5/10/26 Multiple Perspectives from Prague

 5/10/26-- Multiple Perspectives from Prague

Somewhere along the path of life each of us, in our journey toward maturity,  learned to view the world through multiple perspectives. And while we may think that we’ve always had the ability to take multiple perspectives, I suspect that most of us would acknowledge that it’s actually an acquired skill, and a necessary one at that. The ability to consider any given event, person, or experience through multiple perspectives is a sign that we’re on the right path, that we’re capable of empathy, compassion, measured consideration, analytical assessment, and maybe even self-transcendence. Perspective taking strengthens our sense of self, our ability to forge meaningful relationships of all kinds, and ultimately, our ability to arrive at correct, nuanced, insightful, and thoughtful understandings of the world around us. While our 8th graders are well on their way toward being able to hold and consider multiple perspectives, they’re not fully there yet. It’s a developmental task that awaits them in their adolescence and well beyond. Today offered all of us a chance to strengthen this skill. Unbeknownst to them, our 8th graders grew today. 

I found myself considering the idea of multiple perspectives during our final activity of the day, a river cruise here in Prague. As we gently cruised under and around the Charles Bridge, watching the sunset over Prague Castle, waving at the friendly diners filling the cafes along the riverside, I was struck by the simplest of observations: boy, the Charles Bridge looks different depending on whether you’re walking across it or sailing underneath it. Multiple perspectives. 

When we gathered for breakfast this morning, a few of our 8th graders were a bit disheartened when they discovered that breakfast in Prague looks very different from Breakfast in Sandy Springs. Confusion quickly gave way to consumption when curiosity and hunger joined forces. Foods that were foreign, different, and unknown, became familiar. It’s a bit of a stretch, but I’d argue that there was some perspective taking being done at breakfast. 

Shortly after arriving in Prague’s Jewish Quarter it became clear to all us why the Jewish Quarter is a destination not only for Jews, but for all who visit Prague. At the same time, our experiences in the Jewish Quarter revealed the fact that yes, after somewhere between 10 and 2 years at The Davis Academy, our 8th graders see the world through a Jewish lens. There’s a different perspective (and a special one at that) that comes with touring the Jewish Quarter not only as an interested tourist, but as a Jew. Standing in front of the Altneushul, the oldest consistently operational synagogue in Europe, we were able to weave together a complicated but also utterly compelling narrative linking that synagogue with the State of Israel and the first modern Hebrew city of Tel Aviv. How? Because of Theodore Herzl, of course. I won’t unpack it all here and now, but there’s a deep and inextricable link that unites these seemingly disparate Jewish entities. Such a perspective is unavailable to someone who isn’t immersed in Jewish knowledge and learning. Part of what makes it difficult to see through multiple perspectives is that to truly do so, we have to know about more than one thing. We have to learn. And to learn, we have to be taught. And we have to value the learning. 

Another example of multiple perspectives that came to us in the Jewish Quarter came as we toured the Pinchas Synagogue. Unlike the Altneushul, this ancient synagogue is no longer an active synagogue. Instead it is a memorial, etched with the names of 80,000 Czech Jews who were murdered during the Holocaust. Available to us as we experienced this solemn memorial were many new and different perspectives. For example, the importance of having a homeland, of Israel. 

While I could continue to mine our time in the Jewish Quarter for even more and perhaps even richer examples of multiple perspectives, I’ll shift to the middle portion of our day. As you might imagine, there was a significant shift in perspective for our 8th graders when a beautiful European square became not only a site of important historical import, but also a place for free time and lunch with friends and eventually as the site of an urban scavenger hunt. A perennial highlight of our 8th grade trips is handing the kids an allowance of local currency, making sure they’re clear on the rules and the safety guidelines, and then letting them enjoy (the appearance of) independence. They came back with smiles, stories, and memories that we hope they’ll cherish. 

So overall, today accomplished one of travel’s greatest outcomes. Whether they realize it or not, today was a day full of growth. We saw Prague through multiple perspectives, and experienced Prague through all of our senses. We had opportunities to experience Prague as Jews, but also as teenagers, as students but also as tourists, as a community but also as individuals and so much more. It was a joy to watch our 8th graders shift perspectives in developmentally appropriate ways. And it was inspiring to see them shift perspective in gratifyingly precocious ways as well, such as during our time in the Jewish Quarter. Tomorrow we’ll very much continue this broadening of horizons, but with a very different tone. As you know, tomorrow we head to Terezin. While the 2nd half of our day will be an inspiring celebration of life, the first half of our day will be one that will change them forever. In the meantime, we’ll let them enjoy their hotel rooms and a night of hopefully good sleep, so that tomorrow we can support them as they encounter the reality of visiting a concentration camp. Our goal in visiting Terezin is not to frighten or traumatize them, but to inspire them to grow ever more human, understanding that this is life’s most noble and urgent pursuit.