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How
are we to secure to our youth the benefits of a religious education?
The
important question of religious education has been latterly brought
forward and ably discussed; and I would certainly shrink back from
offering any remarks on the subject, conscious as I am of my inability
to do it justice; I would consider it presumptuous on my part to step
forward and rank among the learned and eloquent champions of this sacred
cause, who have preceded me, were it not that I am deeply impressed with
its high importance, and that I thought a word In its season, come it
from what source it may, will never pass away utterly unnoticed. I have,
however, no apprehension that the cause will suffer through my advocacy.
As to the amount and merit of what I shall advance, I hope my esteemed
readers will bear in mind, that it does not so much depend on the
"quantity and quality of what one has to offer, provided he be
guided by pure motives."אחד
המרבה ואחד
הממעיט
ובלבד שיכון
לבו לשמים
If
I judge rightly from the signs of the time, I may assert that the
interest for religion is taking daily deeper root in the midst of our
communities. It may seem strange to devout minds, that this boon of
Heaven should at any time have been disregarded, that no proper means
should have been employed to propagate its doctrines and make posterity
enjoy its blessings. But owing to human inconstancy or external
circumstances, this has frequently been the case. Our mind is in
continual fluctuation. And as in the individual it is subject to strong
tides, so is it (collectively) in communities and in whole nations. It
is at one time like the placid waters of a smooth mountain lake, and at
the other like the heaving ocean, roused to fury by angry gales. To
illustrate this let us cast back a glance at our past history. Ever
since our forefathers were chosen to be the guardians of those divine
treasures, called religious truths, they did not always keep them in
their pristine purity. Many a time they showed themselves unworthy of
their high office, by offering incense on the altars of Baal. But sooner
or later when brought back to a sense of their duty by the visiting hand
of God, accompanied by the warning voice of divine monitors; when
convinced that they had only to look for peace and happiness in acting
up to the laws and precepts contained in that book which is stamped with
the seal of truth חותם של
הקב״ה אמת ׃ they
invariably returned from the wrong course they had taken, again seeking
protection under the banners of the benign mercy of their offended but
pardoning God. True, alas! they relapsed too often into their follies
and the then predominant idolatry, until even divine mercy was
exhausted, and the long predicted catastrophe came to pass, in which
their temple was destroyed and they themselves scattered all over the
globe, to mourn in exile over their once enjoyed national independence.
During
that period of darkness which succeeded the lurid flames of the burning
temple, during that long and terrible period of nearly eighteen
centuries' thralldom, the Israelites' suffering every wrong imaginable,
found their only solace on earth in the steady execution of the divine
law. This was a property they could never be deprived of, this the soil
they were permitted to till; and industriously did they cultivate it,
and their labours in this field did not fail to be crowded with a
bountiful harvest. Not
indeed a golden harvest; no, the fruits of these labours were
discernible in their houses, in their families, in their communities, in
the resignation and submission which they opposed to oppression and
affliction, in the hope of a world where all human misery will cease,
and where a just reward will be meted out to the good and deserving; in
the scrupulousness with which they trained up their children in the law
of God, which proved the shield in all their trials. There was scarcely
a time when religious education was lost sight of. Regular schools,
elementary and academical, were established; and where these were
wanting, the father himself became the teacher of his children. We find
this in the times of the Rabbis, Amoraim and Geonim, we find it after
the Israelites had permanently settled in the European countries.
Throughout the middle ages we see them scrupulously attending to this,
which they justly viewed as their bounden duty. The study of the law was
uniformly practised and considered highly meritorious, inasmuch as it
leads men to a true knowledge of God and his attributes, to a rational
appreciation of his own state and destiny, and consequently must make
him more humane and charitable towards his fellow-man. That the divine
law is indeed “a tree of life to those who take hold of it, and a
source of happiness to those who lean on it," (עץ
חיים היא
למחזיקים בה
ותמכיה
מאשר)
we find verified in the whole existence of our nation. When the
Israelite of the past centuries was bending home his weary steps after
the day's task was finished and his energies exercised to exhaustion in
the pursuit to gain the wherewithal to provide for the exigencies of
life, his heart throbbed with joy in anticipation of the delight the
discussion and study of the law in his domestic circle would afford him.
