My Chanukah

Is it harder to grow up in the year 2010 than fifty, two hundred or four hundred years ago?

Sure the issues are different today, but when one looks back at our history each and every generation has had such significant challenges to youth that one would be hard pressed to say that this period of time or more difficult.

Here is a quote from Rav Ahron Feldman’s new book The Eye of the Storm (page 176);

“Although I grew up in a religious household and went to a Jewish day school, America in the late forties and early fifties was no place for a nice Jewish boy to grow into manhood. The pressures against remaining a loyal, observant Jew were enormous. The public attitude, the implied messages of teachers, media and books made Torah appear irrelevant.””

This is just one of many scenarios that have existed for Jewish youth over the thousands of years of our history. World events seem to always present the next generation with some ideological, physical or spiritual challenge. For the individual living at a particular point the challenge may seem insurmountable but when one takes a view over our history and clear pattern emerges; we are challenged, rachmana letzlan, lose people to the conflict, and the Jewish people overcome and move on to the next situation.

In my short career of almost a decade of chinuch, I have seen such a transformation take place regarding the infiltration of secular culture in the Yeshiva world. With explosion of internet and the proliferation of affordable hand- held media devices, we are overwhelmed by the on- slot of the secular culture to our children. A short few years ago the only way to see a movie was in a theater or on a large VHS connected TV. Internet was only found in a few homes and the speeds of computers were inhibitive. Today there is nothing that cannot be downloaded, transferred or shared onto a device that fits in the palm of my hand and can be easily purchased at the local supermarket or Walmart.

I do not have the required perspective to state unequivocally that the ipod is the greatest threat to chinuch, but it is safe to say it ranks high on the list. If there ever was a “Tovel V’Sheretz B’Yado” it would be a sixteen year old boy sitting in shiur in between his viewing of the latest movie he received for his “friend” with internet access. How much emotional and intellectual effort can such a boy muster to focus on overcoming the difficulties of learning Gemarah when the contrast to his previous activities is so stark?

Adults who are aware of these dangers attempt o protect our youth from these dangers. This job is increasingly difficult. Bachorim purchase two cell phones, one to “hand in” and one for personal use. On the rare occasion that an ipod is confiscated, a new is purchased with 24 hours. How can mechanchim protect our talmidim from themselves and this cultural immersion?

The past years have been particularly daunting in this effort. At times I feel we are losing more ground than gaining and there is no hope.

This year I have come to the realization that this is My Chanukah.

Chanukah reminds me that this battle is not new.

Chanukah reminds me that our people have already faced foreign and destructive cultures knocking at our door.

Chanukah reminds even when things seem difficult for our youth, the good will prevail.

Chanukah reminds me that the same Hashem who helped us find light in a sea of darkness will lead our children to the light they so desperately need.

Chanukah reminds me that mechanchim do not have to have all of the answers and techniques to find success.

Chanukah gives me confidence of victory in what often seems to be such a losing battle.

This is My Chanukah.

Fisher Price Classrooms

My parents resisted buying a home computer for many years. Friends kept telling them to wait a few more months for the newer model, only to wait a few more months, only to…

I do not recall that exact date that they took the plunge and bought a computer but I do recall an experience I had during one of my first times using it. I had been away at Yeshiva when they began using it and do not currently recall how long they had it before I returned. When I got a chance to use it, I went to the one area I thought I would enjoy - the games section. As with many computers it only came with some basic games installed, the most popular of which was solitaire. I opened up the game and began playing. It was easy to lose track of time on my quest for the cascading cards that celebrates the end of a completed game. When I finally was ready to stop and went to exit it let me know how long I had played and how many games I had lost/won. Then I was hit by a statistic that still scares me. The computer kept track of the total cumulative time that people had played solitaire on this relatively new computer. It had registered tens of thousands of minutes. It goes without saying that an immediate "auto schmooze" began playing in my head about wasting time. There is another schmooze to be said here about the attraction of games like solitaire.

What is it that makes simple games like solitaire, Tetris, Bubble Breaker and Minesweeper so attractive? I have not done an extensive study but would like to offer an explanation.

It seems that human beings are wired to enjoy overcoming challenges. Our natural tendency is to enjoy difficulties and using our brains or bodies to find our way through the challenges. People do not like stagnation of growth and look for opportunities to use our brains and bodies in effective ways. We are no different than a young child who has discovered the ability to put to multi-colored plastic Fisher Price rings back on the poll. That very desire never really goes away; all that changes are the complexities of the challenges.

This may explain the attraction of a magic show. If we would not care about figuring out how a trick is done such shows would not be interesting at all. We watch the show, thinking and wondering how it was done. Maybe he had a second pigeon. Maybe there was a trap door. The challenge to our brains is what makes these shows so enjoyable.

The only catch is that challenges are only enjoyable under certain circumstances. Like many aspects of human behavior the person must feel safe in order to try difficult actions. Why would an adult be hesitant to skateboard down into a skating pool? Although most adults would not mind the fun of skating, it is easy to understand that it is not worth the significant safety risk to almost every bone in the body. Before engaging in any challenging activity we make a quick, even subconscious risk/benefit assessment. Only if we feel limited risk will we attempt the action. Emotional safety is no less real when evaluating a situation. There is limited danger of being hurt emotionally when playing a video game. Getting killed is not viewed as inferior when playing Pac Man.

A second factor that must be there in order for a person to try is a reasonable chance at success. Generally speaking, games that are impossible to succeed at are not fun. A person needs to feel that they have a good chance at some measurement of success.

Once these two elements of safety and success are in place, human beings are “programmed” to attempt and enjoy challenges. This is why these games are so appealing. They provide our brains with a real challenge and we do not have to worry about any safety issues while trying. No one will know how many attempts we make or how well we play.

It is understandable how this phenomenon can be used in the classroom. Learning can be fun, engaging and students can be self motivated. That act of learning does not have to be imposed upon a student but rather it could flow naturally with the student's human instincts.

That is - only if we can answer this difficult question.

Do our students feel safe and successful in our classrooms?

In the classroom, the safety stakes are understandably much higher. Before engaging in the act of learning, an emotional risk/benefit analysis is made. The students will only make a risky attempt at trying if the risk is sufficiently low. The chances for success must also be present.

In all fairness we could never create a truly safe environment that can rival our parents' living room floor when we tried to get the loops on the stick. The world our students live in is much more complex than that time or place of life. They are constantly interpreting messages from peers, teacher and parents in ways that we cannot control. The human mind is too complex to think that any individual can guarantee that another feel totally safe from emotional discomfort.

However, we can safely assert that to the extent we make students feel safe and successful they will continue to naturally take the academic and personal risks required for the learning process.