Shabbat Re'eh

Written by Dr. Helena Miller Monday, 14 August 2006

Re'eh

One of the on-going debates in the Education world at the moment, specifically in the UK, is the extent to which Faith schools should learn about religions other than their own. A few, but not many, Jewish schools encourage the study of world faiths as part of the secular curriculum, and promote links with local schools in other faith communities, particularly through the arts and sports, emphasizing what we have in common as well as what makes us different.

This addresses the mandate that requires Religious Education to be taught in all State schools in the UK. Jewish schools, up to now, have been able to use the time allotted for Religious Education for Jewish Studies. Within the coming two years, this situation will change in State funded faith schools of all denominations in the UK. In accordance with the UK government, the Board of Deputies of British Jews has called for all Jewish schools to teach about world faiths as well as Judaism (Jewish Chronicle 3rd March 2006).

This has a direct connection with one of the themes in Re'eh , this week’s parasha. In Deuteronomy 12:30, the Israelites are not to inquire about Pagan religions and ask “How did these nations worship their gods?” It was feared that such curiosity might lead to imitative idolatrous practices. If Israel was to be cleansed from paganism, it was best to prohibit the very knowledge of these dangerous ways. Gunther Plaut (1981) observes that the purpose of this view was quite clear: in order to establish God as the supreme ruler of all Israel, all other religious practices and ideologies were ruled out of bounds and their very knowledge considered inadmissible.

So how can we accommodate this verse within a modern British context? Can we integrate, but not assimilate? Integration into the host community has certainly been encouraged throughout the centuries. In 1911, some 30 years after the beginning of the mass immigration of Jews from Eastern Europe to Britain, Reverend S. Levy told the Conference of Anglo-Jewish Ministers that the national system of compulsory and free education was enabling Jews “to acquire English habits of thought and character” (Lipman 1954 p144). This integration into English life was seen as the only way to move from the poverty in which they were living. The children of the immigrants wanted desperately to be accepted as Englishmen and women and adapting to English culture and principles as well as learning to speak English was considered vital. Whilst integration to the fullest extent was encouraged, assimilation was not, and adherence to Jewish practice and custom was emphasized. We know now, nearly a century later, that there is a fine line between integration and assimilation.

So the challenge for us today in our Jewish schools is: exactly how do we on the one hand respond to the call from the government to teach about other faiths, and on the other hand interpret Deuteronomy 12, verse 30?

In the three Progressive/Pluralist Jewish Primary schools in the UK (Akiva, Clore Tikva and Clore Shalom), the answer has been that because the pupils are clear about their Jewish identity and knowledgeable in their Judaism, they are able to look outwards at the wider community, appreciating it without wishing or needing to embrace it as their own. All three schools teach world faiths as part of a religious education syllabus, and all schools make good links with other faith communities, visiting each other’s places of worship and faith events, as well as getting to know each other in a social and educational context.

In the early days of Judaism, the Israelites were told not to inquire about other peoples from fear. Today, we are concerned with looking outwards as well as inwards, taking our place in the wider community and in the freedom of intellectual inquiry that enables us to appreciate and understand others. But this can only happen successfully if we have educated our children to have a love for Judaism, giving them a secure and full Jewish identity from which to learn about the world and all its variations of human existence.

Dr. Helena Miller
August 2006