Timeless TorahTHE CHILD TEACHER
THE CHILD TEACHER The decor’s incongruence is quite stark. After all, one does not expect a mounted mortar shell in a child’s classroom. But this is not any mortar, nor is it any class. This is a Jewish school in the Gaza Strip decorated by one of the 5,347 rockets to have fallen on the Katif settlements these last four and a half years.Despite the violence, the business of education continues. Even though the disengagement plan specifically states that no Jews will be left in Gaza, the Education Ministry has yet to issue guidelines on placing the 3,600 school children in alternative establishments. On the contrary, parents remain legally bound to register their children now for schools which are supposed to soon disappear.
Much attention has been focused on finding housing and compensation for the loss of farms and businesses, but few have given thought to half the population who will also have to deal with the additional trauma of starting afresh in a new school. In such a situation, it is hardly surprising that many of the children still believe the verdict will be overturned.
Psychologists and educators disagree on the questions, “Should we (1) address the children’s concerns and questions? (2) Inform them of the political reality, i.e., the disengagement will not be stopped, so that they do not suffer a serious crisis of trust in their parents and teachers, when their false hopes prove in vain?
As always, the Torah provides insight and inspiration. More than thirty three hundred years ago the Egyptians dealt with the “Jewish Problem” by enslaving them. But backbreaking labor meant to stifle the population growth of the Hebrews backfired. Increasingly frightened by the multiplying number of Israelites, Pharaoh commanded all Jewish newborn males killed. This, the king was certain, would put an end to this troublesome race. But fate intervened and Pharaoh’s own daughter saved the baby who humbled Egypt, freed the Chosen People, and helped formulate the Seder ritual.
On Pesach we retell the story of freedom following the format of question and answer. This design itself is patterned after the Torah which prophesies, “It shall come to pass that your child will ask you, tomorrow, “What is this?” And you shall tell him, “With a mighty hand, G-d took us out of Egypt…”
In this particular scenario, the Torah is addressing a specific child. He belongs to the culture of tomorrow. He speaks of different values, or worse, of no values. When he challenges, his questions are alien and hostile. What to do with such a child? Speak to him, says the Bible, for he is your child. Perhaps even a child of your making…for just perhaps, you share somewhat in the responsibility for this child’s wandering in an un-Jewish, disconnected tomorrow?
In our day, this ‘far off tomorrow’ is a painful reality. Most tragic is that these children live in the Holy land, yet they are drowning in strange and bizarre ‘Egypts’! Children like these may come to the Seder, but they bring along their apathetic and bitter questions. Don’t close the door, warns the Bible. After all, he is your child…our child, a Jewish child.
If in such a case, we are asked to listen and answer; how much more so when it comes to the children of Gush Katif. Alongside their school Pesach projects, there are colorful displays prepared by the students which highlight their patriotism. Here and there, one sees a youngster with bandages from wounds suffered from one of the many bombings, memorizing Biblical verses of redemption for a school competition. These youngsters though small in body, are strong in spirit. Listen closely as they reverently repeat from memory the last words of the prophet Amos. “They shall build the waste cities and inhabit them; they shall plant vineyards and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens and eat the fruit of them. And I will plant them upon their land, and they shall no more be plucked up out of their land which I have given them, says the L-rd thy G-d.”
King Solomon taught that we should, “Educate the child in the way he should go.” This means that every child, the wise, the wicked…even the one who does not know to ask, has to be given answers. Of course, each one has to be taught in the fashion that will best suit him. Thus the four sons of the Hagaddah require four different answers. Nonetheless, the one common thread of, “You shall tell him, “With a mighty hand, G-d took us out of Egypt,” runs through each of the responses.
Is politics the only reality? Has the lesson of Pesach lost its relevance? The Seder is an amazingly interactive and dynamic process. Its goal is to emancipate us from our own limitations as we strive to grasp the Divine Hand in history. Traditionally, the instruction proceeds from parent to child. But when one listens to the students of the Gush reciting their verses, we recognize a new type of ‘tomorrow’, where the adult is now the humble pupil, and the youngster is the inspirational teacher.
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