Page 187 - The Legacy of Abraham Rothstein - text

The First World War and after

rudiments of the Hebrew language. Another factor against teaching
the Jewish child his Hebrew is the burden and the vain dream of the
average Jewish mother to make a musical genius of her son or
daughter. Millions are spent by our people on piano and violin
lessons for their children; perhaps one in ten thousand will become
an ordinary musician playing in an orchestra, and one in a million an
artist of renown.
What have the Jewish people gained—or even the parents of
those geniuses, who we count on the fingers of one hand? The genius
finds that fame is a means to riches and pleasure, and sooner or later
pleasure gets the best of him. He forgets or is ashamed of his people,
even of his own parents. And pleasure is always related more or less
to sex, so the genius gets entangled with marriage and divorce, and
more marriages and scandal. What a costly chimera this violin and
piano is to the Jewish mother! One tenth of that money spent on a
true Hebrew education—which means also an ethical culture—would
have enriched our race with men and women who would be the pride
and glory of Israel. I am not against teaching a child music, but when
the child has no inclination for that art he should not be
overburdened with lessons. Instead, he should receive first of all a
Hebrew education, to make him a good Jew, and then choose a trade
or profession, which will provide him a tool with which he will be
able to secure for himself a livelihood.
Few of these musicians who make an ordinary living from their
instrument are intelligent enough to make a living for themselves
outside their playing. In fact, some are considered half-baked, as it is
said, or poor mentalities, not because they happened to be born that
way, but because if a person has to keep practicing on an instrument
a third of his lifetime, then he has no chance to think about or see
any interesting things in life’s processes. The one who has in himself
the stuff of genius will play on a stick of wood and make the world
aware of his ability; the rest waste money and valuable time—twice
valuable, when they waste it in their youth when it is time to grab all
the education they can absorb.
Many times I have heard, when Jewish people are discussing their
children’s education and someone reminds them of Jewish education,
the same answer: my child is not going to be a rabbi. One would not
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