Shavuot Sermon Religious School Faculty It's Friday Evening and The
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Shavuot Sermon Religious School Faculty It’s Friday evening and the early summer sun still shines bright as families bustle around the shul, children in their most pristine Shavuot whites. An electric brand of Shabbat peace fills the sanctuary as Kabbalat Shabbat begins and the families sing and tap their fists in the bim- bam motion. When Rabbi Krause calls the incoming kindergarteners to the bimah to receive their mini-Torahs, smiles gleam on their faces. The children brim with delight when they taste the sweet honey from their aleph-bet cards and they hug their Torahs tight. “Little Torah, little Torah, teach me wrong from right,” they sing in the beautifully cacophonous way that only children can. Rabbi Krause proclaims that this ceremony marks our children’s consecration into a life of Jewish learning. It is a living representation of Shavuot, z’man matan torateinu, the time of the giving of our Torah. Parents eyes fill with tears of joy. They embrace their children as their children embrace Torah. Each Shavuot weekend, our community of religious school teachers witnesses this touching Consecration ceremony. The time comes upon us again next weekend to welcome our newest students into the fold of lifelong Jewish learning. The holiday of Shavuot reminds us, as teachers and Jews, that each year we are given the most sacred gift during this z’man matan torateinu. We receive the gift of Torah and, with it, the z’man, the time, to “turn it and turn it again” within our hearts and minds. Each year, we receive the time to reconsider how best to transmit the divine legacy of Judaism to our students.1 1 “Ben Bag Bag would say: turn it and turn it again, for all is in it; see through it; grow old and worn in it; do not budge from it, for there is nothing that works better than it.” (Mishneh Avot 5:22) Two centuries ago, a Chasidic Rabbi by the name of Menachem Mendel of Kotzk became curious about this name by which we call Shavuot, z’man matan torateinu.2 He wondered: Why did the sages use a name that highlights the giving of Torah, as opposed to the receiving of Torah? After all, Pirke Avot, some of the most formative verses of our sages, highlight the idea of receiving Torah throughout the shelshelet kabbalah, the chain of transmission, which is detailed in their verses of wisdom. This textual inconsistency triggered the Kotzker to wonder about the sages’ use of matan, giving, instead of kabalat, receiving in their Shavuot pseudonym. The Kotzker answers his own question with a reference from his teacher, Rabbi Simcha Bunam. Rabbi Bunam said that we call Shavuot “the time of the giving of our Torah” because Torah was given in this particular time, the month of Sivan. We don’t call Shavuot “the time of the receiving of our Torah” because receiving Torah is a daily endeavor not confined to the month of Sivan. Here the Kotzker adds his own insight to his original question, why say z’man matan torateinu rather than z’man kabalat torateinu? He hypothesizes that the sages emphasize matan, giving, because the giving of Torah is equal for all, while the receiving of Torah is not equal for everyone. Kol echad v’echad, each and every person, receives Torah k’fi erech hasagto, in accordance with their ability to comprehend. As my teacher Rabbi Larry Tabick 2 Menachem Mendel of Kotzk, Ohel Torah MeHaRabbi MiKotzk (The Torah Tent of the Rabbi of Kotzk) (Lublin, 1909), pp.46-47. translates the Kotzker’s words, “each individual receives only what they are capable of understanding.”3 To gain insight into the Kotzker’s interpretation, we ought to learn a bit about him. Menachem Mendel of Kotzk was a Polish Jew who assumed the position of rabbi to a radical Chasidic community in Peshischa, Poland in 1826. He infused his community’s sensibilities with his own novel ideas, which veered from other Chasidic rabbis’ approaches. Unlike his contemporaries, who promoted Chasidism’s infusion of ecstasy and intentionality in the lives of all seekers, the Kotzker aimed to educate a selective group of intellectually and morally critical disciples.4 He expected only the best from his students. Their collaborative quest for truth and morality was his ultimate goal. At the same time, the Kotzker believed that every individual, not just the elite students, had the ability to forge their own path to intellectual and moral heights. Biographer Joseph Fox describes the Kotzker’s disdain for rabbinic nepotism. He believed that each person, no matter their upbringing, could achieve the ultimate goal of Godly knowledge if they fully committed themselves to the task. “The idea of Kotzk was Abraham, the ‘self-made’ man […] to a certain degree, every Jew is in Abraham’s situation; everyone must, through his own efforts and by his own means, find the road leading to God.”5 The Kotzker’s commentary on Shavuot’s pseudonym drives home this poignant message. Torah was given to every person equally, and it is each person’s matanah, their gift, to receive Torah’s deeper meaning according to their own 3 Rabbi Larry Tabick, “Drashot on Festivals,” Class notes, April 8, 2019, London, UK. 4 Joseph Fox, Rabbi Menachem Mendel of Kotzk: A Biographical Study of the Chasidic Master, (Brooklyn, NY: Bash Publications, Inc., 1988), 84. 