The Tzedek School
- A Unique Vision of Jewish Education
"Justice, justice you shall pursue . . ."
"Only morality in our actions can give beauty and dignity for life" Albert Einstein
The Tzedek School embraces the belief that the measure of an individual's life is the amount of consideration that he has for others. Education has a vital role to play in this respect. Judaism conceptualizes education as a future oriented endeavor. The classical purpose for educating children is to prepare them for full, adult participation in the kehila, or community. For that reason the Hebrew word for education, chinuch, also means, to guide, and to discipline. Our responses to the questions of today train a child to respond to the questions of tomorrow. Educators act for the future.
Wisdom, not knowledge, is the goal of education. Knowledge is static. It is a commodity that can be acquired already prepared and packaged. Wisdom is process. It is gained by learning how to extrapolate codes of behavior from a few moral principles and acting from within those constructs. One’s wisdom is authenticated by one’s actions. Humans are not instinctively moral. Morality is in our cognition. We learn what our society disdains as abhorrent and what it values as just and only then classify our values into cognitive constructs. Educators model conduct that reflects the shared values and provide students with the tools necessary to construct value systems. Hence the prophet Isaiah declared, “Your teacher shall not hide himself from you and your eyes shall see your teacher.” Educators seek to inspire our students to love the good as well as awaken their intellectual passions and guide them in the evolution from values to actions. It is from the synergy of thought and action that spirit is born and we become capable of performing good deeds.
Wisdom, not knowledge, is the goal of education. Knowledge is static. It is a commodity that can be acquired already prepared and packaged. Wisdom is process. It is gained by learning how to extrapolate codes of behavior from a few moral principles and acting from within those constructs. One’s wisdom is authenticated by one’s actions. Humans are not instinctively moral. Morality is in our cognition. We learn what our society disdains as abhorrent and what it values as just and only then classify our values into cognitive constructs. Educators model conduct that reflects the shared values and provide students with the tools necessary to construct value systems. Hence the prophet Isaiah declared, “Your teacher shall not hide himself from you and your eyes shall see your teacher.” Educators seek to inspire our students to love the good as well as awaken their intellectual passions and guide them in the evolution from values to actions. It is from the synergy of thought and action that spirit is born and we become capable of performing good deeds.
