Shabbath Parah - Parashat Shemini

Rabbi Claudio Jodorkovsky

Asociación Israelita Montefiore - Bogota

In my Judaism courses for non-Jewish university students, I am often asked why our people keep such a particular diet: why can’t we eat pork, why just some poultry, why not seafood, etc., just as the rules appear in our parashah. And when I tell them that the Torah does not give us any rational explanation for these laws, and that we classify them among a category of commandments which have no logical reasoning whatsoever (called chukim by our sages), they are extremely surprised. They can’t conceive the possibility of a person behaving in a certain way, without knowing the meaning or explanation for the practice.   Moreover, they are unable to understand how it is that an entire people have preserved these customs for thousands of years.

When the question arises, I usually answer the following: “You see me using a tie, right? Now, try to explain to me why I use it.” I am generally told that it is a specific social practice, which identifies with elegance or formality. Then I ask again: “And what is the rational logic that identifies the tie with formal environments?” Finally, we all agree that there are customs we fulfill simply because they are the norm accepted in the societies where we live, despite our not understanding their explanation. In like manner, we could conclude that for the Jew who is born within a family that keeps the precepts, kashrut laws do not need to be explained; to them, they are as natural as combing their hair in the mornings or putting on a tie. However, for those who didn’t grow within a society that granted value to such practices, the questions “Why is it important?” or “Why do I have to do it?” become unavoidable.

As Jewish parents, we struggle to invest in our children’s education, and try to make sure that they continue on the path of tradition. And in order to fulfill this purpose, we send them to Jewish schools, community schools, youth movements and summer camps, where they learn about our millenary traditions and start to incorporate them into their personal lives. But what happens, often enough? They return home after their activities and it becomes hard for us to help them persevere in their Jewish observance. We are unable to transform our home into a continuation of the school, synagogue or youth movement, and we get frustrated when we cannot foster their motivation, for instance, by eating kosher, doing tefillah (prayer) or keeping Shabbat. Their initial enthusiasm finally abates, and we start to question ourselves as to what it is that we should improve.

I believe that one of the ways to start rectifying this problem, concerning the Jewish education of our children, is trying not to address the keeping of our traditions from a rational perspective. Perhaps what our children need, as children and teenagers, is not for us to offer them a compendium of logical explanations as to the reason why it is important to preserve tradition, but rather propitiate, in the framework of our homes and through our example, the appropriate space so that tradition emerges as something natural and obvious, perhaps as obvious as the use of a tie in a formal environment. Or to put it simply: while we are raising our children, it is not so important to give them explanations of why we do things. Much more important is to do these things with them! If they see us eating kosher and they do it with us, they will possibly keep on doing it in the future. If they see us performing tzedakah regularly, they will grow up feeling love and affection for that tradition, and surely never move away from it. Explanations are unimportant at the time; they may be a reinforcement of the value granted by our children to our tradition, but not what will move them to cherish or respect it.

The author of the Sefer ha-Chinuch, a famous anonymous compendium of the 613 mitzvot, published in Spain in the 13^th century, wrote in its preface: Hacharei ha’maasim nimshachim ha’lebabot – “Hearts follow behind actions.” May God help us incorporate into our lives actions that will bring our children to the love for God, the Torah and the people of Israel.

Shabbat Shalom uMeborah!