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Josephson Ethics Institute
Click on the "more" button below for information on our Menschlekeit Matters partner. more >
Through learning
to know; and through knowing to experience wonder.
- Pirkei Avot
Menschlekeit Matters
Parent Post: Why did you decide to start the Menschlekeit Matters program?
Rabbi Steven Carr Reuben: The Menschlekeit Matters program grew out of conversations I had with Michael Josephson - who created the Josephson Institute of Ethics - about the impact of religious school education on the individual behavior of children who go through KI's educational program. Every few years the Josephson Institute puts out a "Report Card on America's Youth," a survey that reflects some specific categories of ethical behavior the Institute feels can be measured. They ask kids questions such as, "How often do you lie to teachers or parents," or "How often do you steal from stores, cheat on tests, solve conflict with violence," and the like. These categories usually relate to concrete, obvious ethical challenges and behaviors that kids tend to do.
One of the results from a past study was that there appeared to be NO significant difference in behavior between kids who go to public schools and kids who go to parochial schools (studies done largely in Catholic schools.) Michael Josephson is a KI member and his girls go to religious school here. Michael challenged me asking, "Shouldn't it matter? If a kid goes to KI, goes through the religious school and learns Jewish values, shouldn't it make a difference in his or her behavior?" His question, directed specifically to me as the Rabbi at Kehillat Israel was, "Shouldn't I, as the rabbi, be able to predict or assume that a child who goes through KI's full religious school experience would tend to be more ethical in their behavior than someone who has no religious education?" More to the point, "Shouldn't I desire this to be the case, or is religious education simply a matter of how to say prayers, how to speak Hebrew, how to do the rituals of Jewish life?"
The answer could have been, "No, that is not what we're about." We could just be teaching kids to get through bar/bat mitzvahs, learn to read the prayers, know what blessings go with what, be able to recite the Four Questions at a Passover Seder, and develop an historical sense of the
Jewish people and where we came from.
But, the answer that inspired me was Yes. I do want the educational experience here to matter in the daily lives and ethical values of our families. One of the biggest challenges of Jewish education is that, with 3000-4000 years of Jewish civilization, we are trying get across a lot of information in a very limited time frame. Certainly we want to teach children how to do all those things needed to live a Jewish life. But, I decided, it was also true that we are a values-based and religious-centered civilization. To me, what matters is the kind of person you become. That's why I believe that we at Kehillat Israel should be willing to take on the challenge of imparting an ethical education to our youth and adults. If not us, who will?
I have spent a lot of time in my own past studying ethics, character and values education, (I have a Masters Degree is Education and a Ph.D. in Religion) and have come to understand that everyone goes through stages of moral development and kids will be kids. They tend to act out and push limits whether or not they are in a religious setting. But it ought to be that the religious education at KI from preschool through adulthood should reinforce the values that will help make our children the kind of people who will bring godliness into the world. Judaism is a values grounded religious civilization. We understand God as the ultimate role model of compassion, justice, caring, love - the values we want to emulate in our lives.
So, we partnered with the Josephson Institute, which is known for creating the Character Counts program with its 6 pillars of character - Trustworthiness, Respect, Responsibility, Fairness, Caring, Citizenship. The Josephson Institute has been doing something similar with other religious traditions, such as the Catholic Archdiocese of Los Angeles which has 100,000 students (we have 600.) I realized that we have the opportunity to create a Jewish version of Character Counts which could then be replicated in other liberal and progressive synagogues across the country or the world. We have already started the process.
Menschlekeit Matters is a teacher-training challenge where we have taken the model of the 6 pillars of character from Character Counts and transliterated them into Hebrew values. We do use terms that relate to the Character Counts 6 pillars (Emunah-trustworthiness, Kavod-respect, Ahariyut-responsibility, Tzedek-fairness, Hesed-caring, Klal Israel-citizenship) but, very importantly, we have added a seventh, Kedushah, or Holiness. In Jewish civilization everything is based on Holiness, which is not one of the pillars in the Character Counts but is specifically a Jewish value.
