Reflections on AJRCA

By Rabbi Eli Schochet

What is the AJRCA? What is its educational philosophy? What is its religious denomination? What type of people comprise its student body?

Over the years, I have been asked these questions by many people, notably rabbinic colleagues and Jewish educators.

In truth, these are not easy questions to answer. My best response to the central query has been to say, borrowing the Pesach idiom, “The AJRCA is a mah-nishtana school. It is truly different from other similar institutions.”

How does the AJRCA differ? May I suggest, it does so in three ways.

1. Our students are truly special in that they have a true passion in pursuing their studies. Instead of the commonly heard questions, “Is that a requirement?” or “Will we be responsible for this on the examination?” our students frequently ask, “What else can I read on that subject?” and “What would you recommend that I consult for further study?”

Our student body is comprised of many second career people, individuals who have excelled in other fields of study and mastered other academic disciplines. They are able to bring practical experience to the study and explication of traditional texts, and apply their insights to contemporary challenges.

My fellow faculty members would join me in affirming that the Talmudic dictum “I have learned much from my teachers, much from my colleagues, but I have learned the most from my students,” is rightfully applicable to AJRCA. On a number of occasions I have driven home after stimulating discussions in a Talmud class, still making circular gestures with my thumb in response to an earlier question posed by a student. In truth, I have learned a great deal over the years while teaching at AJRCA. Little wonder! I have been able to see a text anew through the eyes of sensitive students and to derive new insights by virtue of their perceptions.

2. Our students are truly remarkable in their respect for and openness to divergent perspectives. Ours has been described as a non-denominational school, a trans-denominational school, as a school without labels. Theological implicational aside, this may well help contribute to a student body characterized by diversity and multiplicity of perspectives on any issue. However, class discussions/disagreements, as intense and passionate as they may be, are for the most part carried on with mutual respect and sensitivity.

Our students are remarkably open to new ideas and novel perspectives on previously held positions. I recall a Homiletics class I taught wherein two students presented sermons on the same theme, each in complete disagreement with the other. Their passionately presented arguments probably mirrored the intense Talmudic disputes between Raba and Abaya, or R. Yohanan and Resh Lakish. A few weeks later they each came to me privately and confessed that upon further reflection they now found themselves convinced by the arguments raised by the other. This was not a reflection of earlier superficial “wishy washy” thinking on their parts. Rather, it was a tribute to intellectual openness and honesty. Such is a remarkable characteristic of our AJRCA student body.

3. A final characteristic of AJRCA has been its concern with the importance of “spirituality.”

Admittedly, the word is a difficult one to define; however, we all have an intuitive sense as to its meaning and great significance. Our students of Torah not only read, translate, and seek to understand the historical context of a text, they engage in a quest for spiritual discovery, a discovery that will hopefully be transmitted by them to ensuing generations of Jews. From its beginning, the AJRCA was unembarrassed to speak and teach in the cadences of spirituality. Our mission has been not only to inform, but to inspire – to perceive the Divine Presence in the words we study and incorporate their spirituality into the lives we live.

In several courses I have taught I shared a moment in my life that transpired during my first semester in Rabbinical school in 1956. It was on Simchat Torah eve. I was informed by some older students that seminary services were too stuffy, formal, Episcopalian(!) for Simchat Torah and that the place to be was a shtiebel on Broadway and 110th Street. I took their advice. Davening in the shtiebel was indeed spirited and moving, and the Chassidic Rebbe insisted on energetic “Torah dancing” with each and every one of us. When it was my turn to hold the Torah scroll with him the sleeve of his kittel dropped down a few inches. Before my eyes there were concentration camp numbers burned into his arm. He was a survivor of hell, no doubt haunted by the darkest of nightmares. Yet here he was ecstatically and joyfully dancing with a Torah scroll.

For over 25 years it has been my pleasure and privilege to teach at AJRCA, participating in classes and seminars with hundreds of students. Our AJRCA family, teachers, students and alumni alike, are confronted with a sacred, yet formidable task. We are to be conduits to our people, inspiring them to better understand and more deeply appreciate their heritage. Ours is the mission to transmit this, along with a love for Torah and Israel, to ensuing generations of our people. This is our mitzvah mission.

Standing on the threshold of a new year, in a world increasingly inhospitable, and all too frequently dangerous for our Jewish people, the men and women of AJRCA, past and present, seek to inspire hope and faith within generations of Jews. May they proclaim daily and joyously the Ashreinu words of our liturgy – words sung by that Holocaust survivor, concentration camp numbers on his arm, Simchat Torah night 69 years ago. In spite of our tragic history and the awesome challenges confronting the Jews of Israel as well as world Jewry, we nevertheless proclaim Ashreinu – “How happy are we. How goodly is our portion. How pleasing is our destiny. How beautiful is our heritage.”

Such is AJRCA’s message to the world!