Education Insights

Dancing Around a Coffin: Charedim & Us by Rabbi Perry Tirschwell I travelled back 200 years in time in thirty minutes two weeks ago. My dearly departed father was a committed Conservative Jew whose best friend was a Skvira Chassid. What began as a business relationship developed into an unlikely yedidim k’nafshiim friendship. They took trips to Israel together and bought cars together. My father ordered New Square’s first New York Times subscription for him, and he left a bag of challahs and cake on our doorstep every Friday afternoon. He and his wife came to our simchas, and my parents went to the simchas of their 15 children. They are truly special people- modest, intelligent, welcoming and caring.   When I got the call that this chassid’s brother died, I quickly drove (on an hour’s notice- in New Square they take kavod hameis very seriously) to New Square for the funeral. Though only thirty minutes from Teaneck, New Square is a parallel universe. Ther...

The Students We Expelled By Rabbi Perry Tirschwell I’ll never forget that phone call. There was a half an hour between the end of school on Thursdays and mishmar. Though we took dinner orders from the boys from a popular restaurant which delivered, there were always boys who wanted to get from a different restaurant (no matter which restaurant we picked!) They left campus by car and inevitably returned to mishmar late. Though it was against the school rules, we turned a blind eye. We were keeping them after school to learn Torah, and wanted the Torah to “taste sweet” (literally and figuratively).    “Two of your seniors have been arrested”, said the owner of the local Kosher burger joint. Numerous police cars were outside his establishment- “Get over here quick!” The parents of one of the boys had given their son a jet-black Camaro with blacked-out windows, along the bottom of which the young man added purple neon lights. The boys drove around the stri...

A Rabbi’s Take on the New Museum of the Bible by Rabbi Perry Tirschwell Should Orthodox families and yeshiva day schools visit this museum , which opened just before Thanksgiving in Washington DC? It was founded, and to a large extent paid for, by the Evangelical Christian family who are the owners of the 600 store Hobby Lobby chain, who successfully challenged Obamacare’s mandate to pay for morning-after pills in the Supreme Court. Is this museum a subterfuge for Christian indoctrination? I went to find out. I was simultaneously blown away, and underwhelmed, by the Museum of the Bible. If a Martian’s first exposure to the Bible was this museum, he’d guess that approximately 50% of this nation is Jewish. The Old Testament is called Hebrew Bible and Tanakh, and there are verses in the original Hebrew throughout. It’s truly remarkable that there is a sofer on staff who sits in the middle of the museum writing a Sefer Torah (blown up a large screen TV so you can see ...

A Mechitza for My Car An Educator’s Reaction to “Modern Orthodoxy from a Teenager’s Perspective” By Rabbi Perry Tirschwell In my high school yearbook’s “Last Will and Testament” , my class bequeathed to me a mechitza for my car. It reflected my classmates’ perception that 1) I was one of the most intensely-observant students in our class, and 2) The close relationships I had with a number of girls in our co-ed school (and perhaps the contradiction between numbers 1 & 2). I understand where the yearbook editors were were coming from . I spent the previous summer learning full time at Morasha Kollel. My classmates ran to Springsteen concerts, I ran to Mordechai Ben David. I spent each Shabbos at an inspiring NCSY Shabbaton and drove every Motzei Shabbos to learn with one of my Kollel counselors. I questioned why our 12 th grade rebbe let a student interrupt shiur with impromptu birthday parties. When I think about how I viewed the world as a teenager, Billy Jo...

Oy vey- We’re #1! How to Tackle the Never-ending Tuition Talk  Nishma Lessons Part 2 By Rabbi Perry Tirschwell For many newspapers the biggest takeaway  from the  First Survey of  the Modern and Centrist Orthodox Community  is that 89% of the respondents listed  " Cost of Jewish Education" as a serious problem facing our community. Though 70% were very sasfied with the quality of our limudei kodesh, only 61% were satisfied with limudei chol. Argh! The Tuition Crisis has been the Jewish community's focus for  over twenty years . Our best and brightest have tried to solve this. No frills day schools, increasing enrollment and fundraising, increased government funding, joint purchasing, blended learning- we're still experimenting. Though these have all made us more effective and efficient, they have not (and will not) make a dent in tuition. This is because we have significantly improved (and will continue to improve) our security...

The Nishma Study:  A Wake Up Call for Modern Orthodox Educators Part I  by Rabbi Perry Tirschwell What does the recently published groundbreaking survey of the religious beliefs and practices of American Modern Orthodox Community have to say to those of us who teach their children? I believe that there are a number of important lessons for our yeshiva day schools leaders.  In this post, I will examine the study's findings about adults' general shmirat hamitzvot and their implications for educators.  Learning: The Good and Bad News- I was positively surprised by the numbers regarding Talmud Torah, though I personally find the differential of men learning daily (35%) versus women (15%) upsetting.   I suggest that teachers give assignments which include listening to shiurim on topics of their choice online. Once students are familiar with the numerous apps and websites, they will realize how enjoyable, accessible and relevant a resourc...