reviews - Jewish Book Council

REVIEWS
44 Jewish Book World Spring 5770/2010
Education and Jewish Identity
WHY THE DREYFUS
AFFAIR MATTERS
Louis Begley
Yale University Press, 2009. 204 pp. $24.00
ISBN: 978-0-300-12532-0
History remembers Captain Alfred Dreyfus
as a victim of French anti-Semitism
who was convicted of espionage he did not
commit, and exonerated thanks to the passionate
support of the novelist Emile Zola.
Louis Begley insists that the lessons of the
Dreyfus Affair, beyond the particulars of the
historical episode, extend to abuses of power
and anti-Jewish behavior at large today.
In the spare language of his novels, Begley
builds a devastating case against the conspirators
who knowingly perverted the justice system
as they made Dreyfus a scapegoat. Then
he goes on to draw a straight line from the
anti-Semitism of the Catholic Church and
the French military in the 1890’s down to the
present.
The French Jews, he writes, nonetheless
had a “tendency to minimize the importance
of anti-Semitism, remain passive, and avoid
speaking out against outrageous behavior.
insists that the lessons of the Dreyfus
Affair...extend to abuses of power and
anti-Jewish behavior at large today.
...Emancipated Jews had fallen in love with
the good news that they could be like other
people, [but] ‘other people’ did not want
Jews to be like them. They wanted Jews out
of the way.”
Begley, writing in 2008, was struck by the
parallels between the standard operating procedures
for the Guantánamo prison camp and
the instructions for the administration of
Devil’s Island, where Dreyfus suffered solitary
confinement under horrible conditions for
some four years. He asks whether each succeeding
generation will have its own Zolas,
“ready to defend human rights...against abuse
wrapped in claims of expediency and reasons
of state.” Begley’s riveting details and unremitting
passion make this book a worthy successor
to J’accuse. Cast of characters, chronology,
index, notes. BG
EDUCATION AND JEWISH
IDENTITY
LEARNING AND
COMMUNITY: JEWISH
SUPPLEMENTARY
SCHOOLS IN THE
TWENTY-FIRST
CENTURY
Jack Wertheimer, ed.
Brandeis University Press, 2009. 380 pp. $35.00 (pbk.)
ISBN: 978-1-58465-770-5 (pbk.)
There aren’t enough good stories about
after-school programs, and this new
volume edited by Jack Wertheimer of the
Jewish Theological Seminary establishes
high achievement marks for everyone with
an investment in an after-school program of
Jewish studies, from educators to parents
and students. Wertheimer and his coauthors
have identified ten communitybased
and synagogue-based schools that
demonstrate moral and academic excellence.
These successful schools welcome many different
kinds of learners and their educational
leaders guide their teachers thoughtfully,
ultimately motivating students to learn
Hebrew, pray with authentic fervor, act as
moral role models, and discover their history.
The schools represent geographical and
ideological diversity; some tend to emphasize
academic learning and mastery while
others tend to emphasize experiential learning,
moral action, personal discovery, community
service, and family celebrations.
What is the recipe for success? Match the
professional staff to the mission and vision
of the school; build seven-day parent and
community support beyond drop-off and
pick-up in the carpool line; don’t be afraid
to accept that the school cannot meet every-
This book is a must-read
for after-school program
educators, parents, and
board members.
one’s needs; and sustain student interest by
establishing measurable goals that students
can achieve at every level; identify milestones
of success and promote a sense of
responsibility for students’ own learning.
This book is a must-read for after-school
program educators, parents, and board
members. The wealth of ideas can transform
any program. Index, notes. JKL
SOWING THE SEEDS
OF CHARACTER: THE
MORAL EDUCATION
OF ADOLESCENTS
IN PUBLIC AND
PRIVATE SCHOOLS
Judd Kruger Levingston
Praeger Press, 2009. 172 pp. $44.95
ISBN: 978-0-313-35191-4
The crisis in character and citizenship is
acute in contemporary America. There
are veritable cottage industries (Character
Counts, Mentschlichkeit Matters to name just
two) of educational interventions to further
character development. Rabbi Judd Kruger
Levingston’s Sowing the Seeds of Character
stands out as an exceptional contribution to
this growing body of literature both in the
depth and breadth of its concerns.
Whether Jewish, Christian, Islamic, or
Chinese, educational institutions for adolescents
are capable of having a deep moral
impact on the lives of students. They do so
through the dialogues they engender, the questions
they ask, and the role models they provide.
Further, their moral character is seen as
much in the school’s halls and playground as
in its classrooms. Levingston chronicles the
successes and challenges of these schools in
thoughtful and empathetic ways. He wants us
to understand the profound impact of school
on the moral life of the child even apart from
the obvious influences of family and the internal
psychological forces of moral development.
Listening to the young adults in these
schools discuss moral dilemmas, the author
detects three master orientations in the voices
of the students. He labels these orientations
authentic and assured, bridging and binding,
and constructing and considering. It is unclear
in the end whether Levingston believes that
all three orientations can live in some measure
within each individual.
Clearly, Sowing the Seeds of Character is a
particularly timely scholarly contribution in
an era that is likely to measure school success
by test scores. The only critique I might offer
pertains to the title itself. It certainly can be
argued that by adolescence one is actually
“reaping the seeds of character” sown at a
much earlier age. JS
www.jewishbookcouncil.org