RJ Blog

by Michelle Shapiro Abraham, MAJE From the first moment that we read “And God spoke and the world came to be,” we Jews have known the power of language. As it was with the creation of the world, so too it is with Jewish education – we need a language to explain, define and push us to be reflective practitioners who are forever reimagining, reframing, and reclaiming our tradition. In Paul Steinberg’s article The Redemption of Hebrew School Redux, he reminds us that “we need to reclaim the spirit of Jewish education.” I don’t believe there is a synagogue educator, [...]

by Rabbi Rachel Barenblat I love the excited buzz in the synagogue before Shabbat morning services when one of our kids is going to be called to the Torah as b’nai mitzvah. I love the eager, nervous energy I feel emanating from the family. The parents, caught between the mundane organizational details they were worrying about yesterday and the growing awareness that today is something different, a different kind of time. The younger sibling, if there is one, rolling their eyes but also realizing that this is going to be them someday. I love standing outside in the field behind [...]

by Micah Lapidus Jewish day school sustainability is about more than survival. It’s about maintaining a diverse, vibrant, dynamic, healthy, growing school community. The best way to achieve day school sustainability is by ensuring that we’re fully engaging our human resources.  What does it look like to fully engage our human resources? Here’s a case study. My school, The Alfred and Adele Davis Academy, Atlanta’s Reform Jewish Day School, is a school that loves Jewish music. Jewish singing permeates our school, most noticeably at holiday celebrations and at our weekly Kabbalat Shabbat gatherings. When I came to Davis five years [...]

The entire American Jewish world, it seems, is focused on how to engage or reengage the younger generations of Jews. Foundations are funding, denominations are discussing, and Federations and synagogues are searching for the latest and greatest strategies to engaging these lost generations. Our own Union for Reform Judaism kicked off its Campaign for Youth Engagement, on the theory that unless we engage young people in their early years, we surely will lose them in their later high school years and beyond. While the solution to this contemporary challenge necessarily needs to be multi-pronged and multi-focal, at Congregation Or Ami [...]

This week, I was contacted by a colleague at another Reform synagogue. She shared that a member of their community is interested in endowing a special education program for their religious school, and she hoped that I might be willing to dream with them a little. She asked me, “What would you do with $30,000? With $50,000?” Wow. First and foremost, just as every child with a disability is unique, so is every synagogue community that seeks to include them.  Therefore, my answer to the question will vary depending upon a number of factors: Do you have an existing program [...]

by Jacki Hart and Stephanie Rotsky Still relatively green as parents, choosing a school for our then-4-year-old and nearly-6-year-old felt like a major “grown up” responsibility. What would they learn; how would they be taught? Would the school nurture their nature? And could the school selection influence who they might become? The emphasis on social justice and the mission of tikkun olam, repair of the world, drew us to Rashi, a Reform Jewish day school in the Boston metropolitan area for kindergarteners through 8th graders. Little did we understand, six years ago, that Tamchui, Rashi’s unique annual community social justice [...]

“And the painted ponies go up and down We’re captive on the carousel of time…” (Joni Mitchell, “The Circle Game”) For years, this song has been an integral part of our Passover seder.  It comes right after we talk about the roasted egg and is one of the more poignant moments of the evening. I’ve learned to include Kleenex on our seder table because inevitably, several of the moms look longingly at their children, catch each other’s eyes and begin to tear up. Recently, we had to add an additional verse since the children had outgrown the “and now the [...]

The Jewish Journal reported this week on the growing trend of teenagers exiting Jewish life once their b’nai mitzvah experiences come to an end – and what the Reform Movement is doing about it. Reporter Ryan Torok writes, When Isa Aron considers b’nai mitzvah today, she gets the impression that parents — and sometimes synagogues — care more about their son or daughter performing flawlessly when on the bimah than they do about their forming lasting connections to Judaism. “The moment itself is wonderful because the kid is up there performing and all that, but Jewish value of the moment [...]

Since starting my blog, Jewish Special Needs Education, I realize that I am noticing inclusion – and the absence of inclusion – all the time. It kind of reminds me of being pregnant and noticing other pregnant woman everywhere you go! But more on this in a moment. I spent this Shabbat in Los Angeles at the URJ Youth Engagement Conference and NFTY Convention. To be honest, I was a little bit skeptical about coming to the conference. I wasn’t sure what to expect. As a full-time educator, my role is certainly one of engaging our youth. I understand the value [...]

Recently I had the good fortune to offer a workshop for educators that I called, “Parents as Partners: Working with Parents in Jewish Special Needs Education.” I was well aware, from the start of the workshop, that the educators assembled wanted pointers on how to handle difficult conversations with parents. They were eager to help their students, but seemed to feel great apprehension around how to potentially develop open and supportive communication with parents. Open and supportive communication with parents is essential for a successful Jewish supplemental school experience for any child, especially those with special learning needs. However, my [...]

by Jennifer B. Perlick Two years ago I realized, “Wow, my daughter’s bat mitzvah is coming up!” Of course, I wanted it to be special. I wanted it to be really meaningful for her – and for me and the whole family – but I wasn’t super-inspired by the b’nai mitzvah ceremonies I was attending at my synagogue. Don’t get me wrong, I love my congregation, Har HaShem in Boulder, CO. It offers the largest community of Jewish families in Boulder, its religious school is extremely well-run, and the rabbi and cantor are both young and hip. But the b’nai [...]

by Rabbi Robin Nafshi Temple Beth Jacob in Concord, N.H., has a membership of about 210 families. And like all other communities both large and small, a number of our students have physical and/or cognitive disabilities. Our philosophy is to do all we can to provide maximum access for all of our members. One of our religious school students is Jacob, whose mother has said it’s fine to use his real name here. Jacob has detachment disorder, environmental autism, language delay, and rage issues – and he has been in our religious school since kindergarten. At no time have we [...]

The past few days I have been thinking about the role that being alone vs. being with people plays in each of our lives and the importance of finding the right balance of social vs. solitude time.  This is true for us as individuals, this is true for us as parents, and this is true for us as educators and as synagogue leaders. There is a lot of noise everywhere. There are beeps, chirps, buzzes, rings, chimes – to say nothing of bangs, gongs, crinkles and more. The world is a veritable symphony of sounds. 

In a controversial blog post on Kveller.com that’s making waves within the Jewish community, rabbinical student Patrick Aleph proposed yesterday that the Jewish community dramatically rethink b’nai mitzvah, which he says are “not really worth anyone’s time or money.” Aleph, who studies at the Rabbinical Seminary International in New York City (and is not affiliated with any movement), says we should instead replace the bar mitzvah with a “a new type of [b’nai] mitzvah system where the entire family learns the curricula for the bar or bat mitzvah ceremony, and passes it on to the child through in-home learning, as opposed to [...]