Darren Kleinberg: Judaism Unbound Episode 198 - Jews are People
Darren Kleinberg, the Head of School at Kehillah Jewish High School in Palo Alto, California, wants to remind you that Jews are human beings. He also wants you to remember that Judaism is not about Judaism. He joins Dan Libenson and Lex Rofeberg to explain what those two sentences mean, and why both are of the utmost importance. [1]
(0:01 - 17:09): To begin the episode, Kleinberg argues that the primary purposes of Jewish education are in the midst of a transformational change. For the past 70 years, much effort has been focused on rebuilding the Jewish people in the midst of the unspeakable tragedy of the Holocaust. But today, he asserts, the time has come to pivot away from that particularistic mission, and toward a Jewish education that sets its sights on humanity writ large. He connects this shift to evolutions in his teacher Yitz Greenberg’s theological outlook [2] over the past few decades. [3] Shifting gears slightly, Kleinberg reflects on his childhood in England. Beginning by speaking to the ways in which “even calling my family ‘secular’ would be to overstate our engagement with Jewish life,” he continues to explain how, despite that, he was enrolled at a Jewish school (opening up an important thread on the differences between English and American forms of religious pluralism). He also discusses the challenging — and occasionally violent — environment in which he lived, in the London Borough of Hackney, where Jews needed to “know either how to run fast or throw a good punch.” Weaving these threads together (about school and his rough neighborhood), he considers the extent to which his school’s Jewish identity may have been a major factor in why it continued to believe in him, even as he repeatedly got into trouble.
(17:10 - 31:31): Kleinberg, through the work of the playwright Israel Zangwill (especially his play The Melting Pot) [4] provides his thoughts on some features in American-Jewish education that are distinct to this country. In particular, he emphasizes the ways in which American society writ large — and American Jews in particular — look at the world through the category of “identity” to a greater extent than other societies do. [5] Pivoting from that topic to the problematic binary between “Jew” and “Non-Jew,” [6] Kleinberg turns to the topic of his school’s open enrollment policy, welcoming Jewish students along with others, arguing that now is a time to both welcome deep wisdom from other traditions outside of Judaism and offer up Jewish wisdom to those who aren’t, themselves, Jews.
(31:32 - 48:24): Arguing that “Judaism is not about Judaism — Judaism is about humanity,” Kleinberg reinforces his earlier point that, ultimately, Jews are human beings. Turning even to the realm of ancient Jewish text, he asserts that people like Moses understood that there is holiness in everyone, not just in Jewish human beings. He then looks at a key line in Kehillah’s story, which helps to illustrate the school’s core commitments. To close the episode, Kleinberg shifts to the story of Joseph, in the Book of Genesis, and asks what we can learn from the theoretically-minor moment in which a random person (in Hebrew, an ish) gives directions to help Joseph find his brothers. How would our lives change if we considered how every minor interaction we have with someone could conceivably alter their entire life story? [7]
[1] Learn more about Darren Kleinberg by checking out his bio, accessible by clicking here. Learn more about Kehillah Jewish High School at Kehillah.org.
[2] Hear more from Yitz Greenberg by listening to his appearance on Judaism Unbound: Episode 100: The Third Era - Yitz Greenberg. Read the essay by Greenberg that Kleinberg mentions, entitled “Voluntary Covenant,” at this link.
[3] Kleinberg’s book Hybrid Judaism: Irving Greenberg, Encounter, and the Changing Nature of American Jewish Identity takes a deeper look at the theology and work of Yitz Greenberg. You can purchase it here.
[4] The full text of The Melting Pot, the play written by Israel Zangwill, is accessible online, for free. Access it here.
[5] For more on the dynamics of the term “Jewish identity” in American-Jewish life, see Episode 74: Beyond Jewish Identity - Ari Y. Kelman.
[6] Susan Katz Miller dives deeply into the question of the Jewish/Non-Jewish binary, as framed in many contexts of Jewish communal life, in her appearance on Judaism Unbound. Listen in to Episode 73: Being Both - Susan Katz Miller to hear her approach.
[7] Kleinberg has written a number of articles for J Weekly, all of which you can find at this page. We especially recommend this piece, entitled “Schools need to ask: what’s the end goal of education?”