Learning Traditions From Our Children

A well-known Talmudic statement teaches that we learn much from our teachers and even more from our peers. But we learn most of all from our students.  With many of Congregation Beth Shalom’s students now at Jewish summer camps, I would like to share one of the many lessons I learned from my students at camp. Whether we send our children to GUCI, OSRUI (Wisconsin for GUCI), Solomon Schechter, or a more secular or more traditional camp, students learn in a matter of weeks more than they can possibly learn in a year of Religious School – and in a much more exciting environment.

One of my Camp Stories: The Legend of Mr. Ziri

Mr. Ziri was an Iraqi Jew who had, for reasons unbeknownst to me, ended up for a time in that great Jewish metropolis of Spokane, Washington. I remember Rabbi Solomon trying to help Mr. Ziri file a police report when he had been robbed – a challenge, because while Mr. Ziri spoke six languages, English was not one of them.

One morning Rabbi began services by introducing the prayer Modeh Ani (I give my thanks to You, God, for restoring my soul within me) by telling us that the melody we would be using was an old Iraqi folk tune taught to him by Mr. Ziri. After the long explanation Rabbi Solomon began singing Modeh Ani – with a perfectly straight face – to “You Are My Sunshine”. It certainly was a big hit with me!

Fast forward 20 years or so, and I am now spending a big part of my summer as a camp rabbi. I thought that the Mr. Ziri shtick would be great to pull on the campers. My song leader and I worked out all of the details, and we executed it flawlessly. The campers listened attentively and sang along, since they knew the Hebrew prayer much better than they knew the melody.

At breakfast after Tefillah, a serious-faced student walked up to me, handed me the peanut butter, and said that while he liked the Iraqi tune, he liked the “TRADITIONAL” tune much better. The “TRADITIONAL” melody had been recorded a mere five years before.

FIVE YEARS AGO – THAT WAS “TRADITIONAL”.

And my student had taught me an important lesson.

The traditions of our parents were the signposts they left behind on their spiritual journey. Our traditions are our signposts. But our children must find their own unique pathways and leave their own signposts.

Rabbi Solomon’s and Mr. Ziri’s Judaism is not the Judaism that led me to where I am today – 40 years in the rabbi business. I had to chart my own journey and leave my own signposts. That journey was mine, and my “Traditional” was not their “Traditional”.

Likewise, our children must find their own way, must chart their own course, and leave their own signposts. We cannot create the meaningful Judaism they desire. We cannot provide simple answers to the questions they must ask. They must create their own “Traditional”.  We can only help.

B’Shalom
Rabbi Stanley Halpern