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.

