On a Motza’ei Shabbat in November 1995, those of us in North America heard the news that Yitzhak Rabin had been assassinated. On the following Monday morning, we all went into our Jewish high school classrooms to teach our classes. We had not received any guidance from the administration on what to say, how to handle the students’ questions, or how to explain the phenomenon of one Jew publicly murdering another one. This was the first widely known assassination of a Jewish leader by another Jew since Yishmael ben Nataniah murdered Gedalya ben Achikam in the 5th century BCE.
The students shuffled into my class for the first period. They wanted to discuss what had happened. I shared that I could not explain what had happened, but I could aver that it was a failure on the part of Jewish educators that an ostensibly observant person could willfully murder someone, rationalizing his actions utilizing Jewish law. I told them that as a Jewish educator, I took this failure personally. We discussed the theological and political implications of the assassination, and then we went back to our Tanakh studies, dedicating our learning that day [and on successive days] to those Jews throughout history who had been senselessly murdered.
Then came the second period of the day. The students rushed into my room, talking over one another trying to tell me what had happened during their first period class. “Rabbi X told us that Rabin deserved to be murdered because he was a rodef [someone pursuing others to kill them] and a moser [someone delivering Jews into non-Jewish hands]! So it was okay halachically for Yigal Amir to kill him.” I was now in a tough position. I disagreed strenuously with this rabbi’s approach, but felt uncomfortable refuting to his loyal students everything he had laid out for them.
My intended take away from this story is not whether Rabin should or should not have been assassinated. It is not whether Jewish law would or would not support such an act. It is not even about how I ultimately handled the situation. It is a strong plea for administrators in Jewish day schools to provide teachers with guidance. Difficult events continue to present themselves, and teachers need to deal with them in class on a regular basis.
I have worked in other schools and know of many additional Jewish day schools whose administrations are highly cognizant of and efficient at giving teachers guidance when heavy situations arise. Too often though, this is unfortunately not the norm.
Case in point: A similar occurrence happened after 9/11, when we returned to school. What should we say? That this was a heinous act perpetrated by a small group of zealots? That as Jews, we needed to be on elevated guard against future copycat Muslim jihadist attacks? That it was the will of God and so many Jews were saved because it took place during the week of Selichot so folks were late for work? I heard all of those sentiments emanating from teachers’ mouths. Without school-generated parameters, the teachers spoke at will.
I believe that when something difficult takes place in the broader or more local community, be it a war, a mass shooting, a riot, or the death of a student or parent, it is incumbent upon the administration of the school to give teachers a set of overarching talking points. Both the word “overarching” and the phrase “talking points” are important here. “Talking points” because teachers will be addressing impressionable young people who will take in and internalize what the trusted adults around them are saying. A more consistent message will help our children make sense of unexplainable events. “Overarching” because each teacher will have a personal take on what has happened. To an extent, we need to be vulnerable and share ourselves with our students, while being highly cognizant of what the effect our words may be having on our students.
Like everything else, shvil hazahav, the golden mean, can be operational here. Having some talking points that are consistent with the mission, vision, and values of the school together with a carefully thought out statement from a teacher will help students process difficult and uncomfortable issues. It will help teachers articulate the optimal message without being too overtly personal or too rigidly adherent to a policy statement. With no guidance and no filter for many teachers' statements, our classrooms could well become free-for-alls, not helping our children grow, but instead creating internal chaos within them as they try their best to navigate this complex and messy world.