32 | AUGUST 18 • 2022

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mong Elissa Berg’s
earliest connections
to Jewish learn-
ing was feeling the pride
bestowed upon her by her
grandparents as she recited
erev Shabbat
Kiddush on a
weekend away
with the extended
family in one of
the fabled kosher
hotels on the
Jersey shore. It
was unheard of for girls to recite
the Kiddush. Berg remembers
her grandfather’s approval of
the accomplishment.
“Early in my life, I realized
that so much of what I loved
about being Jewish came
from my grandparents and
how they made a big deal
every time I came to them
with something new that I
had learned,” recalled Berg,
69. “That stuck with me
all throughout my years in

Jewish education. Children
thrive when they see their
efforts to learn are appreciat-
ed. That provides warm feel-
ings and pride about Judaism.
And that’s how I always
approached Jewish education.”
After teaching religious
school for Conservative and
Reform congregations and
serving as a Jewish program-
mer for Camp Tamarack
Brighton, and directing
schools for Temple Kol Ami
and Adat Shalom,
Berg retired
after serving
Congregation
Beth Ahm as
Jewish educator
and programmer
for nearly 10
years.
Rabbi Steven Rubenstein of
Beth Ahm said Berg’s dedica-
tion made congregant families
fortunate to have her as direc-
tor and primary teacher over

the years.
“Her deep background as
a Jewish educator, her love of
Jewish life and her care with
her students made her a won-
derful person to have at Beth
Ahm,” Rubenstein said. “I
think that the students appre-
ciated Elissa and responded to
her because she was attentive
both to the material she was
teaching as well as to the chil-
dren in front of her.”
After 46 years in Jewish
education, Berg understands
that the makeup of the Jewish
community has changed since
her own childhood. Today’s
Jewish families may not reg-
ularly attend Shabbat services
or live in a neighborhood
clustered with other Jewish
families. There is more diver-
sity in Jewish households,
which may contain different
religions and races.
But what has remained the
same, Berg said, is the way

a child feels when they have
mastered something they have
learned and when they know
what they have learned is val-
ued in the Jewish household
and the Jewish community.
This May, Berg received her
doctorate in Jewish studies
from Chicago-based Spertus
Institute of Jewish Learning
& Leadership and focused on
21st Century Non-Day School
Jewish Education. In her dis-
sertation, she crafted several
models of curricula intended
to be used in a flexible after-
school care setting where chil-
dren could learn at their own
pace and ramp up the learning
according to the desires of the
child and the family.
Berg describes it as a “pipe
dream” for now in Detroit,
but she did point to other
places like Boston and the
San Francisco Bay Area where
such models were created to
teach Judaism during after-

Elissa Berg puts family in the
forefront of religious instruction.
Elissa Berg puts family in the

Jewish Educator
Extraordinaire

STACY GITTLEMAN CONTRIBUTING WRITER

Elissa Berg

Rabbi
Steven
Rubenstein

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