Israel 6.29.

Today may have been the longest day on Earth. I was up late last night and then was up at 6:30 foran 8:00 AM departure. We went to the new Leo Beck/Lokey experimental elementary school to see their Havdallah and to visit a classroom. Then we drove all the way to the upper Galilee to visit another school, called the Golden Education Template. It was weird.

Then, back to Leo Beck to talk to the rabbi/head of primary school, then a long and heated discussion, then meeting and talking to two more teachers, then dinner with these same teachers, then finally back to the hotel around 8:30. Basically, all we did today was sit and listen and ask questions and talk. I can hardly bear it.

Highlights: lunch at an Arab restaurant called Angus. Finding common ground with one of the Leo Beck teachers. A scandalous statue. Feeling more Jewish, after hearing about how much we have inspired the non-Orthodox community of Jews in Israel.

The Golden Education Template school was part of this intentional community called Emin, which is also known as The Way. It's kind of cultish, and sort of like a kibbutz, only each person is financially independent. But you have to pay to live there.

The school had some interesting ideas, but I felt like it was kind of hippy-dippyish, and counter to some of my ideas about education and child-raising. The people were very dedicated and the community was beautiful. However, I felt like the children were given too much power and not enough structure. I also questioned the soundness of their curriculum. It seemed sort of ad-hoc.

Rabbi Offek of Lokey raised an interesting conversation among the Rashi staff. I am still formulating my thoughts about that. Many bright, thoughtful people on the strip feel strongly that our school is not Jewish enough,and needs to integrate Judaism more cohesively into our curriculum. I'm not sure that I agree. I feel that integration is good and important, but it needs to be done when it feels cohesive and natural, and not forced. Different curricula lend themselves more or less to that integration, depending on the content.

I do feel that our students need to be more knowledgeable about Torah and Halakha. They know almost nothing and I feel that it is important for Reform Jews to know the laws, so that they can make an informed decision about whether or not to follow them. Like Jazz music.

I do wish that we could require 5th graders to read at least part of each weekly portion and maybe students could take turns doing a short d'var Torah, after having it modelled by Arielle or me. I don't know if that would fly, but I think it could be amazing.

I am out of time on this rented computer, here in the Northern part of Israel. I will finish when I have some more time.