Can I?

I read an article printed in the Exodus Magazine by Rabbi Sacks ע״ה that I wanted to relate to my educational messages.  This article sat on my kitchen table for over a week, waiting for me to decide where to use it.  After Shabbos, when we got the saddest news that Rabbi Sacks was נפטר, I knew I had to use it Now.  

Rabbi Sacks begins the article called The Infinite Game defining two broad categories of games finite, and infinite.  Finite games have a beginning and an end, has rules, boundaries, winners and losers.  These games are present in sports, politics and even businesses.  Infinite games, on the other hand are enterprises where there is no winner or loser, no rules and no boundaries.  Art, music and literature are three excellent examples of Infinite games.  Geniuses of the arts do not beat one another; all contributions are precious and valuable.  When politics rises above the election results, it focuses on issues of equality and morality.

The purpose of Infinite games is the inherent worth of the activity itself.  Rabbi Sacks calls them “autotelic” they contain the purpose in and of themselves.  “We do them because the activity is inherently creative, demanding, uplifting and ennobling.”

In Chumash Devarim (6: 17-18) it says: “Be sure to keep the commandments, decrees, and laws that the L-rd your G-d has enjoined upon you.  Do what is good and right in the eyes of ה׳.”  The Ramban enlightens our understanding of what exactly doing good and right in the eyes of ה׳ is.  Even though there are 613 mitzvos, the Torah still cannot write about every situation that every person will encounter throughout their lives.  So, the Torah implores us to do what is good and right in ה׳’s eyes.  Everyone is different and requires different care.  Can I understand when to speak, and when to be silent?  Can I hear the unspoken cry of my friend, and feel their pain?  Can I focus on the other person instead of myself?

Now let us take Education.  Which game category does it fall into?

a) Finite

b) Infinite

c) Neither

d) Both

If you answered a, b or d.  You are correct.  When students take tests, they will be awarded a score based on the specific questions asked on the test, Finite.  But when we embed character development with depth and breadth of learning, we have touched the Infinite. The reason why d) is the best answer is because you need both.  Both the finite and infinite aspects of education are important, even essential.

It is so easy to settle back and worry about test scores, and mandated government exams.  But, as our children/students/friends/relatives head back to school, as much as the Infinite curriculum is maybe less comfortable to justify, it is so much more relevant and necessary than before.  It is really not so difficult to introduce and teach those Infinite qualities that the Ramban enumerates, but the time spent modelling them yourself, and teaching your students/children may be the most important take away from the Corona era.