There he sat beside his humble fireside, pondering over antique
voluminous works, or engaged in letting his children repeat their
lessons of the day, or teaching them himself, attentively listened to by
his consort in life, whose duty it was to urge the boys to school. Many
a night also was spent in eager discussion and study. Thus the Jew,*
hated and despised as he was by the majority of those he came in contact
with, forgot all his trouble and humiliation. The taunts and sneers of
the day were fully compensated by the avocations of the balmy evenings.
The
practice of "Talmud Torah" was carried so far, that even those
who could not "learn" themselves paid others for doing it.
Whether it was indulged into in excess, whether it was used sometimes as
a mantle to cover moral deficiencies and achieve evil purposes; whether
it finally led to transcendentalism and mysticism, is not now my
province to dwell upon. And if there should be raised any such
objection, I would reply, that there is no system, ever so pure, no
science ever so beneficial, that has not served at times to advance
malicious designs. We might as well (for the sake of illustration)
condemn the rise of philosophy in ancient Greece, because it degenerated
into sophisticism; and with the same right pronounce a fiat on the
chemical science because it has been used so frequently to destroy human
life and. happiness. My purpose of introducing this brief historical
sketch is, to show the influence of the study of the law (synonymous
with religious education) on the social and intellectual condition of
our nation. And that its advantages in this respect were invaluable, no
one can deny. The study of the law kept alive the religious spirit of
our fathers during the dark night of the middle ages; it supplied them
with courage to sustain themselves under all vicissitudes and calamities
of life; it furnished them with holy joys in converting their houses
into a kind of מקדש
מעט (a minor sanctuary); it exercised their mental
faculties and made them fit for every intellectual pursuit; it created a
self-conscious existence in an ideal world, which benefit was denied
them in the real one. When other nations quailed under their misfortunes
and became ignorant and stupid, the Israelites always took a conspicuous
part in the peaceful contests of the academical arena, and contributed
their full share to the advancement and enlightenment of the human race.
And when the morning of freedom bean to dawn, how eagerly do we see them
rush to the fountains of modern science, to which they were now allowed
free access, and in what copious draughts do they inhale and amalgamate
in their system the spiritual flood, the sources of which ramify through
all ages and refresh all civilized nations.
It
was towards the close of the last century, when the political and social
condition of Europe underwent transformations almost unparalleled in
history, that the Israelites were allowed to breathe a little freer;
they at once partook of the spirit of the age and began to long for
changes that would assimilate them more to the modern state of society,
and tend to remove the charges of their unfitness for emancipation on
account of their principles and antiquated institutions. Accordingly,
“reform" became the order of the day. That reform was indeed
necessary every one will readily admit, who is but slightly acquainted
with the state of our Synagogues and mode of education of former times.
Superstition and prejudices, excrescences of the middle ages, held their
revels around the trek of religion and concealed its majestic stature
from the eyes of the mass. Cabalistical observances were considered meritorious and godly deeds, public worship was
reduced to a body without a spirit and moved by a species of soulless
mechanism,* and the education was utterly inadequate to the demands of
the time. Our youth were, in consequence of the taste for literary
improvement, sent to schools under the guidance of teachers professing a
creed different from ours, and they could not fail to imbibe principles
inimical to Judaism; and many were greatly injured by the then cherished
doctrines of the Voltairean philosophy. And worse than all this, in most
countries their political advancement did not keep pace with their
acquisition of scientifical accomplishments; and the ardent and
ambitious youth, who had spent the most precious portion of his life in
climbing up to the pinnacle of the Parnassus of science and art, and who
now found religion an insurmountable bar to his promotion, easily
removed this obstacle by becoming an
apostate. Many bartered away in this manner their “birthright for a
dish of pottage.” Like a spark that is fanned by the breath of the
wind into a full blaze, spreading with irresistible fury: so is
sometimes the spirit of the age. The example was set, and the
would-be-enlightened and those void of all religious principles threw
off the cover and joined those ranks, where material advantages, coupled
with an unrestrained enjoyment of all the pleasures and luxuries of
life, were held out to them as the reward for recreancy. It was
especially in the eventful years of the first quarter of the present
century, that our religion had to pass this ordeal. The chief cause of
this evil must be attributed to the want of proper religious education.
