In 1956 Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel wrote, in an essay entitled Teaching Religion to American Jews, that “The Hebrew term for education (חינוך – chinuch) means not only to train but also to dedicate, to consecrate. And to consecrate the adult must be our goal, difficult as it may be. We must enable him [the student] to participate and share in the spiritual experience of Jewish living; to explain to him what it means to live as a likeness of God. What is involved in being a Jew? Duties of the heart, not only external performance; the ability to experience the suffering of others, compassion and acts of kindness; sanctification of time, not the mere observance of customs and ceremonies; the joy of discipline, not the pleasures of conceit; sacrifice, not casual celebrations; contrition rather than national pride.”
chinuch.org.uk is a contribution towards enabling us to share in the spiritual experience of Jewish living.