Standing on One Foot
by Velvel "Wally"Spiegler

How come, nearly every synagogue’s adult education program always features a course in basic Judaism?  A second, more advanced level never exists. Is basic Judaism the end of the line in Jewish adult learning? Is that why it’s said that the Jews are the most educated people in this country, yet the most unlearned in Jewish tradition. Why should this be the case when Judaism overflows with a rich and abundant literary and cultural heritage? A heathen once asked Rabbi Akiva to explain the Torah while standing on one foot. I offer my explanation with my hands on the keyboard.

Most of us today share a greater interest I pop culture (movies, current fiction, rock music, sports, etc.) then in our own culture. Is it that Jewish literature it unfashionable, lackluster, antiquated or is it just that our teachers present it without inspiration. This reminds me of my math classes in high school days, that were monotonously tiresome. To introduce young eager minds to axioms, postulates and theorems without meaning removes all the joy of learning. In recent years, I’ve fantasized that if I were a math teacher, I’d bring to class interesting examples to illustrate how these impersonal theorems are the building blocks that quantify the beauty of nature and technology. Now I daydream that if I were teaching Jewish studies to young minds, I would teach them how Judaism is the introduction to a richer, more rewarding and more satisfying life.  To may dismay, I feel as if my mathematical growth was stunted, not to mention my Jewish development. But at least in Judaism I had the opportunity to rise above the uninspired Hebrew school education I received.

How did our Jewish teachers let us down? My own experience points to a lack of organized structure in Jewish instruction. Our tradition is a complex accumulation of over two thousand years of intense inquiry, consisting of original texts with commentaries piled on top of commentaries. It’s virtually a lifetime of study. Without a logical framework neophytes are bound to struggle, hopelessly lost in this sea of information. My own experience forced me to take a hard look at how Jewish teachers teach. As an example, the only instruction I ever received in prayer was to be handed an open siddur (Jewish prayer book) with a stern finger marking the place. I feel strongly, especially for the perpetuity of Judaism must seek creative methods of instruction to infuse purpose and vitality into Jewish life. We must stress the importance of spirituality into the teaching in order to make Judaism an important, exciting and meaningful lifestyle and to eliminate the humdrum religion this generation has learned.

So what follows is a structural diagram in which to store random bits of information, so that you can see the entire picture rather than just its parts. The starting point for all understanding is Tanach, the Jewish bible. Tanach is a Hebrew acronym for Torah (the Five Books of Moses), the Prophets (Isaiah, Jeremiah, Zecharia, etc.) and the Writings (these include Psalms, Proverbs, Ecclesiastes, etc.). A quick glance at a Jewish bible will put all these categories into perspective.  The Torah can be subdivided into two main categories: law (halachah) and story (aggadah).

         

 Our early sages recognized a need to understand the text on deeper levels. First, because the text itself is not definitive; it leaves too many gaps of information open. For instance, the growing up years of Jacob and Esau are never mentioned. What happened during those years. How did it shape their adult lives?   Second, because the early Rabbis wished to understand the unseen spiritual world with more clarity.  And Third, because they needed a code of law for Jewish survival in view of the impending dispersion to other parts of the ancient world (Diaspora). The Torah came to be known as the Written law; the writings subsequent to the Torah came to be known as the Oral law.  The earliest Rabbinic literature was directed to deeper analysis of the law, which resulted in the Mishnah,  then further exploration into the incomplete story line, which amounted to a body of literary texts, we presently know as Midrash. The Zohar, the magnum opus of Jewish mysticism is no more than a lengthy Midrash on the Torah.  Complementary to the Torah is the remainder of the Jewish bible, the Writings and the Prophets. We can get a better grasp of this literature graphically. One positive step to go beyond the basic Judaism course  is through a survey of Jewish literature. This can be found in the highly acclaimed book, “Back to the Sources”, edited by Barry Holtz

The Talmud is an expansion on the writings of the Mishnah. It informs us of the accepted principles of Jewish life. From the Talmud, we receive directions for the more important aspects of Judaism, namely the Sabbath and holidays, life cycle events (birth, coming of age and marriage), and the Mitzvot. For example, the Talmud worked out the appointed times and order of prayer. The Rabbis deemed prayer  an acceptable substitute for Temple sacrifice. A good deal of the book of Leviticus is devoted to the order of sacrifices, since the destruction of the Temple sacrifice was no longer permitted, consequently it was replaced with prayer. It is beyond the scope of this article to expound further upon these great volumes, but two extensive web sites provide excellent details: My Jewish Learning http://www.myjewishlearning.com and Judaism 101 at http://www.jewfaq.org

The Torah has always been the focal point around all of Jewish teaching. It is a lot more than a history of the Jewish people or a handbook of moral values. It is the metaphysical source of our spirituality. The Zohar, the magnum opus of Jewish mysticism puts it this way,
   

We may not have been taught that, but there is a Jewish teaching that compares the Torah as a metaphor for each person’s life. Consequently, through applied learning of the text, we ultimately explore the depth and meaning of our lives. I wish I had learned this all in Hebrew school.