The
old system of teaching was abandoned without substituting a new one in
its place, and even where retained it was ineffectual. It had become an
imperious necessity to do something to promote the spread of religious
knowledge; men of influence and piety moved in this matter, and it was
owing to their exertions that under the superintendence of intelligent
teachers trained up and versed in the pedagogical sciences, schools were
founded in our midst where religious instruction was properly attended
to. Seminaries were established for the purpose of preparing the teacher
for his onerous and responsible calling; and ministers were appointed,
who had stored up in their mind the treasures of ancient and modern,
sacred and profane lore. And the consequence was, that a general
reaction took place, that wholesome reforms were introduced into our
Synagogues; and even where these were pertinaciously opposed by the
so-called orthodox congregations, a spirit of regeneration was
conspicuously manifested. Thus it was that religious education was again
placed on a solid footing, demonstrating at the same time that,
civilization was not incompatible with our ancient faith, but that, on
the contrary, our religion is suited to all times and all ages.
In
proportion that a more thorough and systematic religious instruction was
diffused, aided by the more liberal treatment we experienced, the mania
of abjuring the faith subsided, in spite of the strenuous efforts of the
missionary societies whose whole achievements, according, to their own
statistical reports, in substance amount to this: that they provide
their travelling preachers with good salaries and distribute immense
quantities of their Bibles, which (by the way) no Israelite feels any
scruple to accept and to read, as the canon of the Old Testament does
not contain a particle to shake this belief; and the portion, which in
the course of time has been appended to it and styled the New Testament,
is not considered by him as authentic and binding.
Having
advanced thus far in my retrospective view, it may be proper to approach
the point more closely. It was in that state of transition in our
political and religious condition, that the emigration of our
co-religionists to this country became more general. I will not dilate
on the various motives that prompted them to expatriate themselves and
seek a new home in this land of liberty, nor on the amount and value of
genuine funds they contributed to the existing religious stock; but
leave this entirely to the imagination of my readers. But it must be
admitted that the mass which flocked together was composed of very
heterogeneous elements and not unlike a chaos, over which Time, that
agent of Providence, that slow but sure reformer, hovered as creative
spirit. If we look back on the short space of twenty five years, when
congregational associations* were but few, religious establishments
utterly wanting, no teacher to train the scions of Israel, no minister
to expound the law;—and then view the reviving spirit that pervades
our communities at the present time, manifesting itself in the forming
of congregations and charitable societies; in the founding of regular
and Sunday schools under the direction of competent teachers; in the
erecting of sacred edifices to worship the Lord; in the appointing of
ministers able and willing to teach their flock the way of the
Lord;—if we farther speculate on the importance of this magazine,
tending as it does to diffuse knowledge and instruction and to unite in
one religious bond our scattered and distant congregations;—I say, if
we reflect on this state of things and on the improvements that have
taken and are taking place, we have certainly good cause and reason to
congratulate ourselves on the score of the improvement already attained.
But in doing this, we must take great care not to harbour any such
delusive ideas, as self-complacency and self-sufficiency would suggest,
and to say that we had done enough, and may, therefore, stop in the
midst of our commendable course. No; much as has been done, much more
remains to be done. To be stationary is to retrograde. By looking at the
nature and constitution of our schools and Synagogues, and casting a
glance at practical life, the question forces itself upon our minds: “How
are we to secure to our youth the benefit of a religious education?”
