Synagogue Listings 49 Torah Portion 51 Mastering The Media ffnai Moshe's new MTV teen program adds to the family flavor. Staff Writer hen the new teen class at Congregation B'nai Moshe holds its first session on Monday, Sept. 15, students will find themselves seated in front of the televi- sion. Just like home? Not if Daniella HarPaz Mechnikov has anything to say about it. Mechnikov, educational director at the West Bloomfield Conservative synagogue, is putting the fin- ishing touches on a revamped teen program. The once-a-week program, open to young people from eighth grade on up, will use a curriculum known as MTV — Media and Torah Values. MTV was developed by the Union for Traditional Judaism, with support from the Jewish Federation of Bergen County, N. J. It's already in use at several other Michigan synagogues, including Congregation Beth Shalom and Temple Israel. The curriculum takes a pervasive element of mod- ern secular culture and uses it as a conduit for the study of ethical issues. Because it's next to impossible to stop kids from watching television, going to the movies and listening to the radio, the curriculum's authors — a psychiatrist, a rabbi and a Jewish educa- tor — decided to make the media work for them. "It's a very nice, accessible program," says Mechnikov, who has led B'nai Moshe's educational programs since June 2002. Each class starts with pre- selected tapes from television shows, commercials and other secular images. Students then participate in guided discussions that examine what they've seen in the context of Jewish ethics and values. "They'll see something that shows, for example, people treating each other badly," Mechnikov explains. "What ethical question does it bring up? What is the Jewish answer? "In the context of the discussion, they'll be intro- duced to Jewish text study, which is something they don't get much of earlier in school." B'nai Moshe's last teen program was run jointly with Congregation Beth Ahm. But two years ago, Beth Ahm closed its religious school, leaving only its nursery and mom-tot classes. With little warning, B'nai Moshe did not have the momentum, or the crit- ical mass of students, to run a full teen program sin- gle-handedly. Last year, teachers from the Jewish Academy of Metropolitan Detroit, serving students in grades 9-12, gave monthly classes for teens at B'nai Moshe. "It worked out very well," Mechnikov says. "We hope to have them back as guest lecturers this year." B'nai Moshe's new MTV program will meet 4:30- 6:30 p.m. Mondays. Like the synagogue's other educa- tion programs, it will be open to synagogue members and non-members alike. Breadth Of Experience Mechnikov's expertise in music and Yiddish add dimension to the job. W 9/ 5 2003 46 hen Daniella HarPaz Mechnikov took over as B'nai Moshe's director of educa- tion last year, the position had been filled by many different people over a very short period of time, she said. Since then, the congregation's school population has increased 10-15 percent. By the end of the last school year, the LIFE program (Learning Is A Family Experience) had 70 students. In addition, more than 30 B'nai Moshe middle- schoolers attended an introductory event sponsored by Kadima, the middle school affiliate of United Synagogue Youth and the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, and Mechnikov is optimistic about forming a synagogue youth group. Over the years, attendance at Hillel Day School of Metropolitan Detroit has cut into B'nai Moshe's supplementary school population. But Mechnikov says no one at the synagogue has any complaints about losing students to the Conservative Solomon Schechter day school. "B'nai Moshe has one of the largest percentage A Family Experience "There's a long history of family education in this shul," Mechnikov says, and B'nai Moshe has not neg- lected its youngest members as it expands its teen pro- gqmming. The synagogue is launching two new Mom-Tot classes this fall — Mess Makers on Thursdays and Kindermusik on Fridays. Toddlers are also welcome at frequent Tot Shabbat programs. In keeping with its slogan of learning as a family experience, B'nai- Moshe holds family programs on six Sundays during the school year. Each is open to the community, but members of the school must partici- pate in three. Coming up Sept. 21 is a program based on the Fifth Commandment: Honor Your Father And Mother. It will use as its springboard the book The Blessings of a Skinned Knee: Using Jewish Teachings to Raise Self-Reliant Children by Dr. Wendy Mogel, and will include a book review, panel discussion led by -experienced family counselors who are synagogue members, and both concurrent and separate age- appropriate activities for children and teens. "The nice thing about this synagogue is the fami- lies who send their kids to this school are very involved," Mechnikov says. "It's not a drop-off school in any sense of the word." El of attendance at Hillel of any Detroit- area synagogue. About 50 percent go to Hillel; about 50 percent come here," says Mechnikov. A former Hillel student herself, Mechnikov grew up steeped in the tradi- tions of Israel and Daniella HarPaz Eastern Europe and Mechnikov in a home filled with music. Like her brother, singer-songwriter Michael HarPaz, she has D ia na Lieberman DIANA LIEBERMAN