serious about praying and wear a talit and tefillin,” he added. “I wish we had a Recon-structionist minyan,” said Bradlow. “In the Egalitarian minyan we use a Conservative prayer book, and the minyan as a whole caters to Conservative kids.” According to minyan coordinator and Conservative Rabbi Robert Alpert, the school currently has Reform prayer books and is open to creating a Reform minyan. “The students who are Reform and Reconstructionist should form a serious, participatory Minyan based upon their religious philosophy,” said Alpert. “I would hope that they would be as passionate in their perspectives as members of other minyanim that are successful.” According to Rabbinics teacher and Orthodox Rabbi David Biene-nstock, the sc-hool offers many choices of minyanim but students do not take advantage of these choices. “Minyan is problematic because the school is expected to teach love of tefillah and minyan, but many parents are not sufficiently educated Judaicly and do not daven,” said Bienenstock. “I think this is more of a parental issue rather than a school issue. “I think the school should promote parent education, because if parents do not make an effort to daven or put on tefillin, how can we expect the students to do so,” he added. According to Slater, the different minyanim are an effective approach to prayer because students would be upset were they forced to attend a minyan they did not feel comfortable in. Slater felt, however, that the different minyanim should be somewhat limited. “I think we should try to get students comfortable in a minyan, rather than creating a minyan around the students,” he said. Both Slater and Bienenstock added that they wished more time would be added to minyan in the morning. Because of the many different levels of observance within the school, the administration and faculty has been faced with the challenge of creating a Judaic education that caters to all students. “Our philosophy of teaching is that we encourage teachers to teach from their perspective,” said Tanakh Department Chair Rabbi Joel Alter. “We want a range of views represented in the building,” he said. According to Alter, the JDS Tanakh curriculum seeks to provide a foundation for the understanding of central Jewish texts and the ideas grounded in them. “We teach a Jewish canon that we feel all students need to know,” said Alter, “It is important that all educated Jews have access to certain basic texts.” Alter added that “we make an effort to explicitly point out where different voices in Judaism have very different understandings of our common heritage. That diversity of opinion, that progression in the development of Jewish law, and the differences in interpretation that lead to significant differences in the nature of Jewish communities are a significant part of our learning.” Along with this ideology come teachers from many different affiliations. Freshman Dena Kran-zberg emphasized the importance of having such a wide range of teachers. “One of the things I like about JDS is that in the Rabbinics department you can get anything from a Conservative female Rabbi to an Orthodox male Rabbi,” she said. “I think that that spectrum is good to have.” According to eighth grader Sharon Byer, teachers tend to teach their own beliefs as opposed to a wide range of beliefs. Freshman Sarah Ifft agreed, “teachers teach their views in class, so we learn more about Orthodoxy than the Conservative and Reform movements.” Alter said that the reason for this is that “Bible, mishnah and gemara cannot be taught as neutral subjects in a Jewish Day school. “I want students to understand that their interpretations, too, have legitimacy,” he added. “But we cannot really claim to be responding knowlegeably to the texts unless we have learned the received interpretations too, be they traditional or modern,” he said. Ifft felt that although teachers tend to teach their own beliefs, she is still able to express her own beliefs. “Many arguments result from the different views that I have from some of my teachers, but I do not feel restricted in terms of expressing myself,” she said. However, some students feel that not all teachers are open to different points of view. “Teachers tend to side with their personal beliefs and be less open to other students opinions,” said Falk. “Some teachers are open to other opinions,” said Byer. “But others are more close-minded and argue with students about their personal beliefs.” According to Alter, there is no one set methodology which the Judaic text classes are taught. “There are commonalities in the approach and assignments are working toward common goals, but we do not have a uniform methodology,” said Alter. “The school does not say I have to teach in a certain way,” said Slater. “I think this is a positive thing because teachers are given leeway in how to disseminate information.” Slater, however, expressed concern because “In Judaism, continuity is important,” he said. “If I teach a class and then a student has a new teacher that does not have the same ideals as me, then there is an educational reinforcement issue that concerns me.” Kranzberg agreed, saying that the varying opinions of teachers tend to be confusing for students. “There are some kids in this school who aren’t really firm in their beliefs, and when they get an Orthodox male Rabbi, and then next year they get a Conservative female Rabbi, or vice versa, there is some contradiction,” she said. According to Alter, this lack of consistency is a current problem facing the Tanakh department. “We need to do a better job in giving adequate guidance to students,” he said. “We could do a better job teaching the foundations of certain perspectives so students can determine which is best suited to them. We can do more to help sudents tie their beliefs to particular texts that they study, and to help refine their beliefs by challenging their assumptions.” The History Department administered The Lion’s Tale surveys to 572 students in seventh through eleventh grades during the week of March 18. A total of 432 surveys were completed, resulting in a return rate of 76 percent. |
