Reimagining Hebrew School as an Immersive Shabbat Experience
This week, in lieu of a D’var Torah informed by this past Shabbat’s Torah discussion (though this past Shabbat featured an engaging conversation about one of the most challenging, tantalizing texts in our canon: Shir Hashirim, the Song of Songs, love poetry traditionally read on the Shabbat of Passover because of its themes of spring, renewal, rebirth, love, and passion) I want to name for you an important educational shift we’re contemplating together as a synagogue community, as was highlighted in our recent Kesher.
We’re undertaking a series of conversations with our Hebrew School families to explore the feasibility, desirability, and potential salutary effects of the following move in our approach to Hebrew School education: moving our weekend morning of learning from Sunday, where it currently resides, to Shabbat, to what we’re calling an Immersive Shabbat Hebrew School Experience.
We think this is important for a number of reasons.
Educational. We see at least two important educational benefits from shifting to an Immersive Shabbat Hebrew School Experience model. For starters, as the name suggests, it immerses students more deeply in the rhythms of Jewish life, enabling them to participate more fully in the Jewish communal experiences they encounter both here at SHS as they grow up and out there in the world as they journey through life. One of the marks (though not the only mark) of a successful Jewish education is that a student who finds themself at a Jewish service, in a synagogue or a home, somewhere in the world, experiences a sense of familiarity, memory, and tradition, and feels capable of participating in an empowered way. As it stands right now, it is too challenging for our families to attend on both Saturdays and Sundays, so many students are missing out on that Shabbat experience. We want to reverse that trend and help them learn through Jewish living.
Modeling. A second educational benefit comes through modeling. An unfortunate dynamic has been set up in many synagogues (though many, like ours, are looking to reverse this trend) where children and younger families are siloed from the older members of our community. This can (unintentionally) leave children with the impression that Jewish communal life does not have much to offer beyond the B’nei Mitzvah experience. We think it does. Each week on Shabbat we have adults vibrantly participating in Jewish communal life, schmoozing over coffee, discussing new interpretations of the week’s Torah portion, praying, and singing. We want students to see that being involved with a synagogue community can yield life-long benefits of meaning and depth, not only for their and their children’s’ B’nei Mitzvah but throughout life’s journey. Many parents and grandparents are beautifully providing this modeling, but facilitating the expansion of the range of models through a broader communal experience can be sacred.
Communal. This leads to a related benefit which is to increase the depth and vibrancy of the communal experience as a whole, for everyone. One of the highlights of the model will be not only what takes place before noon, in services or in the classroom, but what takes place immediately following: at noon, immediately after services and class, everyone will be invited to a community-wide Kiddush lunch, every week, for schmoozing and hanging and eating. (Of course, this assumes such activity would be safe. This plan is, like many of our plans, dependent on the course of the pandemic and vaccines, and nothing would be undertaken that was not in line with the careful planning we’ve done in relation to the pandemic thus far). Once again, this facilitates intergenerational living. By getting to know one another through weekly Shabbat interactions, we’re also able to be with one another when tragedy strikes and when there are joyous moments to celebrate. We are fortifying our communal ties to help build a network of support and connection for lifelong journeys.
Developmental. This synagogue community has room to grow and a desire to do so. While we have been immeasurably creative and resilient in the face of this pandemic, a building with its doors closed is going to encounter a natural rate of attrition in terms of membership. Revitalizing our Shabbat morning experience by my making it more convenient for the full breadth of our community to attend each week helps show guests who drop in on a Shabbat morning who are considering joining a synagogue the full breadth and dynamism of our community, revealing how special of a community this is.
But a decision like this is a process that has to be made collaboratively. We began this conversation over a year ago, before the onset of the pandemic, with the Hebrew School committee, with the enthusiastic support of parents representing Hebrew School families. Then, earlier this Spring we embarked on a more intensive listening tour, involving the clergy—Rabbi Winokur, Hazzan Jessi, and me; Education staff—Mike Roe, Sahar Oz, and teachers; the Executive Committee; and the Board of Directors. With the help of Hebrew Committee Members Elana Hunter and Sara Schwartz Chrismer, we designed a plan to meet with parents and older students, through a combination of one-on-one contacts, as well as group listening sessions that are starting next week. No final decision has been made, and so please reach out to me, to Elana, or to Sara, if you have comments, thoughts, questions, or anything else.
I feel so blessed to be part of a community that is looking to explore how Jewish education and community building happens. We recognize the challenges inherent in change, and the experience of our families is deeply important to us. We seek to demonstrate commitment, flexibility, heart, and passion in the education of our children and the building of our community. I’m so grateful to be doing it with you all.
