Questions about issues in the news for students 13 and older.
Adults often say that young people “should have known better”
than to act in a way they characterize as disrespectful,
immature or rude, especially at formal events. In a recent
article on this topic, for instance, one woman describes many of
the unchaperoned children and teenagers at bar and bat mitzvahs
she attends as talking or texting during the services and
“playing tag football in the social hall and sneaking brownies
from under the plastic wrap.” This woman further admits that her
own children are among those who misbehave. Why do you think
situations like this happen? How could they be prevented? In
“Teaching Respect to the Faithful,” Bruce Feiler writes about
efforts to change situations like this: Last year, after a
deluge of rabbis asked if they could visit the classes to warn
students about their behavior, Mr. Jasgur introduced a one-hour
course called Mitzvah Circuit 101, which he offers free to
synagogues and Jewish community centers.