The prophet Malachi (3:24) prophesised about the day when “he shall turn the heart of the fathers to the children,” a recent experience in a London state primary school made me yearn for the fulfilment of this prophecy.
I was invited to talk to children in a state school regarding the Synagogue and the festival of Sukkoth. Although most of the children had never met a Jew before they were knowledgeable about Judaism and respectful of its customs. It was a pleasure talking to children who had not yet been influenced by stereotypes and prejudices.
However, my visit was marred by the following encounter: after speaking to the last class the teacher chose a girl of the Muslim faith to show me out. As we walked across the playground the father of the child accompanying me spotted us, he immediately approached us and asked his daughter what she was doing. She explained that her teacher had asked her to show the rabbi out. His displeasure was evident and he told his daughter to go back to the class and that he would take over.
As he accompanied me, he quizzed me as to what I was doing at the school. I explained that I had been invited to the school to talk about Judaism. To this he replied sternly, “You know we are Moslem don’t you?” and he thus continued to ask – ever more accusingly – where I was heading and for what purpose. He was visibly relieved when I explained that all I wanted was to be shown the exit.
Whether he thought that I – a rabbi – was an aspiring new teacher at the school or that I was trying to convert the pupils, I am not sure; however, one thing is clear: he was not happy with my presence. It is probable that I was the first Jew that this man had ever met and his response was apprehension and suspicion. I sensed that his daughter was uncomfortable with the suspicion in which her father viewed me.
The fact that schools acquaint children with other religions and cultures is fantastic. However, that alone is not enough – children are not born with prejudices they pick it up from their parents.
We must be careful not to convey prejudices to our children. Rather, on the contrary, we should learn from them how to be non-judgemental. Do we have the humility to become or children’s students? If we do generations of prejudices could be dispelled.