Over the weekend, I had the opportunity to read an interesting essay written by Rabbi Chaim Brovender, Rosh Yeshiva of Yeshivat HaMivtar in Efrat, Israel. The paper, Towards Ahavat Hashem: Art and the Religious Experience deals with the issue of whether the fine arts will lead a person to see G-d through the aesthetic beauty of His creation. His argument is held together by a discussion of Love and Fear of G-d according to Maimonides. Rabbi Brovender claims that within our society, since we do not have a more direct method of recognizing G-d's presence in the world, it might be worthwhile to teach teenagers about the fine arts because it will provide an ability to have the Maimonidean experience of lpving G-d.

While I do believe Rabbi Brovender to be correct, his argument only holds true for a limited amount of people. It is hard to imagine that a teenager will be able to have the religious experience Rabbi Brovender is claiming will exist simply by learning how to properly view a painting. Instead, education needs to assess what it means to have a religious experience. It is not simply experiencing Maimonidean love of G-d by seeing the wonders of creation. Religious experience is very often internal happenings. Perhaps we should teach teenagers how to approach prayer in a more spiritual manner. They should learn the ablity to focus on G-d and recognize that they are praying in his presence. Teaching any sophisticated art might be lost on youth, though it might be a legitimate extra-curricular activity.

Furthermore, I would much rather ground religious experience in Jewish thought more than we currently do. A teenager should be exposed to wider gamut of material that exists in Judaism, whether it be philosophy, mussar, Qabbalah or Hasidut. This material might have a better chance of accomplishing our goals religious experience and love of G-d, which I take to mean more than simply knowledge of the world's functioning. I mean, feel the power of one's desire to worship G-d, cleave to G-d, become closer to G-d. Without these things, the Judaism we need to follow will be hollow. Art, while it does teach the ability to recognize aesthetic beauty, does not necessarily have the ability to be interpreted and used for experiencing G-d during any other time than when a person "communes" with nature.