A Charedi Appreciation for Higher Education

University of Chicago Campus (Mishpacha)

I often think about how Jonathan Rosenblum’s columns in Mishpacha Magazine are an anomaly. Not because of his Hashkafa, which is Charedi. That ties in very nicely with the Hashkafa of the magazine. But because of the obvious high level of education that is reflected in his columns. An education he received by attending one of the top colleges in the country, the University of Chicago. 

I have no way of knowing this for sure, but I would be willing to bet that few if any of the other Mishpacha reporters and columnists have anywhere near that kind of education – if they even had any college education at all.

His columns reflect that education in spades. I sometimes wonder how many Mishpacha readers actually read, appreciate or even fully understand his columns.

I once asked Jonathan whether he still values his college education now that he is fully Charedi. He responded very much in the affirmative. But last week in the context of the antisemitism that permeates so much of higher education today, he actually publicized that fact. Here is what he said:

I know that many readers have had (questions) about my own particular obsession with the decline of America’s universities and have wondered why I have devoted so much space over the years to the topic. After all, as one revered rosh yeshivah put it, our children do not aspire to go to Harvard or Yale.

In my own case, the answer begins with my own happy college experience at the University of Chicago. Among the other benefits of the education that I received there, I believe, were habits of mind that made it easier for me to become an observant Jew within less than a decade of leaving college. Though the University of Chicago of my college years no longer centered on the same Great Books curriculum of my parents’ days in the Hutchins College, a great deal remained of the respect for the acquired knowledge of mankind over the centuries and the belief that the best way to pursue the big questions of life was to start with the wisdom of the ancients. That certainly made it easier to throw myself into the lifetime study of texts recording debates of two millennia ago.

Second, the assumption was that the truth is most likely to emerge from testing one’s ideas against those of others, and listening carefully and respectfully to what others have to say, even if it goes against the assumptions of a lifetime. That attitude left my ears and heart open to hear the Torah. 

I could not have made a better argument for higher education than that. But as Jonathan alluded to, the Charedi world in Israel he now inhabits totally rejects that kind of education. They consider it at best to be a waste of time and and worse  a danger to Jewish belief and practice. Not only do they reject a college level education, they reject a high school education. And even an elementary school education (except for some rudimentary math and Hebrew grammar).

I don’t know how Jonathan navigates between these two polar opposite views. But I’m happy that he has made his love and appreciation of higher education public.

And yet, I would ask why he does not more forcefully advocate for his own Charedi community the kind education he received from which he so richly benefited?  I know that he actually does believe that there ought to be some sort of secular curriculum in Charedi schools. But more often that not he defends those schools. 

It’s true that one can get by very nicely and even do well financially without such an education. But Parnassa (making a decent living) is not what he appreciates about it. He appreciates the kind of thinking it developed in him. Thinking that helped lead him to observance.  

Doesn’t he think that the skills he developed at U of C would benefit the Charedi world too?

I’m not saying that every Charedi student needs to pursue a college education comparable to his. Not every Jew is capable of it. But many are and they would surely benefit.

He might respond that the mere mention of offering a secular studies curriculum even in high school brings out angry opposition among Charedi leaders. Nothing would be gained. It would have the opposite effect  The suggestion of a possible track in higher education for some of them would surely make them apoplectic!

I don’t see things changing. The Charedi leadership barely approves of post Kollel classes in technical fields for purposes of Parnassa. The idea of broadening one’s education outside of that is anathema to them.

It’s nice to see a widely respected Charedi author and columnist express his appreciation for the kind of education he got. But that kind of education ends with him. Future generations of Charedi Jewry in Israel are doomed to remain ignorant of it. How sad.