Many years ago an American coffee company tried to penetrate the Japanese market with some excellent coffee. It failed miserably. The only hot beverage they were interested in was tea and, despite every effort, the coffee company could not penetrate the market.
Then they came up with a creative idea. They developed a chocolate–coffee candy for kids age five and up. It became an instant hit. The kids developed a taste for something coffee flavored and when they developed an interest in hot beverages they migrated to coffee. The company began to dominate that segment of the beverage industry.
It was a brilliant move because they started when the children were young — they developed a craving and taste for something they had been introduced to as kids.
Back in its earliest days, that is what Jewish education was all about. Students were exposed to rituals, customs, Torah, synagogue life, Israel, history, heroes, and a plethora of activities that cultivated a craving and taste for Jewish life in adulthood.
And yet statistics show little if any interest in Jewish education among a majority of Jewish youth. In mainstream Judaism we have reduced our Jewish education to one or two days a week and in some cases only for a b’nai mitvah. In the classroom the basics are often replaced by arts and crafts, non-liturgical singalongs, and cooking.
So when kids get older, what will they identify as Judaism? Will they even make an attempt to do so? What will be their relationship with Israel, with worship, if they have not developed a taste for it in childhood, as the coffee company experienced?
Let’s develop a taste for Judaism!
Andy Greenberg is a 25-year Conservative Jewish educator of grades 3-12 and a lecturer for adults of all ages.
