Pluralism, Literacy and Community
Devora Steinmetz

The trialogue between Rabbis Borowitz, Greenberg, and Schulweis address an issue that plagues many contemporary committed Jews as they strive to find their place within Judaism and the Jewish community. Can I find a place which is open to ideas, which encourages the search for meaning, which respects the individual – but which also has high standards, seriousness, and passion? If "an era of choices" means "an era of uncertainty," does that mean that I have to pray, learn, and live a pareve Jewish life – or else that I must give up my American and (as Shulweis points out) Jewish values of choice and diversity in order to find a synagogue, school, or community which is passionately and deeply committed?

While that, indeed, has often seemed to be the case, I believe that we can get beyond the either-or trade-offs of contemporary Jewish communal and institutional life. But we can't do it without drastically upgrading fluency (not just literacy!) in classical Jewish texts and ideas. Choice and openness should not be confused with a soft laissez-faire , "I'm OK, you're OK" attitude. As Jews and as Americans, we should know that the right to choose what to believe and how to live one's life, goes hand-in-hand with the responsibility to learn, to reflect deeply, to make hard choices, and to engage in debate with people who believe differently and who may challenge one's own interpretation. So choice and even lack of certainty, rather than undermining commitment and passion, should thrust us directly into the place where commitment and passion come to life – into a deep and rigorous engagement with Jewish texts and ideas, into a deeply personal quest embedded in a vigorous, shared communal discourse.

Our challenge, as we re-envision synagogues, adult education, Israel programs, and, most important, schools, is to re-create community as beit-midrash – as a place where people come together to learn, question, challenge, seek, and deepen commitments. We especially need schools – and teachers and principals to staff them – that teach young children strong skills and knowledge, which foster a love of ideas and a passion for learning, and which teach children how to think critically, question openly, and search for answers. Our schools and classrooms should be places where children learn to grow as individuals within community – a place where children learn how to develop strong ideas, opinions, and beliefs as they engage in respectful discourse with other children and adults who may disagree with them and who challenge their ideas and interpretations. Our schools and classrooms should be communities – in formation, where children learn how to take responsibility for the life of the community--and where they gain the knowledge, wisdom, vision, humility, drive, and guts to shape the future Jewish community.

Devora Steinmetz is founder of Beit Rabban, a day school and center for education in New York City. She teaches biblical and rabbinic literature at Drisha Institute and the Jewish Theological Seminary. She is the author of From Father to Son: Kinship, Conflict, and Continuity in Genesis.