The International Conference on Religion and Education

How are ideologies and religious values transmitted from generation to generation? What are the motivating factors behind changes of values, thinking and behavior patterns, and what roles do educational systems play in these modifications? To which gender and social groups is the religious educational system addressed?

These questions are among the many fascinating issues analyzed as part of “Education and Religion: Between Tradition and Novelty” (Atkes, Elor, Heyd & Schwartz), a research group of The Scholion Interdisciplinary Research Center in Jewish Studies, located at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem.

The Scholion center was established by the Mandel Foundation-Israel and the Hebrew University, in order to enhance the prominence of Jewish studies amidst the active cultural dialogue taking place in Israel and around the world. This is accomplished by liberating Jewish research from the paradigm that views its study as a localized phenomenon complete unto itself. Instead, Jewish studies are viewed within a broader context of interdependent societies and cultures. 

In just over four years of operation, Scholion has succeeded in introducing new perspectives and methods of scholarly research, while benefiting from a broad spectrum of fruitful academic collaborations of renowned scholars, both domestically and globally. The Center sponsors three concurrent research groups, each dealing with a particular topic in the field of Jewish Studies.  The groups are comprised of senior and junior researchers, research students from the Hebrew University, who have recently received their Ph.D in fields related to Jewish society and culture. Together, they explore a specific topic, making the most of the varied perspectives that each member brings from his/her discipline. 

In October 2006, the members of the Scholion "Religion and Education" research group  initiated an international conference on religion and education in collaboration with the Center for Jewish Studies at Harvard University and the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education at Brandeis University. The conference, which took place at Harvard University’s Hillel House, brought together scholars from diverse disciplines to explore religious and educational issues in the Jewish world from historical and methodological perspectives.

Prof. Sharon Feiman-Nemser, Mandel Professor of Jewish Education at Brandeis University and Director of the Mandel Center for Studies in Jewish Education, opened the conference with a talk on key concepts in the methodology of historical and anthropological studies of pedagogy and religion. The next session was devoted to Christian pedagogy in early modern Europe, with presentations by Prof. Michael Heyd and Mr. Asaf Ben-Tov of the Scholion group. Prof. Heyd focused on divergent translations of “a young man according to his way” (Proverbs 22:6), discussing the disparate perceptions of the verse in Christian thought. He argued that the different translations reflect revisions in the pedagogical attitudes of Christian educators.

Mr. Ben-Tov addressed the question of the authority of pagan texts used in Protestant pedagogy, maintaining that their authority was redefined to facilitate their assimilation into a Lutheran context. He also discussed an educational model he calls “the hermeneutical triangle of authority,” consisting of teacher, text and student. Ben-Tov contended that whereas the teacher and the text each had a claim to authority, the student was perceived as being in a subordinate position. The student therefore required careful guidance from the teacher, who strictly regulated the texts read and studied. Continuing this theme, Prof. Bernard Septimus, examined how Maimonides adapted the Aristotelian concept of friendship to apply to the relationship between a rabbi and his young pupil.

Although a large portion of the program was devoted to the discussion of historical topics, contemporary issues were not neglected. Two papers, both by members of the Scholion group, investigated contemporary Israeli phenomena. The first was Ms. Michal Kravel-Tovi’s anthropological study of Orthodox conversion in Israel delivered by her doctoral advisor, Prof. Tamar El-Or, who later continued with her own lecture on the dialectics of autonomy and authority among Orthodox feminists in Israel.

Other presentations addressed Jewry outside of Israel. Dr. Susan Tanchel outlined dilemmas of Jewish identity in the modern world, specifically examining the situation in Boston and New York. Dr. Susan M. Kardos dealt with educational dilemmas facing Modern Orthodox teachers, with special emphasis on issues related to teaching biblical criticism at Jewish day schools.
 
The thought-provoking presentations continued the second day of the conference with three lectures given by members of the “Religion and Education” group. Prof. Immanuel Etkes explored the role of the Hassidic leader as educator and Prof. Baruch Schwartz presented a psychological, cognitive analysis of dialectical reasoning in contemporary Yeshivas.  Mr. Shlomo Tikochinsky's lecture dealt with the migration of two Musar Yeshivas, Slabodka and Novardok, to Israel at the beginning of the 20th Century.

The conference, which covered a broad spectrum of subjects, offered a unique comparative and interdisciplinary setting for the discussion of fundamental dilemmas in Jewish religion and education. The members of the “Religion and Education” group felt that group interaction with scholars from leading institutions abroad was invaluable and would certainly promote future academic cooperation.