Before
I proceed to answer this, I may be permitted to say a few words touching
education in general, which I would humbly recommend to the appreciation
of teachers and parents.
It
is the property of education to take root on every side. Care must be
taken not as to how much it should exclude, but how much it should
embrace; at the table of education the food must not be stinted, nor the
number and claims of the guests be limited. Our course must be to
provide education,—wholesome, appropriate, extensive, fitted for the
real wants of all sections of our community in this free country. We
must have in view not the past but the present and more truly the
future;—he who labours for the present only, loses his labour; whilst
he is working the present slips from under his hands: we have to see in
the child the future man, and our aim must be to make him master not of
his faculties only, but of his passions; to give him knowledge and with
knowledge virtue, so that in his future capacity of husband, parent,
citizen, in every path in which he may hereafter have to walk, education
may render the individual good and happy, and society prosperous and
permanent.
If
education is to be of universal benefit (which it certainly ought to) it
must not be confined to one portion of society, its stores not converted
into a monopoly, nor its professors into an aristocracy. It must embrace
every class and both sexes. Being the half of human society, the half of
our life—in some cases more than half—in the domestic, in the
youthful portion of existence, woman claims a larger share than man. The
domestic circle is her special domain. What is the characterising,
creative, stimulating, directing portion of each man’s little history,
but the span between the cradle and maturity? And this is in the hands
of woman. It is in these softest years that the gentlest hand makes the
most lasting impression; it is in these holiest times that the purest
seeds are scattered—the truest antidotes against the pains of after
years and corruptions of a more mature existence. No education descends
more thoroughly into the whole nature of man. But to educate, the
educator herself must first be educated. Not charity only, but
knowledge, but wisdom, but virtue must first begin at home. It is,
therefore, necessary that to these guardians and consolers of humanity,
power and love should be early given; the power of knowledge, that not
unsuccessfully they may know when to warn, to detect, to expose, and to
conquer evil; the persuasion of love, that they may have those balms
more sweetening than that of the poet, which take away all its
bitterness from the cup of life. If we would really teach men, our duty
is of a necessity first to teach women. No one who has reflected on the
organization of society but will at once see this; he will recognize in
a moment how deeply, how beautifully, how wisely the whole is
interwoven; the character of woman determining her influence, her
influence determining the whole frame of society, and her character the
product of her education, as that again is the result of her
organization and teaching.
There
is another important feature in education which deserves our serious
attention: I mean the harmony between school and house, teacher
and parent. Nothing can be more detrimental to a good education than
doubts entertained on the competency and honesty of the teacher on the
part of the parents, and expressed in the presence of their children.
The fostering of a refractory spirit in the latter, a great obstacle for
the teacher in the execution of his arduous duties, is the immediate
result. Confidence is the powerful talisman, which at all times should
be religiously preserved. Teacher and parents have to assist each other:
shoulder to shoulder they must assiduously and untiringly work for the
welfare of the rising generation entrusted to their care. The best
instruction will fail, if parents do not act in a corresponding spirit;
the moral structure will never be brought to perfection, if that part
which has caused so much care and trouble in rearing at school is
carelessly pulled down at home. If children, as the saying is, are a
blessing of Heaven, then parents should act towards them in such a
manner that they in reality may prove a blessing to them and to mankind;
that in their future career through life we may point to them,
exclaiming: ברוך שזה
ילד ברוך שזה
גדל, “Blessed he who begat such, blessed he who
educated them.”
