Copyright 2009
KDHS Part III Edukashin
Naomi, thanks for that interesting perspective. I have always felt that our Jewish/Hebrew education was far too rigid, often taught by the wrong people in the wrong way. My chief memory of Hebrew is endlessly translating passages from the Old Testament to or from Hebrew with no attempt to involve us in discussion of the meaning, how it might relate to our understanding of the world, to our lives or to our Judaism. Rashi may very well have provided many answers but under the tutelage of Mr. Katz it became farcical. The only thing I learned from him was that ??all talking ceases at five to eight?. I tried to stop talking but couldn?t help myself.
There seemed to be a tremendous indifference to the meaning of Judaism and a total emphasis on the mechanics of translating Old Testament Hebrew. If memory serves me at least 80% of Hebrew classes were on Biblical Hebrew and far less on modern or conversational Hebrew. My study of Hebrew was not helped as I did not go on the Ulpan in Form III. My parents offered me the choice of the Ulpan or accompanying the entire family to Europe for 5 weeks over the summer vacation. Stops were to include Israel, Rome, Skiing in Austria and the clincher for me, 10 days in London. I was always somewhat of an Anglophile and the idea of going to London, home of music, fashion and football was too much. It was everything I expected it to be and then some. I got to see the debut on TV of The Beatles Magical Mystery tour as well as seeing Chelsea playing Arsenal on Boxing Day 1967.
I struggled with Hebrew the last couple of years and could not keep up with those who had been on the Ulpan. I passed Matric Hebrew but it was by far my weakest subject. I left King David after twelve years with little to show for having had a ?Jewish? education. I accept that part of it was my incuriosity to understand and learn more about the religion but in reading many of these memories I think I am not alone in that I found this aspect far less than fulfilling. Ironically my daughter who has just started 11th Grade (the equivalent of Form IV) at a Catholic school has learned more about Judaism in her comparative religion classes than I learned in 5 years at KDHS.
I must also relate an incident a couple of years later when I was at Wits, plotting nefariously against the South African government. The Chief Rabbi of Johannesburg made a Rosh Hashanah speech about how grateful the Jews are that they can live in South Africa in freedom and in safety far from the horrors of Eastern Europe. This speech was widely reported in the local newspapers and was also heralded on radio by the government owned SABC. A group of Jewish students at Wits, including a number of King David graduates wrote a letter to The Star expressing our gratitude that we, as Jews can live without fear in South Africa but we felt that the Chief Rabbi should have acknowledged that while the Jews are doing just fine, 80% of South Africans are suffering in many of the same ways that the Jews suffered in pre-war Europe.
You would have thought we had written a letter suggesting Mein Kampf was a good read and should be taken seriously. My mother was asked by a friend whether I was still a Jew the next day at her bridge game. My sister had just returned from a year in France and was visiting the school when Sandler pounded on her and verbally assaulted her for something she had no idea had even happened. Apparently we had committed the mortal sin of ?washing our laundry in public?. I was berated and insulted for expressing what I thought was a very reasonable opinion.
I am Jewish, I have always considered myself Jewish, I celebrate the holidays, I have fasted every Yom Kippur since my Barmitzvah. I am not a particularly religious person but I have developed a deep sense of faith in the past 10 years or so. It is Jewish yet it is not Jewish. I pray every day but my prayers are not Jewish prayers but prayers that I have fashioned for myself. I believe in God and I believe in my Jewishness which I feel is tribal as much as anything. The tragedy is that King David, as it was was in the 1960?s did little to reinforce that and in some senses caused me to turn away from it for too long.
Next up ? the secular education at KDHS