After working many years in various institutions in which davening takes place, I entered room 203 on my first day at Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School in 2002 and I could not believe my ears. Tefillot that in other institutions were not taught until high school, if ever, were recited beautifully by fifth graders from families of all range of observance. From their faces, it seemed that they knew the words, they knew the tune and they knew the structure.
But what lies behind those faces? We all know that tefillah is a lifelong challenge. As Jewish educators, we try to accomplish a great deal with tefillah education. Just look at the list. We want our students to
Only after accomplishing these difficult tasks can one even begin to think about the primary goal: having tefillah be a wonderful experience that can connect us with our inner selves, our People and, of course, with G-d.
Here at Beth Tfiloh, this challenge takes on a unique form. On the one hand, our mission states that we are a school that is committed to “a modern approach to traditional Judaism.” This demands that we remain firmly steeped in the traditional liturgy and the goal of having children learn a wide range of tefillot. This makes our challenge one that is similar to those of traditional “yeshiva” day schools.
On the other hand, our mission is to “welcome children from a broad range of backgrounds and beliefs, recognizing and respecting the spiritual dignity of those beliefs.” In respecting the broad range of beliefs, our davening must make room for growth and development in the direction that the student chooses—ba’asher hu sham.
From our lower school through our middle school and in our high school, tefillah is structured in an age appropriate manner to achieve this precious balance. Lower school students all pray together, high school students have more choices. Yet a couple of critical challenges span the divisions:
A balance between relevance and substance—We constantly balance the need to make tefillah relevant to our students and our desire to ground Jewish prayer in an authentic experience of the breadth and structure of the siddur. “We find ourselves asking whether each of these is mutually exclusive,” writes Director of Education Zipora Schorr, “or whether they can coexist and even inform one another.” Whether it be in a 4th grade discussion about the wonders all around us or students grappling with the problem of evil in a high school tefillah class, we must be open to showing our students the application of prayer to contemporary daily life. We also must show fidelity to the structure of the siddur in demonstrating that the language of prayers can enhance the experiences of the everyday.
Options vs. optional—Our choices in high school with regard to davening are aimed at giving students the ability to explore prayer in their own way while still maintaining our school’s commitment to Halakhah. Tefillah is mandatory at Beth Tfiloh, but students may choose from a variety of options, including an all-female tefillah, a tefillah that emphasizes discussion and a traditional minyan. Choice exists, but the engagement in prayer is not “optional.” We must be honest that to pray as a Jew is not an “if I feel like it” type of experience. Prayer is a responsibility, but within that commitment, there is room for different modes and structures of how we pray.
Probably more than any other area, prayer is the place where the challenge of capturing the nuance of Beth Tfiloh is most manifested. Are we structured? Yes. Are we flexible? Yes. To paraphrase my friend and teacher Tova Hartman, our goal here at Beth Tfiloh is not solely to dwell on tefillah, to understand its structure, its meaning and its role, but our end goal is, through our program and our passion, to have everyone, in her or his own way, have a life-long relationship with the siddur and with Hashem—to truly dwell in tefillah—for life. ♦
Rabbi Aaron Frank is the Lower School Principal of the Beth Tfiloh Dahan Community School and lives with his wife and four children in Baltimore, Maryland.
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