Education in Israel: When "English Class" Aims Higher

On Saturday night, my 6th grade daughter notified me she was going over to a girlfriend's house for the night, to study for an upcoming exam in English. As the daughter of "Anglo" parents, she studies English in a special class -- 'English for English Speakers."

Over the years, my kids have been in this advanced class, yet they still (unfortunately) lag behind their counterparts in the US. While their English is excellent from an Israeli point of view, they aren't on the same level as if they lived abroad. A small price to pay for living here.

Yet when I asked my daughter about what was on her upcoming exam, her reply came as an unexpected, refreshing shock.


"I need to know about the 3 branches of the American Government, the preamble of the US Constitution, the 5 freedoms in the first amendment, and the first 10 amendments of the "Bill of Rights."

I don't remember having to know that in 6th grade in the US...maybe in 7th grade or later. I was thrilled to be able to review with her the system of "checks and balances" of the US government, explain what a "jury of peers" is, and the importance of the freedoms granted by the "Bill of Rights." "Bearing Arms" and "quartering soldiers" were new words and concepts that she had never heard of before.

Since it wasn't easy for a non-native English speaker like my daughter to memorize all of the above, I found "Schoolhouse Rock" videos from youtube that help explain the above in song form. We made up a rap song called "RAPPS" -- for the 5 freedoms in the first amendement, "Religion, Assembly, Press, Petition and Speech"

Kudos to my daughter's English teacher who aims higher when educating our kids in Israel -- there is so much to learn and appreciate from the USA's democracy, government and legal system. Its a shame that Israelis who aren't in my daughter's "English for English Speakers" class are never formally exposed to such concepts -- Israel has a long way to go before we can match the freedoms and democracy in the US.

Maybe we'll get there one day.


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Obama takes second oath l'humra

by Lurker

[Cross-posted at DovBear]

As most of you probably already know, President Barack Obama did not recite the Presidential oath of office 100% accurately at his inauguration this past Tuesday. This was because Supreme Court Chief Justice John Roberts, who administered the oath, spoke the words out of order: Instead of saying "I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States", he said "I will execute the Office of President of the United States faithfully". Obama hesitated, apparently aware that Roberts was saying the words incorrectly, and giving Roberts a chance to correct himself. Roberts, however, stumbled on his words and then repeated the incorrect formulation -- at which point Obama simply repeated Roberts' version.

In the comments on a post by DovBear yesterday about the flubbed oath, I raised the question of whether Obama might have to take the oath a second time. After all, the exact wording of the oath is specified in the Constitution, and Obama (due to Roberts' mess-up) said those words out of sequence. DovBear saw it as doubtful that Obama should have to redo it: "I don't see why we need to stand on ceremony. This isn't religion." But as Tzipporah pointed out, one can reasonably argue that it is: "Political pageantry IS America's secular religion, with the Constitution standing as the holy text." I would tend to concur.

Well apparently, the President's White House counsel sees it this way as well. Yesterday, he paskened that min hastam, Obama was yotzei b'di'avad with the first oath -- but nevertheless, so that there should be no hashash ("out of an abundance of caution"), he still had Obama take the oath a second time l'humra, in order to be yotzei l'khol hadei'ot.

Obama retakes oath of office after Roberts' mistake
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The do-over was aimed at dispelling any confusion that might arise from Tuesday's take -- in which "faithfully" was said out of sequence -- and erase any question that Obama is legally the president.
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"We believe that the oath of office was administered effectively and that the president was sworn in appropriately yesterday," White House counsel Greg Craig said Wednesday in a written statement.
"But the oath appears in the Constitution itself. And out of an abundance of caution, because there was one word out of sequence, Chief Justice Roberts administered the oath a second time," the statement read.

(The article linked above contains an audio recording of the second oath, which was taken on Wednesday at 7:35 pm EST in the White House Map Room.)

Greg Craig's psak was presumably influenced by the rulings issued by many major poskim over the last two days, that Obama should have to do the oath over again: Constitutional scholar Jack Beermann of Boston University went so far as to say that there is a real hashash that Obama wouldn't actually have the halakha of "President" until he recites the oath using the proper nusah. He acknowledged that one could have a hava amina not to repeat the oath because doing so might cause embarrassment to the Chief Justice -- but concluded that the importance of the mitzva of the oath overrides the kavod of the Chief Justice.

Charles Cooper, former head of the Office of Legal Counsel in the Justice Department, paskened unequivocally that Obama is hayav to retake the oath, and without delay. And Jonathan Turley, professor of Constitutional law at George Washington University, said that although Obama is not actually hayav to retake the oath, he should do so anyway to eliminate the safek.

A few interesting notes about Obama's second oath:

• Roberts once again phrased "so help me God" as a question.
  
  
• The use of a Bible -- which is only a minhag and not specified as part of the hiyuv in the Constitution -- was dispensed with.
  
  
• Another concern I raised in the comments, that a second oath might constitute a problem of a brakha l'vatala, apparently did not figure in Mr. Craig's psak.

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Wherever I am, my blog turns towards Eretz Yisrael טובה הארץ מאד מאד