Learning and Community: Jewish Supplementary Schools in the Twenty-First Century

1 | Kehillah

chapter 1 Kehillah Isa Aron and Nachama Skolnik Moskowitz At 3:30 on a Wednesday afternoon the Anafim (fourth and fifth graders) at Kehillat Ha’ir are gathered around the table in their classroom for kibud (snack). On the table are water, slices of apple, and some pita bread. With only minimal direction from Shimon Feld, their teacher, the students say three brachot (blessings), one for the water, one for the fruit, and a third for the bread. As they munch on their snacks, the following conversation takes place: Shaul:1 Shimon, why is the brachah (blessing) over water just the general brachah over everything? Rina: Yes, water is really important; it is the source of life, especially in Israel . Why doesn’t it have its own brachah, just like bread and wine do? Shimon: Well, my answer is pretty complicated—bread and wine were “high tech” things for their own times. There were many steps involved in making them. So we are partners with God in making them, and they deserve a special brachah. Yoav: If bread and wine were so high tech, what about cheese? Shimon: Cheese is complicated . . . it’s actually made with the intestines of animals. Dena: Why isn’t there a brachah over meat? Shoshi: Nobody should eat meat. 3 ❖ Job Name: 560670 PDF Page: txt_560670.p21.pdfdenisek The conversation weaves in and out—who eats meat and who is vegetarian , which meats are kosher and which aren’t. The atmosphere is quiet and calm. Everyone seems to be listening, or, if not listening, at least quiet. Of the fifteen students present, about eight or nine are actively participating . A few others have turned their backs to the table, or are staring into space; but, every once in a while, one of them chimes in with a question or a comment, evidence that they’ve been following the conversation closely. At 3:48 Shimon glances at the clock, sees that the time for kibud is just about over, and says: “OK guys, ahat, shtayim shalosh (one, two, three).” In unison, the students launch into an abbreviated and tuneful version of birkat hamazon (grace after meals). This brief vignette captures the essence of Kehillah: the conversation was both serious and easygoing; the tone was light, but the ideas deep. Though the teacher’s response to the initial question was complex, the students remained engaged without any external prompting. While the conversation was spontaneous, the groundwork for it had been meticulously laid. Kehillah is a carefully constructed hybrid of the formal and the informal; of the norms of home and the norms of the classroom; of the teacher-led and the student-led. Kehillah has taken the elements of the supplementary school (the subject matter), the summer camp (the role of the counselor and the fun routines), and the afterschool program2 and woven them together into a unique and fascinating whole. And there is one additional, crucial thread—a vision of community. To quote Kehillah’s website: “To think of Kehillah as only a Hebrew school/ afterschool misses the essence of what makes [us] special. Though Hebrew school and after school are still at the core of what Kehillah does, since its beginning, Kehillah has become a community.” In Hebrew, the word kehillah means “community,” and the overall goal at Kehillah is to create community, among the students, the teachers, and the parents. The children in Anafim could engage Shimon in this kind of conversation because they have known him for years; before he became their teacher he was a member of their community, and they were members of his. As Shimon puts it, Kehillah’s assumption is that “serious Jewish learning always happens in community, so by carefully creating community we create a viable environment for learning.” Below we will elaborate upon this assumption and others, but we will begin, first, with some basic information about this one-of-a-kind institution. 4 Innovative Small Schools Job Name: 560670 PDF Page: txt_560670.p22.pdfdenisek Some Facts about Kehillah Before its expansion in 2008, Kehillah had two independently incorporated , but educationally interconnected sites, one urban (Kehillat Ha’ir3), the other suburban (Kehillat Haparvar). Kehillat Ha’ir was founded in 1991 by a parent looking for a way to maintain her children’s Hebrew skills after a year’s sabbatical in Israel, and Melanie Fried, a former Young Judean who had been working in the field...