“Teach [these instructions]
diligently to your children,” the Torah commands us this week, in a verse
that’s famous from the V’ahavta (Deuteronomy 6:7). We are to impress the words of Torah into our
children’s very beings.
Most Reform Jews honor the Torah. We know it’s a rich compendium of ancient wisdom,
story, and ethics. We understand that it
stands at the center of our tradition. But
few of us have spent enough time reading the Torah to understand it. Even fewer have invested enough to allow the
Torah to become a frame through which we understand our life experiences.
During preparation for a Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony, I
study Torah not only with each young person, but also with their parents. Parents are amazed at how perceptive and
eloquent their kids are. And they are
staggered by the beauty they find within the Torah. “This is really interesting!” they tell
me. “I’d like to do this more!”
I understand why.
The Torah was the lamp that lit my way back to Judaism as an adult. In Torah study with my rabbi, I found a life
of the mind – ideas, ambiguity, complexity – that was missing from my life
otherwise. How I looked forward to our
monthly study sessions!
And so I encourage you: read analyses of Torah like this one, but go
to the source as well. Read the entire parsha,
or just a few verses that jump out at you.
You’ll find yourself pondering them as you drive to work or while making
dinner –“when you stay at home and when you are away” -- and your life will be
richer for it.
If you have children or
grandchildren, consider taking it a step further. Select a paragraph of the actual Torah with
them, not watered-down Bible stories for kids.
(I find Genesis and the first half of Exodus are best for younger
children because they tell stories.) Ask them questions: specific ones first, moving into more
abstract ones later in the conversation.
Solicit their opinions. Just like
parents of bar and bat mitzvah kids, you’ll be amazed at the conversations you
have.
“If you truly wish your children to
study Torah, study it yourself in their presence. They will follow your
example. Otherwise, they will not themselves study Torah but will simply
instruct their children to do so,” Rabbi Menahem Mendel of Kotzk taught. And I add:
if you want them to become engaged in Jewish life and thought, to be
sophisticated thinkers in their own right, study Torah with them.
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