Growing-Up Jewish

I've been thinking lately that Judaism is not made for kids. This hypothesis is counter-intuitive to many. Since there is a tendency in this country to educate children in the ways of Judaism, and then allow them to somehow become disconnected from everything Jewish when they grow older, many people assume that there is nothing for adults to connect to in Judaism.

If adults do connect to Judaism, as in the community I grew up, it is generally an intellectual endeavour to get to obscure and hidden messages beneath the surface, where reading a basic Jewish text from the Bible or even the Talmud is insufficient, and it requires something deeper, something further. I am not saying that those further studies are meaningless, they are certainly not. However, I have come to the conclusion that the basic practice of Judaism has been wrongly labeled as childish and unsophisticated.

I have been preparing and have begun teaching the book of Samuel 1 to 6th grade girls. While the stories are engaging, and mostly understandable, reading the text over as an adult has brought me to the realization that the Bible is hardly for children. It is full of stories about honor, war, politics, true love and loyalty-- all of these themes understood only minimally in childhood and much, much more fully in adulthood.

Similarly, going through the Jewish holiday of Yom Kippur at the age of 23 brought me to an understanding far surpassing what I could have felt and thought at a younger age. It is only through life experience, and different kinds of interactions with varieties of people, confronting real responsibilities and experiencing real loss can people actually relate to so many of the messages of the day. Surely, some parents will try to teach their kids about responsibility and the like, but it has been my experience that life is most poignant when experienced first-hand.

Granted, I stuck it out with my Jewish education longer than most do, and I come from a place where people are engaged in the intellectual pursuit of Jewish texts and history, but I feel the at this point in my life, the Bracha of Shehechiyanu can take on a new meaning-- that G-d had brought me to this time and place where I can grow emotionally in my relationship to Judaism-- and to Him.

Chag Sukkot Sameach!