So, for now, I will leave you will my friend David Levithan on G-DCAST talking about how the Torah ends, quietly, with a respect for creation.

“A good ending is never an ending”

Parshat Vezot Habracha from G-dcast.com

More Torah cartoons at www.g-dcast.com

Most mornings, Terry Ann Lawler arrives at the Palo Verde Library, a branch of Phoenix Public Library, to find a line of over 50 adults waiting for the building to open. She and her staff want to help them all search for benefits or employment or just figure out how to use the computer, but they simply lack the time. This scene repeats itself at many libraries across the country. There is a surging need for services, placing high demands on staff time just as staff time and resources are shrinking. The increased demand coupled with decreased resources puts stress on those on the front lines and on administrators, many of whom are themselves suffering the same financial anxieties as their patrons.

Nationwide, public library circulation increased six percent in 2009, according to LJ’s budget survey (see p. 44), with patrons borrowing more free books and media than ever. Yet, hit by the recession and rising unemployment, libraries have faced massive budget cuts, with hiring freezes, reduced hours, and layoffs becoming the norm. This paradox strains the system, and the strain is adversely affecting libraries from Connecticut to California.

Major media outlets from the New York Times to the Today Show have trumpeted the spike in library use, especially as job services have become a priority, but they miss the story of how public libraries deliver services in spite of budget cuts and the impact on those who deliver them. Nevertheless, for some library systems, for some librarians, this crisis has been an opportunity. On a personal level, many library employees have been reminded of how essential their work is, and, on the systemic level, some institutions are finding ways to rise to the current crisis, through collaboration, outreach, and innovation. (read the whole article on LJ’s website)

It’s just like Weight Watchers. Eat what you want, just know that a cupcake isn’t going to get you to your goal as well as broccoli will. And, as I am sure countless people have succeeded in losing weight with weight watchers, I am sure Accelerated Reader has helped get many children to enjoy reading.

But unlike counting calories, reading and developing a love of reading are not so easily quantified. Every book speaks to every child somewhat differently, whispering all kinds of unknowable things in that silence that occurs when our minds get lost on a page. Sometimes those whispers seize a child and he or she can’t put the book down. Other times the whispers might as well be in Sanskrit. In fact, the strength of the connection can change from day to day. To assign a point value to this interaction seems not only risky to me (I love Harry Potter, but come on…34 points vs The Remains of the Day with 13?? The NIV-Bible Book of Exodus is only worth 5…and it’s classified under Religion-Christianity! ummm…it’s kind of a big book for the Jews too), it seems unnecessary.

I understand the desire for data to judge student progress and teacher performance and the overall efficacy of a school and a curriculum, but, assigning points to the books will have a chilling effect on free choice in reading. The points appear as a value judgment on a book’s worth and it cannot be denied that students will steer toward books with more points. Suddenly, the wonderful conversations about why a child likes a particular book vanish. It’s clear why. Some books are worth more than others.

So what’s the solution?

I don’t have all the answers, but it seems a start would be to engage with each every student about what they are reading and why they are reading  it. To ask questions about reading in the home, to be seen reading by our children and to emphasize that there is something wonderful about finding that book that you know is whispering right to you, to putting down that books that aren’t. The moment is far too sacred to reduce to the choice between a points, even if it makes a grown up’s job easier. There is no system that can replace a conversation about books.

It was terrifying and hilarious, and more than a little strange, but I made it through the two-minute, American Idol style auditions for the Jewish Book Network, and enjoyed meeting a lot of the programmers from around the country and the other authors pushing their titles. It definitely added to my reading list.

I was there to talk about Far From Zion, which comes out in October, and I had a good time, much to my surprise. So hopefully, I’ll be busy this fall/winter spreading the word and coming to a community near you!

Also, in the biggest diplomatic news in decades, Iranian and Israeli government officials might just be at the same Fourth of July events at U.S. Embassies around the world. This is a major thawing of US/Iran relations, but I do wonder if anyone at the State Department has considered that neither the Iranian Muslims nor the Israeli Jews can eat the hotdogs they plan to serve? Or perhaps they’re going with Hebrew National brand? I want a photo of an Iranian ambassador chowing down on a Hebrew National frank!

Should American Hebrew Schools be teaching students how to be more critical of Israel, as Dana Goldstein argues in The American Prospect? Or should they spend a lot more time focusing on Hebrew literacy? Avraham Infeld argues that Judaism is “a five-legged stool“, those legs being “the Land of Israel, the Hebrew Language, Jewish values, Jewish religion, Jewish community.” (Saxe 2008 p 57) While the vagueness of the latter the three “legs” makes them both useful for discussion in Hebrew Schools and on Birthright Israel trips, they are, perhaps, not so informative on the vital nature of the Jewish people, but as for Hebrew and the Land of Israel, learning more about both of those things in Hebrew school will certainly go a long way to deepening the students’ understanding of this muddle of history, langauge, religion, and culture that is Judaism. The language is essential to engage with Jewish sacred texts, which, I believe are the most meaningful part of Jewish existence and certainly the ony truly unifying factor, even as their meaning is open for broad debate (actually, because their meaning is open for broad debate. Torah is a Big Tent). As for the Land of Israel, as I’ve learned recently, you can be a Jew for Israel or against Israel, but it is very hard to be a Jew without Israel. We all have to grapple with it at some point if we are to forge Jewish identities, and what better place to start that process critically than in Hebrew school? I would say that vibrant debate is certainly a “Jewish Value” and it’s a shame that so many Hebrew schools choose to ignore that value by only presenting one view of “the Jewish State”.

1. Saxe, L., & Chazan, B. (2008). Ten Days of Birthright Israel: a Journey in Young Adult Identity. City: Brandeis.