Dr. Jonathan Haidt in his book The Anxious Generation: How the Great Rewiring of Childhood Is Causing an Epidemic of Mental Illness, highlights the power of collective action. Collective action is when a group would be better off if everyone in the group takes on a particular action, as a person is generally deterred from engaging in an action unless others are doing so as well. Haidt discusses how collective action is another key to protecting our children from the dangers of technology. There is so much social pressure, among parents and the children, to allow children to engage in technology that can be dangerous to them and particularly to their mental health. The goal of our Healthy Tech initiative is to create a collective action so that both parents and children can exert positive peer pressure on each other to limit device use and ensure that the use of technology is safe.
The concept of collective action is not new. In fact, thousands of years ago the Jewish people implemented “collective action.” When the Jewish people arrived at Har Sinai, it famously states in Shemot 19:2: וַיִּחַן־שָׁם יִשְׂרָאֵל נֶגֶד הָהָר Israel encamped there in front of the mountain, Rashi notes the unusual language. “ויחן” is singular. And, in fact, earlier in the pasuk all the verbs regarding Bnai Yisrael are in plural:
וַיִּסְע֣וּ מֵֽרְפִידִ֗ים וַיָּבֹ֨אוּ֙ מִדְבַּ֣ר סִינַ֔י וַיַּֽחֲנ֖וּ בַּמִּדְבָּ֑ר They journeyed from Rephidim, and they arrived in the desert of Sinai, and they encamped in the desert.
And, that is where Rashi comments that it is in singular because כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד בְּלֵב אֶחָד, the Jews at Har Sinai were united like one person with one heart . That is the essence of collective action. All united with the same goal, same beliefs and the same mission.
In essence, it is very difficult to stand up and do the right thing when others around you are not joining in. We all know the potential negative impact of peer pressure, but there is a potential positive impact of peer pressure as well. As it says in Pirkei Avot (again- learning this time of year!) 4:11:
כל כנסיה שהיא לשם שמים סופה להתקיים ושאינה לשם שמים אין סופה להתקים
Every assembly (group) [whose purpose is] for the sake of Heaven will have lasting results, but that which is not for the sake of Heaven will not have lasting results.
The Koren commentary on this mishna does stress the negative impact of peer pressure,(despite the mishna's highlighting the potential positive impact as well)“psychologists have noted a ‘groupthink’ phenomenon in which people are pressured to go along with the decisions of the inner clique that constitutes the power group. People either come to accept the dictates of the power group, or they are de-legitimized or ostracized. Dissent is crushed…Jewish law sought to counteract the deleterious effects of goupthink.” The commentary continues to note that with the Sanhedrin, judges of lesser authority spoke first, students were able to offer opinions and if the Sanhedrin reached a unanimous guilty verdict in a capital case, the defendant was acquitted. All of this to prevent the groupthink phenomenon.
And, of course, this peer pressure has been found in the research to impact teens even more than other age groups. In 2005 psychologist Lawrence Steinberg proved that adolescents were more than twice as likely to engage in “risky driving” in a computerized driving game when they were surrounded by peers in the room. Teens take more risks when surrounded by peers. But, Steinberg then continued his study in 2011 believing that there is a way to leverage this susceptibility to peer pressure for positive behavior. They noticed in MRIs that the regions in the brain associated with reward showed greater activity when being observed by same-age peers. In 2015 he found that teens learn more positive activities/behaviors more quickly as well when surrounded by peers. Aha- the impact of positive peer pressure or collective action!
Dr. Haidt, in his chapter on Collective Action Problems, quotes much of what we hear kids say today, “What made it (technology) so addictive was that I just wanted to fit in with my peers. I didn’t want to miss anything, because if I missed anything, then I was out of the loop, and if I was out of the loop, then kids would laugh at me or make fun of me for not understanding what is going on, and I didn’t want to be left out.” Or “Once a few students get smartphones and social media accounts, the other students put pressure on their parents putting them into a trap as well. It is painful for parents to hear ‘Everyone else has a smartphone. If you don’t get me one, I’ll be excluded from everything’” And, the only way out of this is “voluntary coordination” among the parents and “social norms.”
This is clearly another positive result of the Yavneh Healthy Tech pledge. It is one thing when we tell our children to stay safe with their technology use. It is a whole other level when their friends are actively engaging in limits and safe behaviors in front of them, making it easier as they and their parents are all “כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד בְּלֵב אֶחָד.”
Unity is another theme that has been discussed and focused upon quite often since October 7th. Only ביחד ננצח- united and together can we win. Rabbi Asher Brander, in his article, “Unity and Passion: Theirs and Ours” notes that later in the same parasha where the Jews stood united at the mountain, there is another instance of unity. This time, in Shemot 14:10:
וְהִנֵּה מִצְרַיִם נֹסֵעַ אַחֲרֵיהֶם
the Egyptians advancing upon them
Rashi here, comments again with the use of the singular form of נֹסֵעַ -
בְּלֵב אֶחָד כְּאִישׁ אֶחָד
They too had a collective action- joining together in unity. But, notice that the language is the opposite order of what was said about the Jewish people at Har Sinai. The Jews were one man with one heart and the Egyptians were like one heart and one man.
As Rabbi Brander says,
But notice the nuanced difference in the midrashic formulation. For the Jews it is unity of man and then heart and for the Egyptians is it the reverse. And that makes all the difference in the world! Diverse people can unify around a goal (= unity of heart). Even if they otherwise hate each other; the objective becomes the great unifier. Batlah davar batlah ahavah – when that objective is gone however, so is the unity. Jews are unified, b’etzem, in essence. Yisrael Kudsha Brich Hu V’oraisa chad hu. Atah echad .. u’mee k’amcha Yisrael goy echad. Jews, God and Torah are one. Our oneness does not always manifest itself in agreement on a particular method or objective; yet our ability to receive Torah and jointly implement its complete corpus is a reflection of an organic unity – of a massive unified neshama broken down into smaller pieces. We are first an ish echad who then were able to have the leiv echad. Since that special moment, we might fight a bit too much on the methods – but our unity cannot be broken.
As we commemorate the unity of the Jewish people on Chag HaShavuot, may we merit to continue that Jewish unity today- a unity that is based on our love of Torah and Judaism even when the war against Hamas is over and we may not be working on the same objective.
Advisory Update:
Sixth Grade: Students focused on social exclusion and bullying on-line
Seventh Grade: Students learned about upbeat thinking.
Eighth Grade: As part of their “Senior Seminar” they had sessions on mental health, substance abuse, and saying goodbye to Yavneh.
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