Deep Jewish Learning Builds Deep Jewish Commitment

Walk into my high school in Silicon Valley, and you will find an air filled with an intense focus on the future. Between color-coded planners and conversations about college applications, internships, and achievements, my peers and I are constantly thinking about what comes next for us.  

Yet within this relentless focus on the future, I have found myself looking for a deeper sense of purpose. This search led me to explore the past, specifically through Pirkei Avot (Ethics of Our Fathers), an ancient text that helped me find direct meaning within my Judaism.

So much of modern Jewish life feels focused on responding to challenges. We talk about antisemitism. We talk about the trauma of October 7th. We talk about defending Israel. These conversations are incredibly necessary. We cannot ignore rising antisemitism or remain silent about attacks against Israel. Defending the Jewish people is an essential responsibility, as is concern for the future of Judaism. However, I realized that too often for Jewish teens, our conversations about Judaism begin with what threatens us instead of what inspires us. We spend way less time asking a different question: Why is Judaism worth loving and fighting for?

If the Jewish community wants the next generation to fight for its future, we must stop defining our identity only by the crises that threaten us and instead inspire youth with the intellectual, text-driven curiosity that has sustained the Jewish people for so long. 

I learned this lesson when I transitioned from a Jewish day school to a secular private high school. I suddenly found myself in an environment where my Jewish identity was something I had to choose to embrace and cultivate. 

Surrounded by the fast-paced, future-focused momentum of high school, I started looking for something deeper than just daily achievements. So, I turned inward and began spending my free time at night studying Torah and other Jewish texts. With a friend, we started studying a few mishnayot (individual teachings) of Pirkei Avot each week. Learning Pirkei Avot has given me a new lens through which to view the world, leading me to reflect on who I am and who I want to become. It has shown me how to find meaning in my life and how to make a positive impact. 

One teaching in particular transformed the way I approached Jewish learning. Ben Bag Bag, a first-century rabbinic sage, wrote a well-known summary of this culture of deep study:  “Turn it over, and [again] turn it over, for all is therein” (Pirkei Avot 5:26). After learning this, I began returning to the same texts again and again, discovering new insights each time. As I change, the texts offer new meanings. I realized that the power of Jewish learning is inviting each person to wrestle with the texts for themselves. 

To many teenagers, the idea of voluntary text study sounds like extra homework. However, when you approach these texts on your own terms, you realize that they are a captivating, dynamic, multi-generational conversation. For thousands of years, Jews have dealt with the same issues we still navigate today: how we treat others, how we balance our responsibilities, how we manage faith, family dynamics, etc. Rather than giving us simple answers, Torah and Jewish learning invite us to ask better questions. It gives us a deeper appreciation for our heritage as well as a framework for thinking critically, questioning thoughtfully, and finding meaning in our modern world. 

This is not an argument that every Jewish teenager should spend hours studying Torah. Nor is it an argument against activism or advocacy. We need people confronting antisemitism, defending Israel, and speaking up for the Jewish community. But if we want Judaism to flourish, we also need a deep understanding of our history, teachings, and the values and traditions that shape our peoplehood. A religion survives when people find joy and meaning in it. 

The future of Judaism will be secured by curiosity, by young Jews who are drawn not only to defending their heritage, but to discovering it. In a world obsessed with the future, maybe one of the best things a teenager can do is join a conversation that began thousands of years ago and learn why Judaism is worth fighting for.