fbpx

Will Jewish Schools Teach the Truth About America?

Compare America to other countries, not to Utopia.
[additional-authors]
June 18, 2020

This column was prompted by a report from the Jewish news agency JTA:

“‘We demand concrete change to the Frisch curriculum and culture,’ wrote graduates of the Frisch School in Paramus, New Jersey, the Orthodox high school that counts Jared Kushner among its alums. Their letter connected their call to action to the lessons they learned from the Holocaust and the words ‘never again ….’

“‘Frisch must lead by example and educate the Jewish community about the ongoing human rights failures in the United States,’ they wrote. ‘The fact that graduates of day schools are pushing their schools to incorporate anti-racism education into their curriculum should be seen as a testament to the schools,’ said Paul Bernstein, CEO of Prizmah, a network of Jewish day schools.”

It is not “a testament to the schools.” Here is why:

When I went to yeshiva day schools, America was celebrated. America was regarded —  as described by Menachem Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the most influential rabbi of the 20th century — as a medina shel chesed, “a country of kindness.” 

He knew, as all American Jews knew, that there were many anti-Semites in America, that America should have done more for the Jews of Europe, that universities like Harvard limited the number of Jewish students, that prestigious law firms and country clubs barred Jews, etc. So, then, why did he describe America as a country of kindness? Why did my yeshiva in Brooklyn put on plays honoring George Washington? Why did my Orthodox Jewish day school utilize texts not only celebrating America but which affirmed America as a “melting pot?” Why did a Jew, Irving Berlin, write “God Bless America?”

When you ask the only morally significant question — who abolished slavery? — the answer is America and some other Western countries. And then you should teach the reason: because of Western values rooted in the Bible.

The primary reason was that these Jews knew what the rest of the world was like. They had the wisdom to compare America to other countries, not, as the left does, to Utopia. Compared with the rest of the world, America was — and remains — a medina shel chesed. 

Was it such a country for all citizens? Of course not. At the time when Schneerson described America as a “country of kindness,” the southern half of America enforced immoral and degrading Jim Crow laws, and racism was common in the north as well. And gays were often ostracized and degraded.

But the Torah teaches us that we are not to compare the past with the present. That is why Noah is described in Genesis as righteous “in his generations.” If Noah were to be compared with people in later generations, he would be found wanting. Abraham had a concubine and lied about his wife to save his own life. But only fools — like all those who want to tear down monuments to Washington and Jefferson — would dismiss Abraham’s greatness. Jacob, the man God renamed “Israel,” owned slaves. Should Jews cease calling themselves the “Children of Israel”? Should the State of Israel change its name?

That is what Jewish — and all religious schools — should be teaching when discussing Washington or Jefferson owning slaves. If we are to dismiss the greatness of two of the founders of the freest country in human history (not to mention the best non-Jewish country Jews have ever lived in), then we should do likewise to the Jewish patriarchs. Moses had a fellow Israelite executed for publicly violating the Sabbath. Should his sculpture be removed from the Supreme Court? Will Jewish day schools start to dismiss the greatness of all of our ancestors? If they start to do this to Washington and Jefferson, they should be consistent.

While acknowledging the history of racism, including the history of police racism, if your school cares about truth, it should try to teach all the facts.

Or should they do what the Torah does? While never ignoring the flaws of giants, remember why they were giants.

Will Jewish and Christian schools teach that every society in world history, including African societies, Native Americans and the Arab world, all practiced slavery? If not, why not? Isn’t it morally and factually dishonest to teach only about slavery in America?

What should be taught is that America’s and the Western world’s uniqueness did not lie in having slaves. Slavery was universal. Therefore, the morally serious person asks who abolished slavery, not who practiced it. But the left, is not now, nor ever has been, morally serious. 

When you ask the only morally significant question — who abolished slavery? — the answer is America and some other Western countries. And then you should teach the reason: because of Western values rooted in the Bible. One would think that fact would be central to the curriculum of every Jewish and Christian school that takes their religion seriously. But much of contemporary Christianity and Judaism has been more influenced more by the left.

While acknowledging the history of racism, including the history of police racism, if your school cares about truth, it should try to teach all the facts. One such fact is that in August 2019, the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, a peer-reviewed journal, concluded there is “no significant evidence of antiblack disparity in the likelihood of being fatally shot by police.” 

A Jewish school might also wish to note that, according to a 2016 Anti-Defamation League survey, “ ‘Anti-Semitic views’ among black respondents were materially more common than among whites.” A Washington Post blog reported two years earlier, “ ‘Entrenched anti-Semitic views’ are far more common among African Americans and Latinos than among others.”

“There are only two races,” Viktor Frankl wrote, “the race of the decent and the race of the indecent.”

Indeed, in 1991, black attacks on Jews in Crown Heights, N.Y., were so violent that then-New York City Mayor Ed Koch, The New York Times’ executive editor, A.M. Rosenthal and others called it a “pogrom.” Brandeis University historian Edward S. Shapiro wrote it was “the most serious anti-Semitic incident in American history.” Will even Jewish schools smear American society as “systemically” racist while making believe blacks are only victims?

One reason this is important is so that your students will understand that “all whites are racist” is as vile a charge as “all black people are anti-Semitic.”

Finally, will Jewish schools teach the central teaching of Judaism — that Adam had no race? As the Sages put it: “Why was only a single specimen of man created first? To teach us that … no race or class may claim a nobler ancestry, saying, ‘Our father was born first.’ ” In other words, the Bible’s demand is that we be colorblind. But in the morally sick world in which we now live, “colorblind” is deemed “racist.” 

Will Jewish day schools teach that colorblind is Jewish or that colorblind is racist?

“There are only two races,” Viktor Frankl wrote, “the race of the decent and the race of the indecent.”

No Jewish parent should send their child to a Jewish school that teaches otherwise.


Copyright 2020 creators.com. Dennis Prager is a nationally syndicated radio talk show host; president of PragerU, which has 1 billion views a year; and author most recently of volume two (Genesis) of the bestselling Torah and Bible commentary in America, “The Rational Bible.” Reprinted with permission.

Did you enjoy this article?
You'll love our roundtable.

Editor's Picks

Latest Articles

Difficult Choices

Jews have always believed in the importance of higher education. Today, with the rise in antisemitism across many college campuses, Jewish high school seniors are facing difficult choices.

All Aboard the Lifeboat

These are excruciating times for Israel, and for the Jewish people.  It is so tempting to succumb to despair. That is why we must keep our eyes open and revel in any blessing we can find.  

More news and opinions than at a
Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.

More news and opinions than at a Shabbat dinner, right in your inbox.