P. Post: That touches on the next question. Other than using Jewish names for the pillars, what are the differences between the Menschlekeit Matters program and Character Counts?
R. Reuben: One of the profound differences is that Character Counts is a secular program aiming to be as universal as possible. We, in Menschlekeit Matters, are discussing authentically Jewish values using Jewish tradition, history and writings as material. There is overlap with Character Counts in terms of general ethics in the community but Menschlekeit Matters grows out of thousands of years of Jewish tradition. The fact that Western civilization has, in many ways, adopted Jewish values is something to be proud of but should not overshadow the importance that these values are authentically from Jewish tradition.
Menschlekeit Matters values can be visualized as a menorah. The candlesticks are like the different pillars but the seventh value, Kedushah, holiness, is the entire base. In Jewish life and thought everything is grounded on holiness. In Jewish thought, the goal of life is not happiness, but holiness, of bringing a sense of holiness into the world.
P.P: How will Menschlekeit Matters affect the Religious School curriculum?
R. Reuben: This is not just about the Religious School, but will affect all of Kehillat Israel. We want to transform the entire curriculum of the Religious School over the next two years so that it is reinvigorated into a values-centered curriculum. Students will continue to learn Jewish life skills, Torah, history and the Torah stories of Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Jacob, Rachel, Leah, Moses and so forth. They will learn about holidays and life cycle events. But the Menschlekeit Matters component will connect our history to those inspiring values that help the children and adults of today become the best they can be and it does this in a specifically Jewish context.
We hope the Religious School students will learn to associate Torah stories with particular values. For example, when Abraham was hospitable to strangers, the association might be with the Jewish value of Kavod, respect, one of the 'pillar' values of how to treat other human beings.
We hope to create a matrix of values that relates to every aspect of Jewish life.
Our far-ranging goal is that the Menschlekeit Matters program will infuse the entire community of KI. This is not just about teachers and students. It is also about supporting parents in the often intimidating position of being a role model. We are expanding the family education activities of KI (a Parenting Series, parallel adult education and other activities) so that ultimately parents and kids are interacting together within a framework that we are helping to create.
Ultimately, kids learn their values at home and the reality is that the Religious School is only a part time adventure in Jewish learning. Children learn primary values from primary role models, their parents, and they are learning 100% of the time. You don't get to decide if you are a role model, you just are, as a parent.
We want parents to feel comfortable, feel grounded in Jewish traditions and values, to feel empowered as role models. Often, parents tell me it is scary to be a parent - you realize you have this tremendous impact on your kids when they are growing up. You think about your own failures, lacks, not feeling so competent, but all you can do is the best you can do. And KI, with the entire scope of the Menschlekeit Matters, is growing in its potential to be an even more active support system.
From the classrooms to celebrations, leadership opportunities, the Board, or committees, through all interactions at KI, all these activities should reflect Jewish values. I want KI to be a spiritual values life laboratory that helps and provides a place where kids and adults, parents and families together can experience what it is to live a life that is infused with these values.
P.P: This is quite an undertaking.
You are your character. Habitual decisions makes the person. You can have all the best thoughts in the world, but you are what you do, how you act is how people experience you in the world. The quality of your life is directly the result of the quality of your choices. Our goal is to help people be able to make the right kind of choices in life, and help kids make the right choices, and to know that life is filled with constant opportunities. There are challenges to making choices; choosing to do the right thing, or to do the easy thing, or to even know the difference.
P.P: Are you hoping to stimulate family discussions or are you imposing values on people?
No, we are not imposing this on anyone. We are trying to clarify for people what we consider to be authentic Jewish values. We hope to illuminate how these values already function in families' lives and that there are already many teachable moments, many opportunities to reflect the values we feel underlie Jewish life. These are authentic Jewish values that we are not imposing, but that we think are necessary. The Jewish tradition, for thousands of years has asked and tried to answer, "How do you build a society that is just, compassionate, loving and caring in which you can take care of those most vulnerable and can also celebrate the successes of life?"
For example, Kavod - to honor or respect. The 10 Commandments begin with Kavod, as in Honor your Mother and Father. What does this mean to a child? Well first, they watch how you act and speak to your own parents.
