10 April 11 • 2019 jn BARBARA LEWIS CONTRIBUTING WRITER Congregational schools fi nd innovative ways to keep kids engaged. jews d in the on the cover I f there’ s one thing that unites the Detroit area’ s congrega- tional religious schools, it’ s their willingness to try new approaches. This is not your father’ s Hebrew school! After-school sports and other activities killed the traditional religious school programs of previous generations, said Elissa Berg, education director at Congregation Beth Ahm in West Bloomfield. Now religious education is just one choice among many for children not enrolled in Jewish day schools; it’ s no longer something most Jewish children are expected to do. COMBINING FORCES Sometimes, declining enrollment is the impetus for innova- tion. Congregation Beth Shalom in Oak Park was down to just a few dozen students in its religious school four years ago when it decided to merge with the school at Temple Emanu-El, a nearby Reform congregation, which was also shrinking. The result was Yachad (Hebrew for “together”), which started in the 2015- 2016 school year and has grown to 95 students this year. Students attend class at Emanu-El on Sunday morn- ing and at Beth Shalom on Wednesday afternoon. Director Abi Taylor-Abt has no problem running an inter-denominational school. “There’ s no right or wrong way to practice Judaism,” said Taylor-Abt, who grew up Modern Orthodox. Yachad teachers present the Orthodox, Conservative and Reform approaches to various practices as equally valid. For example, Conservatives do their daily morning prayers in Hebrew, while Reform congregations use English, so Yachad alternates between the two languages. She looks for ways to help the students learn by doing. They’ ve made challah and mezuzah cases, both of which they were able to use at home. Parents have told her their children are happy they can go to religious school with their friends who belong to a different congregation, Taylor-Abt said. Staying Relevant BETH EL’ S JOURNEY The school at Reform Temple Beth El in Bloomfield Township has grown slightly this year, to about 200 students. The temple com- pletely revamped its religious school program four years ago when Deborah Morosohk started as director of education. They no longer call it religious school. The program is named Masa, Hebrew for journey. It’ s based on a curriculum developed by Cleveland educator Nachama Skolnik Moskowitz. Masa, which meets on Sunday mornings, starts with Hebrew Through Movement for grades K-6. Students jump, spin, point and more in response to directions from their teacher, all in Hebrew. They also learn Hebrew through everyday vocab- ulary; at Masa, it isn’ t “third grade,” it’ s “kita gim- mel,” and teachers praise their pupils by saying “tov m’ od,” rather than “very good.” Students join in age-appropriate prayers, which they learn by listening, singing along and discussing their significance, Morosohk said. They don’ t start “decoding” — learning to read Hebrew — until they join the B’ nai Mitzvah Club in fifth grade. By then, she said, they have an “ear” for Hebrew and recognize many of the words they read. Jessica Gertner of Rochester Hills says her son Daniel, 10, loves Hebrew Through Movement. “The weekly repetition of words becomes famil- iar without the kids having to be drilled like I had to so many moons ago,” she said. “Every once in a while, Daniel will recall the Hebrew word for something like ‘ door,’ ‘ chair’ or ‘ pencil’ in our everyday conversation. “Things have surely changed since I was in Hebrew school,” she said. “If my program had been anything like Temple Beth El’ s, I would have actually enjoyed going!” more on page 12 Younger students respond to Hebrew words through music and movement in Temple Beth El’ s chapel. ANTHONY LANZILOTE Julia Duchan and Celia Rubin are happy Yachad students.