I WAS LOOKING AT SOME OLD (c. 2011) BLOG postings when I read
I used to go to a synagogue that had a Sunday school. The school morning started at the same time the Sunday minyan gathered.
I watched as parents, mothers and fathers, dumped their kids off for classes and then hurriedly left the parking lot/dump off point to accomplish Important Errands such as golf or tennis at the club.
THE CHILDREN ARE LEARNING a lesson.
Dump and run.
They will most likely remember this lesson and apply it when, if, they have children of their own.
I admit I did not submit my children to the Sunday School Torture.
I DID take them with me when I went on Shabat and some other occasions.
We walked the few blocks to the synagogue. During that time we explored the neighborhood and talked of many things, but usually not “Of shoes, and ships, and sealing-wax. Of cabbages, and kings. And why the sea is boiling hot. And whether pigs have wings.” (The Walrus and the Carpenter by Lewis Carroll [https://tinyurl.com/bv52sez5] )
I usually let the children quietly play outside of the sanctuary until time for the Shema, Amedah, and Torah portion (assuming the rabbi’s speech was brief and to the point). As they grew older, they stayed for more of the service.
Sometimes, during school vacations, they joined me on weekdays.
What my children learned they learned at their father’s side. My eldest spent a summer with his grandparents in Israel and also learned by watching Saba in synagogue.
If a child is dumped at the Sunday school door and never experiences services with a parent — girls need synagogue time, too; this is not 1850 in the old country, where ever that was — the child never will feel comfortable in a synagogue.
Now, my children are grown and I am trying to teach by example my grandchildren.
It is a bit like learning math: you don’t start with calculus, you start by adding one plus one.
First the alphabet, then words, then sentences.
Too many adult Jews who decide to become observant try to take it all on at once.
When they find that is exceedingly difficult, they give up; quit everything.
Shabat IS tough, especially for smokers (I was one once) and those addicted to tv — particularly for young children whose parents use the tv as a babysitter. (Perhaps it is harder for the parents who now have to find ways to entertain the children. Maybe talk “Of shoes, and ships, and sealing-wax. Of cabbages, and kings. And why the sea is boiling hot. And whether pigs have wings.”)
(http://classics-illustrated.com/alice/alice2.html)
Books always are good. Tailor to the person’s age and interest . When my grand-daughter was about 6, we would sit with a Collegiate dictionary where she would look at the illustrations. She’s older now, but sometimes still sits with her Saba and a dictionary — unlike Google, no electricity or Internet required. If the adult is up to it, talk about the parasha — again according to the level of the listener. Of course that may require some pre-Shabat research on the adult’s part. The internet has variations for all levels of observance, all branches of Judaism, and all ages (even geezers).
Children learn by example.
We all know that.
Sometimes we forget.
Bottom line: Dump and run probably is not the lesson we want our children to learn and emulate.
PLAGIARISM is the act of appropriating the literary composition of another, or parts or passages of his writings, or the ideas or language of the same, and passing them off as the product of one’s own mind.
Truth is an absolute defense to defamation. Defamation is a false statement of fact. If the statement was accurate, then by definition it wasn’t defamatory.
Web sites (URLs) beginning https://tinyurl.com/ are generated by the free Tiny URL utility and reduce lengthy URLs to manageable size.
