Hebrew schools have long discouraged American Jewish children from thinking critically about Israel. This Passover season, it is time for a change.

“Pot rabbi has higher calling.”

So screamed a New York Post headline on Aug. 19, 2005. In the leafy suburbs north of New York City, Rabbi Steven Kane, the longtime spiritual leader at Congregation Sons of Israel, had been arrested for driving under the influence. Police found nearly an ounce of marijuana in the clergyman’s possession.

In Briarcliff Manor, a wealthy enclave organized almost entirely around child-rearing, Kane’s predicament became the talk of the town. In a world where cars are a frequent 16th-birthday present, many parents lived in constant fear of high school students driving while impaired. After the arrest, it was hardly unreasonable for congregants to question Kane’s fitness as a moral leader. Several community meetings were held to discuss the rabbi’s future. “People listen to what a rabbi says and does,” one disgruntled former congregant told the New York Times. “When you have that position in the community and you get arrested while driving under the influence, it really throws a wrench in the standing you have in the community. Those are really poor choices you are making.”

I knew Rabbi Kane. I grew up attending his synagogue, spending several hours a week there at Hebrew school, supplemental Torah study, and then, for a short time, participating in a Jewish teen youth group. Rabbi Kane blessed me at my bat mitzvah ceremony, placing his large hands on top of my head and chanting over me in Hebrew: “May she find favor before God and people everywhere. And let us say: Amen.”

Read More: AMERICAN PROSPECT - The Questioning Spirit