Citizenship - Klal Yisrael - what does it mean to be part of a society, to be a friend? When they watch how you treat and speak about your friends, they are modeling and learning about the value of friendship.
Another example is the value of Emunah- trustworthiness, integrity. I don't think anyone is arguing that this is an imposed, external value - to be trustworthy. People should believe our word is our word. How do parents do this with children? The simple way is that when you tell them you will be home at 10:00 pm, be home at 10:00 pm. Otherwise how can you expect them to do the same thing when they have a curfew as teenagers, if they have not experienced trustworthiness from you?
Sometimes people are uncomfortable about talking on the subject of God, but in Jewish life, these are the qualities always associated with God, the ultimate role model. This is predicate theology. How do you bring godliness into your family, into the world? By your actions, by being trustworthy, having faith, showing responsibility and acting upon other values considered important that make the world work and improve the world. There are an endless number of values. We could have picked 30 other values but it is easier and more effective to create a powerful program based on Character Counts and the 6 pillars (plus Holiness) that already exits.
P.P: Then, how were these particular values, pillars, originally chosen by Character Counts and the Josephson Institute?
The Josephson Institute started with a think tank. I wasn't part of the process but I understand that over several days, they brought together a variety of thinkers from different disciplines and backgrounds from across the country. They wrestled with the question of identifying fundamental values, choosing what values to teach. These six pillars were chosen because they resonated with people as universal; that is they are not specific to a particular religion, the whole community can understand and relate to them and they are actionable - something that can be acted out in society and that kids can learn and experience as concrete behavior choices. Children could know that when they behave in a certain way (trustworthiness, respect, etc) or make certain decisions, they would be demonstrating good character. That is how Character Counts chose its pillars.
But, here is an example of how Menschlekeit Matters would develop one of those pillars, the value of citizenship, through a specifically Jewish lens. What does it mean to be a good citizen in the classroom, or in civic life? We have this notion in Judaism called Israel, which means the Jewish community, the Jewish people. We understand that one of the most important values is Hebrew phrase, "Kol Yisrael aravim zeh le'zeh", that all the Jewish people are responsible for each other. This speaks to responsibility and also refers to spiritual citizenship. It means to feel a sense of obligation, responsibility and the need to participate in the lives of other people. Judaism has a notion that there is no such thing as an innocent bystander because if you are standing by while something is happening to someone else, you are not innocent.
We can't sit by and watch what is going on in Darfur, namely, another genocide. Since the Holocaust, we Jews have been the ones saying, "Never again, never again,." It means more than never again to just us. It means "Never again" to anyone, as in "Remember what it was like to be a stranger, remember what is was like to be a slave," which is the single most often expressed commandment in the entire Torah. Every time we celebrate Passover and remember the Exodus, we are asserting a Jewish value of communal responsibility.
P.P: I can understand ethics from a religious standpoint, especially when I agree to a 'social contract' by being involved in a religion. The Josephson Institute believes the Six Pillars of Character are "consensus ethical values," universalities. Can universal ethical values actually be defined by any person or group?
Maybe some people don't adhere to consensus ethics, but I am a man of faith. I have faith. I believe you have to start somewhere. I believe, ultimately, there is more good in the world than bad, that there are universal values and ethics and that Judaism certainly teaches them. The reason the Torah starts with God creating the world and not with God's relationship with Abraham, (who is specifically Jewish), is to teach that when we talk about God, we talk about the God of everyone. We are not discussing just our own personal God and our own personal values. And the God, theoretically, who gave the Jews the Torah, 10 Commandments and all the mitzvot, this is the God of everyone. Therefore universal values exist and we happen to express them in our uniquely Jewish way.
The world will work if everyone expresses and lives these values in their lives, regardless of their particular religious (or even lack of religious) label. We are doing a Jewish version of Character Counts because we believe the Character Counts values are in line with, and grow out of, Jewish values. We hope to be empowering our students, parents and adults with the intellectual, emotional and spiritual tools that will allow them to live their lives in an ethical and moral way, and with an understanding of the authentic Jewish underpinnings to the process.
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