Riding the TTC, one cannot help but notice the plethora of advertisements for Continuing Education. In a recent subway ride, my entire car was plastered with banners boasting of a particular university’s 88 certificate programs and over 1,500 courses, seminars and workshops—all aimed at mature students.
While the rest of the world is seemingly catching up, our tradition has long trumpeted the value of adult learning, especially for those who did not learn in their younger years.
The collection Avot d’Rabbi Natan (A) tells of the great leader and scholar Rabbi Akiva. At the age of 40 he had yet to learn a single word of Torah. One day he found himself standing alongside a well. He inquired, “who hollowed this stone?” He was told, “it was water that fell upon it day upon day.” Akiva immediately reasoned that if something as soft as water can hollow a stone, surely the words of Torah can enter his heart. He immediately left to learn Torah.
This story is inevitably told to Jewish adults engaged in a journey of study. It is appropriate, of course, but not sufficient.
On May 2, Beth Tzedec celebrated the graduation of ten students from Adult Skills and Knowledge (ASK). For two hours every Monday evening over the course of two years, learners spent an hour improving their ritual skills—practising Hebrew or learning to chant Torah and Haftarah. The second hour focused on Jewish knowledge including Tanakh, Mishna, Midrash, Talmud, Holidays, Lifecycles and Contemporary Issues in Jewish Life. As many of these learners participated in the class and the graduation as part of celebrating becoming an Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah, the program and its graduation were particularly moving.
For some, the story of Rabbi Akiva is apt. They felt that perhaps they were simply unable, too hard or stubborn, to learn Hebrew or read from the Torah. The slow, steady approach of Rev. Hanick and Cantor Ezer proved them wrong. For others it wasn’t a feeling of potential inability, but rather a lack of earlier opportunity. This class was their first chance to jump into serious Jewish study. And they loved it.
The beauty of adult learning is the opportunity to ask questions that don’t occur to children and use methodologies inappropriate for adolescents. In ASK we explored not only what is in the Torah, but why does Torah matter. We learned not only about Jewish lifecycle practices, but how they were influenced by their historical environment. We were linguists, sociologists and anthropologists. We were adult learning at its best.
ASK will not be repeated next year, but Beth Tzedec will continue to offer a tremendous number of ongoing classes and one-time lectures. May Torah rain down on us all.
