In the third volume of the Sapir Journal [Autumn 2021], Daniel Gordis — author and Senior Vice President at Shalem College in Jerusalem — laments that Jewish peoplehood is dissolving. Among the contributing factors, he says, is a comprehensive failure to teach fundamental documents and customs, and a fading connection with Jewish tradition and our fellow Jews.

“Jewish communities unengaged in Jewish textual learning, divorced from ongoing, regular Jewish ritual, and unschooled in the richness of Jewish civilization are on their way to oblivion,” he writes.

Gordis is right — there is, in fact, a crisis of Jewish cultural literacy. As a long-time educator, I’ve witnessed firsthand each successive Jewish generation become increasingly disengaged and distant from Jewish learning.

From this despair, however, we must draw hope. And Gordis’ article offers a perfect opportunity to explore bold solutions to the problem.

It is time for us to reinvent the wheel.

In his piece, Gordis notes that American Jewish non-Orthodox leaders have lowered standards when it comes to Jewish learning, thereby decreasing the commitment to Jewish tradition. Though he makes an undeniable point, maybe we need not fault Jewish leaders and rabbis who’ve made compromises in order to maximize Jewish involvement. What can be viewed as a negative is actually the direct result of efforts to make Jewish learning more accessible and inclusive to all — even if these efforts have not exactly panned out as planned.

With this in mind, the imperative should be to try something bold and new.

We must work together to identify multiple approaches to reintroducing the bounty of engaging, inspiring, and relevant Jewish thought and dialogue to those who have fallen behind. If there’s one thing I’ve discovered as an educator, it’s that people are seeking, and they want to know, more. Our responsibility is to continue to foster this curiosity in out-of-the-box ways that will bring deep, engaging, and accessible learning to those who seek it.

Most importantly, funders must stop viewing adult Jewish learning as a luxury — as an added value of lesser importance than the education of our youth. Lifelong Jewish learning must be understood for what it truly is: the key to lifelong engagement in and support of Jewish life and Jewish community.

One might wonder exactly how to accomplish such a task and scale it in a way that can reach the masses. As the International Director of the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning, which engages adult learners in a study of Jewish texts and ideas that nurtures and deepens Jewish community, I encourage Jewish leaders to look into what’s already out there to see how we can capitalize on and scale up existing adult Jewish engagement and programming.

As an example, we already have a fully developed Jewish curriculum, 100 percent of which is text-based. Our mission is to bring that catalog to people in a digestible way that enriches Jewish life, and helps people draw their own conclusions and chart their own Jewish journey. Our experience as educators has also taught us that people grow and learn best in smaller groups where they build community and discuss ideas in a transformative way.

Our main challenge, however, is supporting new and innovative ways to get the learning out to more and more potential learners.

Writing in Sapir Journal’s Winter 2022 edition, Andrés Spokoiny of the Jewish Funder’s Network, presents an ambitious plan that centers around a transformational Jewish literacy program. Spokoiny’s belief — one which I share — is that every Jewish adult has the right to access Jewish literacy with a basic Jewish digital library free of charge.

With our community at a tipping point, now is the time to make real change. We can no longer afford to congratulate ourselves as levels of engagement continue to dwindle. We need real buy-in, and a system for creating an aspirational Jewish literacy program. Importantly, we also need funders and other Jewish organizations to collaborate on this project, so that together we can create a robust community around Jewish learning.

The next chapter of engaged Jewish life is right in front of us. What are we waiting for?

Rabbi Dr. Morey Schwartz is the International Director of the Florence Melton School of Adult Jewish Learning, a project of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, and lives in Israel.

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