A Lesson for Conservative Jews

By Eli Schochet

Quite a number of our Congregation Beth Kodesh school children came home recently with pushkas (charity boxes) and Shabbat candlestick holders. These mitzvah gifts came to them courtesy of Lubavitch, a Chassidic movement known as Chabad.

The Chabadnicks, as they are affectionately called, are a remarkable group. According to many, their devotion and zeal in spreading love of Judaism and its mitzvot makes theirs the most inspirational religious movement of our time.

Now, it would seem that no one could possibly quarrel with this particular mitzvah. What more meaningful sight can there be than a little girl benchen licht with her mother? Beautiful isn’t it? Would not all agree? Wrong! There is quite a storm of protest against this particular Chabad program and therein lies an interesting tale.

Several orthodox spokesmen have severely criticized the Lubavitch movement for encouraging little girls to light Shabbat candles. Why? Because young girls are not obligated to kindle candles, so they shouldn’t. In other words, it is wrong because the Halacha doesn’t say that it need be done.

Therefore the Lubavitch movement is charged guilty of a grievous wrongdoing in distributing candlestick holders and pushkas to Jewish children!

Sounds incredible, doesn’t it? A criticism that seems the very embodiment of stupidity summa cum laude? It is.

I rather doubt if the Lubavitcher Rebbe is going to change his mind and suspend this program in deference to his critics.

The Rebbe, in addition to his many virtues, is a most astute psychologist and a sensitive observer of the times, and his perception of the realities of American Jewish life are far more accurate than those of his critics. He understands full well many of the causes for the alienation and nonparticipation of many an American Jew vis a vis Judaism.

He also understands the meaning of Hinukh (Chinuch) in a way that his critics do not, and this is the crux of the problem. Hinukh is translated as education – the process whereby the Jewish heritage is transmitted from one generation to the next. Now a superficial view of education defines it as teaching one how to do something – why then bother at age 3? There is plenty of time to learn.

The Rebbe’s definition of Hinukh is far more profound. He views Hinukh as teaching one to want to do something, and thus it is never too early to start. If a Jewish child is conditioned to experience the beauty and mystery of Shabbat at an early age, she will hopefully want to continue the experience throughout her lifetime.

There is much food for thought here. To paraphrase Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel, of blessed memory, “Judaism will not perish for want of information, it will perish for want of appreciation.”

What is Congregation Beth Kodeshs’ primary objective as a Temple? Information or appreciation? To be a Judaic information center, i.e. to educate in the sense of teaching one how to do it, or to be a Judaic appreciation center, i.e. to educate in the sense of teaching one to want to do it.

Hopefully, both are essential but without the latter, the former is irrelevant. In cases of knowing without caring or caring without knowing, logic dictates that caring will eventually lead to knowing. The opposite need not be true.

No need to belabor the point. Should little girls have their own candlesticks? Surely they should. Let little boys have their own Kiddush cups as well, and let all children have their own Chanukah menorahs, etrogom and lulavim, etc. Let children be exposed to the Synagogue and values of the Jewish tradition as early and as often as possible.

Come to think of it, it won’t hurt their fathers and mothers either!

— This article was published this month in the monthly bulletin Congregation Beth Israel in Flint, MI, upon the request of Rabbi Schochet who noted “the sentiment remains the same” as in December 1974 (when this article was written).