CREATING LEARNING ANCHORED IN CARING PURPOSEFUL RELATIONSHIPS

North Shore Synagogue

A beach ball flies in the air. "Aleph. Dalet. Zayin." The children call out the letter they catch. This is not Hebrew learning of yesterday. Hebrew is not a subject that children need to learn for some special occasion. Rather, in Jacqui Golub's first grade class at North Shore Synagogue, Hebrew is the joyful language that connects learners to one another and to the Jewish people. K-2 children and their parents sing, dance, move, draw and celebrate with Hebrew as part of the J.ELLO (Jewish Educational Living and Learning Opportunities) program. Hebrew is a key to joy and kinship.

The playful and varied way in which Jacqui uses Hebrew is based on Jewish identity research. According to sociologist, Steven Cohen, there are three B's of Jewish identity building: belonging, behaving, and believing. While all three are important, Jacqui’s focus this year is on belonging. For a child to belong to the Jewish people, caring relationships are essential. Relationships happen serendipitously, but Jacqui isn’t settling for serendipity. Steven Cohen told educators at the Vermont CAJE conference in 2008 that one of the best things they could do as Jewish educators was get children to play in Jewish soccer leagues. Jewish friendships really matter when trying to build Jewish identity.

So Jacqui has these young children laugh and play while they learn with each other. After the Hebrew ball tossing, Jacqui introduces a new Hebrew letter and asks students to work in pairs on the material in their workbook. She gives students careful directions about helping and listening to one another. Hebrew words like chaver (friend) and kehillah (community) define what students are encouraged to experience.

“Getting to know each other’s names in October is not building community, instructs Educational Resource Provider, Debbie Krivoy of Avoda Arts. Too often teachers do a “get to know you” exercise at the beginning of the year, and then check off community building from their to-do list. Krivoy has worked with Jacqui and other teachers in J.ELLO to learn new and focused ways to continually use learning as a means of fostering collaboration, storytelling and shared experience. Nurturing caring relationships among students is a learner outcome that Jacqui focuses on in each lesson.

Relationships among the generations are also essential when building a vital community for children, so J.ELLO brings seniors and teens to learn with the children each week. Bubbies, Zaydies, and post-b’nai mitzvah students play a part in the learning. “I love reading stories to the children, said one Bubbie, a senior volunteer from the congregation, “Their eyes light up and it makes me happy.” The classroom becomes more like a family gathering with people of all ages. “It seems a bit like a Passover seder. The students feel comfortable with me,” said a teen assistant, “and it gives me chance to help out.”

The Hebrew letters and words the children learn are put to good use when they celebrate Shabbat each week with their parents, Bubbies, Zaydies and teen assistants. “The children,” says Jacqui, “really like seeing their Bubbie, Zaydies, and teens outside of the classroom.” Jacqui sees the affect these caring relationships have on the children. “My students are not anonymous little people at this synagogue. Congregants of different generations know the children by name. They celebrate and learn weekly with them,” Jacqui says with pride. “I think my students are really happy to be here.”

The children sit with their parents, friends, Bubbies, Zaydies, teen assistants and teachers to sing Hinei Mah Tov and there are lots of smiles. Hebrew learning is joyful. They will soon learn that Hebrew has many words for joy. Simcha, sason, gila, and rina to name a few. Jewish learning, joyful relationships and Jewish identity are the foundation upon which Jacqui builds her learning.