More than 400 schools in France to be closed on Monday as more protests planned as reflected on by Rabbi Miriam Levin
This morning, news of hundreds of schools across France shuttered due to arson, vandalism, and clashes reached our study group. Dozens of educators were injured. An uneasy quiet fell over the room. Here in Highland Woods, our leafy avenues and manicured lawns sometimes tempt us. We believe the wider world’s fractures are distant abstractions. Yet, our youth carry the very same simmering anxieties. They worry about the future, their economic stability, and the justice of institutions meant to guide them. Young people’s impulse to cry out against perceived injustices is nothing new. However, the destruction of classrooms demands our urgent moral attention. These French school protests strike at our core values.
Education: A Holy Covenant
In Jewish tradition, education is more than a social service or civic administration. It is a holy covenant. The Talmud in Tractate Shabbat teaches that school children’s breath, engaged in study, sustains the world. Our ancient sages even ruled against interrupting children’s schooling. They said this applies even for rebuilding the sacred Temple in Jerusalem. A school is a sanctuary of moral formation. It is a space where human dignity flourishes through reason, discipline, and discovery. Therefore, when someone ransacks or sets a schoolhouse ablaze, the damage extends far beyond bricks, desks, and glass. It strikes at the heart of our collective future.
Watching legitimate civic passion curdle into nihilism presents an acute tragedy. The Hebrew Bible honors those who question authority and advocate for the vulnerable. Abraham, for example, challenged the Almighty over Sodom’s fate. Prophets routinely confronted kings on behalf of the poor. However, prophetic critique builds justice. It does not burn down the commons. When protest crosses the threshold into injuring teachers and destroying laboratories, it abandons the moral high ground. It descends into sheer despair. Violence rarely stems from true conviction; more often, it signals unmoored rage that has forgotten how to build.
Defending Our Educators
Our teachers and school administrators deserve our deep gratitude and active defense. News that nearly eighty staff members were harmed in these unrests should wound any civil society’s conscience. In Jewish thought, we honor an educator alongside a parent. Parents bring a child into physical existence. Teachers, conversely, help shape the child’s soul and moral consciousness. We place our children into their care with profound trust. Turning upon these dedicated mentors with physical hostility reveals a breakdown of the social fabric. No political grievance can justify this. The ongoing French school protests remind us of these vital truths.
At Congregation Kol Shalom, we frequently speak of tikkun olam, our sacred duty to repair our fractured world. Repair is painstaking, slow, and demanding work. It requires patience, open dialogue, and a willingness to sit face to face with those whose decisions frustrate us. Tearing down a facade takes only minutes. Laying a single stone of enduring civic peace, however, takes generations. When societies lose the capacity for civil disagreement, the most vulnerable among us pay the highest price. This begins with students now locked out of their classrooms.
As parents, clergy, and neighbors, our task remains clear. We must listen intently to our youth’s genuine fears without endorsing destructive behavior. We must show them that real strength lies not in a firebomb’s heat. Instead, it lies in the disciplined work of moral persuasion and civic engagement. Let us pray for the swift healing of the injured educators in France. Furthermore, let us rededicate ourselves to guarding the sanctity of our classrooms everywhere. These are holy spaces where life, hope, and reason flourish together.
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