In
order to render religious education more effective, that it may leave an
indelible impression upon the mind, it is necessary to celebrate that
decisive period in youthful life called בר
מצוה, in a more solemn and binding manner than
it has hitherto been done. Not the age of thirteen years and one day
alone should be considered the criterion of religious maturity, but a
sufficient knowledge of the precepts of the divine law. To keep aloof
from innovation and avoid coming into contact with long established
custom, however, as much as possible, the above age can certainly be
retained. The ceremony as it is at present, with very few exceptions,
performed in the Synagogues of this country, is not much calculated to
be a benefit to the youth who is now responsible for his acts himself,
to the parents, or the congregation at large. If the boy acquits himself
creditably by reading his “Parashah,” every body is pleased and
satisfied. But this technical knowledge of reading in the “Torah” is
of subordinate importance. Be declaring the בר
מצוה responsible for his acts, we ought first to
be satisfied of his ability to act as a free agent and responsible
being, and at the same time we hear him offer up his thanks to God,
אשר נתן לנו
תורת אמת
וחיי עולם
נטע בתוכנו
“Praised be He who has given unto us a law of truth, and
planted into us eternal life,” we should be convinced, that he
is fully acquainted with the former in order to live in its spirit and
be worthy of the latter; and when the father pronounces
ברוך שפטרני
מעונשו שלזה
“Blessed be He who has acquitted me of responsibility for this one,”
he should in the same moment have some guarantee that his son is
furnished with ample means to meet the responsibilities transferred on
him. In former times is was customary that the בר
מצוה pronounced a discourse
דרשה to show that he was familiar with the
divine law:—why is not this substituted by a public examination in
religious and solemn consecration? It matters very little whether we
call this act בר מצוה or confirmation,
provided it be conducted in a becoming manner. Nor should it be confined
to one sex only, as hitherto was the case, but both the sons and
daughters of Israel should participate in this sacred rite. Rather than
abolish religious customs and ceremonies which have become obsolete, we
should endeavour to adapt them as much as possible to the demands of our
time. A consecration is necessary, inasmuch as it secures to our youth
the benefits of a religious education, and serves to our youth the
benefits of a religious education, and serves as an hour of edification
to the audience. Suppose, for an instance, we had erected a temple to
the Lord, in which to worship Him and to pray unto Him,—what would be
our first act with regard to it? We would consecrate this house
of the Lord and dedicate it for its holy purpose. Now if we act in this
manner towards a lifeless, transitory temple of the Lord,
composed of gross materials—how should we fail to consecrate that living,
everlasting temple of the Lord, the soul, in which religion is the
corner-stone?
The
young Israelite who is ushered from the narrow circle of the school life
into the world will be strengthened in his faith; the remembrance of the
hour in which he has vowed to remain faithful to his religion and
virtue, will serve him as a companion and guide on his perilous voyage
through the desert of life to the promised land, beyond the grave. Yes,
the remembrance of the hour in which the pale of our religion, shall
serve him as a guardian of his moral conduct, as a saving angel in the
perils and temptations which he will encounter in his intercourse with
the outward and the development of his inward life.
I
must refrain from expatiating any farther on the subject for the
present, much as I could say in favour of it. I recommend it, however,
to the serious consideration of those who have power and influence to
move in its favour. Wherever there are regular schools established, this
object can be very easily accomplished. At the same time it would not be
improper for the respective ministers to assume the religious
instruction in these schools to themselves. To give two or three lessons
per week is no onerous task; nor does it require any additional power.
The good which is effected by dint of arguing, persuasion and conviction
is far superior and far more durable than that emanating from an arbitrary source. A noble and elevated task is
before us, worthy of our emulation. Let us enter on it with all the
energy this sacred cause is able to inspire. It will not be enough to
bring the rising generation to our level; we must, if possible, leave
them better, wiser and purer behind us. The task may perhaps not be
light; and like all other good undertakings may have its difficulties.
But we must never forget, that we fight under the banner of the Lord
Everlasting, inscribed “Our ancient and venerable faith!” And
we, with the words of Napoleon, may address the followers of our law, Du
haut de ces monumens quarante siecles vous contemplent!*
J. K. G. [James K. Gutheim]
Boston,
May 21, 5604.
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