5 Joseph Fox, Rabbi Menachem Mendel, 102. ability, their unique understanding of the world, and their individual relationship with the Divine. In the Kotzker’s Shavuot analogy, God is the ultimate teacher. God gives each person equal access to Torah and allows each person the ability to receive Torah according to their own capabilities. In Exodus 34, we learn about God’s 13 attributes. The famous refrain begins: Adonai, Adonai, el rachum v’chanun. Adonai, Adonai, a God compassionate and gracious.6 These Godly qualities of compassion and grace are exemplified through the Kotzker’s drash; God’s ability to communicate with each person as they need is the ultimate display of compassion and grace. All humanity was created b’tzelem Elohim, in God’s image, with the capacity to embody aspects of God’s character. When I look at you, our community of religious school teachers, I see so much divinity in your character. I see generosity and kindness. I see rachum v’chanun, compassion and grace. You embody God’s most caring qualities—this is why you became teachers! In the same way that God allows each person to receive Torah according to their unique capabilities, so too do we help our students gain knowledge that is equal and differentiated. One of the greatest gifts we can give our students is differentiated instruction, instruction that allows them to access knowledge in a variety of ways according to their needs. Carol Ann Tomlinson, author of The Differentiated Classroom, reminds us that there are two “givens” that every teacher in a differentiated classroom starts with: the first are “content requirements—often in the form of “standards”—that will serve as destination points for […] 6 Exodus 34:6, Sefaria translation. students.” The second are “students who will inevitably vary as learners.”7 No two students are precisely alike in their learning styles, interests, degree of aptitude, attention spans…and the list goes on!...but they all ought to be held to our religious school’s high standards of engagement. This means that it is our responsibility to differentiate our teaching in order to provide each student with a deep learning experience. How does this happen in practice? Tomlinson suggests that the most basic way to differentiate instruction is to vary 3 parts of the classroom experience: Content, process, and products. In other words, we can differentiate what the students learn, the activities they do in order to learn, and the products they create to demonstrate that they have learned. We can tailor the content, process, and products according to what our students are interested in learning and the ways they learn best. For instance, if a student loves basketball and is a kinesthetic learner, you might create try your hand at Hebrew through hoops. If a student is a structured thinker, you might structure class with a KWL chart. As the Kotzker demonstrated in his drash on Shavuot, every student ought to receive Torah equally, but their ability to receive and the way in which they best receive Torah varies. As transmitters of Torah, it is our obligation to make our classrooms accessible, safe, and engaging laboratories for every student. If we seek a role model for differentiated instruction, we need look no farther than Torah itself! Torah regularly varies content for different learning styles. For some, Torah values shine best through stories. For others, through clear-cut laws. Some thrive on repetition, so 7 Carol Ann Tomlinson, The Differentiated Classroom: Responding to the Needs of All Learners, 2nd edition (Alexandria, VA: ASCD, 2014), 3. Torah repeats refrains over and over again. Each kind of learner can find their path within Torah’s many modes of instruction. Differentiated instruction is not just a hallmark of good teaching; it is a demonstration of our most cherished Jewish values. Our rachamim, compassion, allows us to empathize with each student’s unique circumstances; anavah, humility, grants us the ability to know that our instinctive methods of instruction might not suit every student. We accept achrayut, responsibility, for each child’s success in the classroom, and take on the mantel of differentiated instruction. When instruction is differentiated, every student in the class contributes in their own way towards a common goal.