Congratulations, you made it. This Graduation is a testament to your dedication towards Jewish education and your parent’s ability to wake you up in the morning. I feel particularly honored today, because while you are graduating Gratz, I am entering. Next month I begin the Gratz Doctoral program in Jewish Education. So I definitely feel part of the family.
What word’s can I share that will inspire, those that are already inspired? The people in this room are committed to Judaism, Jewish Education, and Jewish Community. They are our hope, our future. The important message is one that needs to reach those that are not in this room.
Last week we saw two major American institutions stumble and falter. Chrysler and GM; if they survive, will be just shadows of their former selves. What happened? How could GM, one of the largest most powerful corporations in the world bring itself to the brink of extinction? It stopped looking towards the future. I concentrated on the moment and forgot that real success is not achieved by meeting the needs of this generation, but by anticipating the needs of the next.
Looking at the Jewish community today, one sees elements of Auto industry hubris. There is constant back slapping over programs delivered, events run, and fundraising goals met. Yet all the while, the hair color in the room fades to grey. Like the auto makers, the next generation is ignored. The young have little money and communal energy spent on them does not immediately affect the bottom line. Yet, when this generation of Jewish leaders passes on, will there be another to take its place?
The lack of a serious commitment to Jewish education is our global warming and the ice berg melt is not years away, the water is rising now. CAJE, the central agency for Jewish Education, closed its doors this year. Conferences that helped develop generations of Jewish educators will no longer be held. The Boston Bureau of Jewish Education will be closing its doors next month. HUC the seminary of the Reform movement announced that it may have to close two of its campuses, JTS has a 5.5 million budgetary shortfall on this year’s budget alone, even after slashing staff, and Yeshiva University, ground zero for the Madoff scandal, laid off 60 full time employees. Closer to home Baltimore Hebrew University has ceased functioning as an independent institution and will become part of Towson University.
From these figures, one would think that we are in the midst of the Great Depression. One would think that there are bread lines and shanty towns. But there are not. There are still billions donated each year by Jewish philanthropists. Yet, while Jewish philanthropists are donating billions of dollars, few of those dollars reach Jewish causes. Fewer still are committed to Jewish Education. Just a slight reallocation of resources could solve all of these problems. It is certainly within our grasp to provide a free Jewish education to everyone who desired one.
But, we have gone from being “the people of the book to “being 'the people of what page are we on?" Most Jews today are content to let others digest and interpret their spiritual life. Judaism is a TShirt, a reference on a Seinfeld rerun, an excuse to raise money, but not something that demands real sacrifice.
But, that is the message for the people that are not here. The people in this room have a commitment to Jewish education. My students in Biblical Hebrew, have in less than a year, mastered translation skills so that they can read the Torah in the original. At Gratz, Jewish identity is not something that someone gives us, it is something that we learn about, struggle with, and interpret on our own.
20 years ago, I thought I would change the world. I thought that a person’s connection to Judaism, hinged on my ability or lack there of to inspire. I bought people Kosher sandwiches so that they won’t eat treif, handed out boxes of Matzo to students on their way to Cancun hoping that they would somehow take a bit of Passover on vacation with them, and I saw every person who walked away from Jewish life as a manifestation of my personal failure.
Today, my goals are more modest. If I can get my son to practice his Bar Mizvah portion, or if I can get my teenaged daughter out of bed I feel like a success. I pass the torch to our graduates. It is your turn to feel the passion, your turn to feel the excitement, your turn to change the world.
You will be entering college next year. No one will be around to wake you up and pull you to Gratz. Will be Judaism be part of your life? Or a memory in your past. As a result of Gratz, you have tools that few others share today. Put them to good use. The Jewish community needs you.
