{"id":1821,"date":"2019-02-15T18:45:03","date_gmt":"2019-02-15T22:45:03","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/?p=1821"},"modified":"2019-02-15T18:45:05","modified_gmt":"2019-02-15T22:45:05","slug":"i-promise-an-ethical-will-for-my-students","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/adrenalinedrash.com\/?p=1821","title":{"rendered":"I Promise: An Ethical Will for My Students"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

Two times a week, I meet with a class of exactly ten students in a small conference room at UNC Charlotte. Those ten students are dealing with the most difficult history I teach \u2013 the history of European antisemitism.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is challenging work because the readings assigned are among the most\nsophisticated I teach. It is challenging work because my students are almost\nalways unfamiliar with this history, and it is a painful one. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is likely that my students will be Christian. Some will be devout. These are students who usually came into my world via courses I teach on Hebrew Bible. We forge, in such courses, deep connections around biblical literature. Our learning may include rabbinic midrash as well as academic commentaries. The exposure to ways Jews have read biblical texts sometimes leads them to question what they might have believed about the Jewish relationship with bible. That can lead them to this course.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I am \u2013 and this is hardly unusual \u2013 the only Jew in the room. I know, from long experience, how much courage my students are bringing to our course of study. After we covered the way John\u2019s Jesus vilifies Jews as children of the father of lies, as offspring of Satan (John 8:44), a student said: \u201cI\u2019ve read this before. Somehow, I passed over the text. It was just a story. I can\u2019t believe I did that, now.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sometimes, as we gather, we trade small news. Recently, I told my students about my new glass whiteboard. It\u2019s huge \u2013 it takes up a good part of the wall next to my desk at home. There are columns for each realm I work in \u2013 one for the course I am currently teaching for ALEPH Ordination Programs, another to cover administrative work in that realm, another for my work as the director of graduate studies for UNCC\u2019s department of Religious Studies, one for the courses I teach for the department, another for the work I do as a spiritual leader of a small havurah, another for the little Etsy business I have making kippot and tallitot. There is a little corner for \u201cpersonal.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My students laughed and asked what was put in that corner.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe first thing on it,\u201d I said, \u201cis \u2018ethical will for Serafina.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

My students know the name of my son and my daughter-in-law. So they\nknew who<\/em> I was talking about \u2013 but not what<\/em> I was talking about.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cEthical will<\/a>,\u201d one asked. \u201cWhat is that?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I explained. \u201cYou know how you have a will for your assets, and what\nyou want done with them after you die? An ethical will is a Jewish tradition. It\u2019s\na document that might include pragmatic information, like how you want your\nfuneral to go and that sort of thing. But the main thing is writing down what\nyou want to leave your children in the way of wisdom or learning. It\u2019s a way of\nsumming up what you hope your children will take from you that is truly\nimportant or good.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I had long since written such a text for my son, Erik, and I explained\nthat I periodically updated it for him. But it was now over two years since he\nhad married Serafina, and I felt it was time for me to write her one, too.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For Sera has brought a perfect completion to our little family. I can\nno longer imagine us without her. She and I had become friends, and as much as\nI was learning from her, I hoped that there would be some learning I could give\nback to her. When I died, I would want her to have that from me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWell,\u201d one of the students said, \u201cwe would miss you, too. What about\nan ethical will for us?\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The other students agreed, though one was afraid that given everything\nelse on the board, adding something might not be the best thing for me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think it\u2019s a good idea,\u201d I said. \u201cI like it.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I have been teaching for almost four decades. My students have given me\nlife and hope. They sustain me and they teach me. I rely on their generosity,\ntheir kindness, the wisdom they bring into every classroom. I do not overstate:\nMy students also complete my life and make it perfect.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

I went home late that day and after I took off my coat and put my\nbackpack in the corner of my office, I picked up a marker and drew a line from \u201cEthical\nwill for Sera\u201d to the word \u201cstudents.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

And I will write both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This post is dedicated both to Serafina, on her birthday. If I hadn’t thought about what I want to write to her I wouldn’t have ever been asked whether I would write to my students….<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Two times a week, I meet with a class of exactly ten students in a small conference room at UNC Charlotte. Those ten students are dealing with the most difficult history I teach \u2013 the history of European antisemitism. It is challenging work because the readings assigned are among the most sophisticated I teach. It … <\/p>\n

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