Thank you PaJes for this great and well-deserved honour. I’m joking of course. There are two sides to my psychological makeup, one is introverted where I think that I really don’t deserve this honour. The other is extroverted where I think that – yes, I probably do.
This is possibly my last formal educational speech and given the few minutes that I have, I’m not sure how to approach it. Perhaps, by recalling some of the most important lessons I’ve learned, relating to Jewish education, over the past 60 years.
Let’s begin with some thank yous. First, a thank you to my late wife Audrey and my children Scott and Sara for their love and support throughout my personal and professional life. To Vivienne Metliss my official and non-official PA whose remarkable support has helped sustain me for more than 20 years.
A ‘thank you ‘to PaJes for bestowing this honour on me. I can truly say that this means more to me then the MBE I received from Princess Anne three years ago.
Thank you too, to all the wonderful colleagues that I’ve been fortunate to work with over decades of time. They include Janine Rose, Phaivish Pink, Rabbi Yehuda Pearlman, Dr Helena Miller, Rebbetzin Esther Cohen, Laurie Rosenberg and Sandra Teacher. A special mention for our mentor, Gabi Goldstein zichrono livracha – an inspiration to all of us.
I’m not ashamed to say that I have this deep and devotional love of Yiddishkeit. But where did it come from? I come from a traditional, East End, Jewish family that kept kosher and lit the Shabbos candles only to become, immediately afterwards, mechalel Shabbos by turning on the television.
The real influence on my Jewish psyche came from the Jewish Scholarship Centre, a cheder in the East End of London. Staffed by some remarkable teachers. Some of you might know the names of these incredible people or even be related to them: Dr Gerald Gerber, David Davis sometimes known as Stanley Davis, Rabbi Yitzchak Abrahams, Norman Shapiro and Shimmy Smuts.
A few doors away from the Centre lived the Ordman family. Rabbi Ordman was the Rosh Yeshiva of the Etz Chaim Yeshiva which, at that time, was situated in the East End. To be surrounded by such people one could not help but surrender to the positive influence that they radiated.
So, what lessons have I learned:
Lesson #1
To be inspirational you need to be inspired. You need good role models to become a good role model.
Translation from Chumash and Gemorah study were not for me. I was far more interested in biblical stories and the stories of the gedolim of the past few hundred years. An example. One evening before the 1st lesson began at the Centre, I took a book from the bookshelf, and it was the story of the Vilna Gaon. I started to read and became so fascinated by what I was reading that I couldn’t put the book down. I asked the Superintendent of the Centre if I could take the book home and he said ‘no’. I was really upset.
Next morning instead of going to school I climbed across two adjoining roof tops and broke into the Scholarship Centre and settled down to read the Vilna Gaon’s book. As a boy of 12 I hadn’t thought about the ramifications had I been caught on the premises.
Lesson # 2.
There is no solitary route to an educational aim. A child can be attracted to a subject by a whole range of approaches. I told my Vilna Gaon story to a group of Chasidim who for some reason weren’t impressed.
On leaving school and having my Jewish identity and practice shaped and influenced by the Scholarship Centre, which by now had formed a minyan which met every Shabbos – Friday and Saturday to daven and sing.
I began to look for a job through the Shabbos Observance Bureau. They sent me to an upmarket Mayfair solicitor where I was told to begin at the bottom of the ladder and work my way to the top. I left after three months. Basically, I couldn’t bear bottom of the rung jobs, for example, making tea or running backwards and forwards between the office and the law courts in the Strand. The deciding factor in my decision to leave came when I was asked to go to the law courts and swear that I had served an affidavit which I hadn’t.
Apparently, this was common practice. If a clerk who had served an affidavit was dealing with another more important case, then another clerk took his/her place. As the chosen one, I was asked on arrival at the courts to swear on the Bible that I had served the document. I was asked which bible I would like to swear on. I chose the New Testament. I then had read a card which had the name of the Almighty written on it. How do I get out of this? I began in a broken East European accent: ‘I swear by Almighty Cod that I had served the affidavit. My false oath was accepted and so I left both the Law Courts and my solicitor’s office.
I fell into teaching by accident. I went back to my high school for advice. ‘Why don’t you take up teaching?’ asked my advisor. You were Head Boy here at school and we often put you in charge of classes which you handled well. And so, after three years of teaching college I became a qualified teacher and began my teaching career at Ilford Jewish Primary School. This was supplemented by cheder teaching and a nine year stint taking my shul’s Over Eight Children’s service.
Lesson # 3
The Power of the teacher. A teacher can make or break a child for life.
I quickly learned about the power of the teacher. A good teacher can make a child for life. I have unfortunately, met a number of bad teachers, whose attitude and style of teaching have broken children for life. The best practitioners can make children believe that they can achieve anything they want to. They are praised, not ridiculed; encouraged and not dismissed.
Lesson #4
To be a successful educational leader one should have a high level of emotional intelligence.
Emotional intelligence as defined by Daniel Goleman, the American psychologist – is namely: self-awareness, self-management, social awareness and relationship management. What’s the difference between IQ- intelligence quotient and EQ – emotional quotient? The following quote sums it up neatly. ‘IQ can get you the job. EQ makes sure you keep it.’
My most satisfying achievement has to be the creation of the qualified teacher training programme, during my time as Director of the Agency for Jewish Education. The programme still runs successfully under the aegis of the London School of Jewish Studies. Just over 25 years ago many, if not most Jewish studies teachers were unqualified. We created this programme with the support of three universities. Not as a quick fix but as a structured, validated programme that would give Jewish studies teachers the skills and status necessary to teach their subject effectively.
The London programme was replicated in Manchester under the excellent supervision of Mr Phaivish Pink. The first graduation ceremony was held on the evening of the 11th of September 2001. The day of the attack against the twin towers in New York. You will understand that our Guest of Honour, the Chief Rabbi Sir, Jonathan Sacks ( as he then was) had to radically alter his speech that evening but still found time to praise the training programme.
Finally, a word about Pikuach’s latest project, supervised by Janine Rose, Pikuach’s Director. Generation Alpha, current 10-year-olds are growing up in a world vastly different from the world we were born into. Children these days are far more inquisitive They live in a world where the advancement of technology means that they can find answers to their questions from a number of sources. Some very questionable. Jewish education, therefore, needs to evolve to effectively meet the challenges of the modern world.
Pikuach’s current focus on children’s spiritual development is designed to encourage schools to create programmes that will reach our children’s hearts as well as their minds. TO BE AS WELL AS TO KNOW. THANK YOU
Former Director of Pikuach, Jeffrey Leader MBE.
