Jewish education shortcomings

It wasn't until I traveled to Israel, in my early twenties, that I really started to think about what it means to be Jewish. During my birthright Israel trip, I realized that I knew very little about my religion.

Because I went to a non-denominational school my Jewish education was limited to Hebrew school, two days a week, and one day of Sunday school. During my formative years, and I can only speak for myself, I wasn't interested in learning about Judaism. Since Hebrew and Sunday school were tacked on to my daily education, and because I only had to attend up to a certain age, I treated the subject matter as inconsequential.

There was a clear divide between my general education and Jewish education. As I grew older the separation widened and soon my Jewish education came to a complete stop. Once bat-mitzvahed I no longer needed to attend Hebrew or Sunday school, and it was at this time that I somewhat left the realm of Jewish education altogether. During this break, about sixteen years, I still attended synagogue with my family, had Shabbat dinner every Friday night, but my knowledge of Judaism was limited to only the traditions that I grew up with. What was it about my Jewish education that didn't engage me? Why didn't I want to know more about my heritage? Had my afternoon classes pushed me away from the topic?

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