There’s a brand‐new education model getting underway at Temple Sholom of West Essex in Cedar Grove, New Jersey.

Rachel Sesser, Education Director, told us that the initiative began when clergy and education staff conducted a survey to find out what parents want for their children’s Jewish education—and their own.

The survey (with an 80% response rate!) revealed that families value their synagogue as a place of Jewish community, a setting in which to celebrate the Jewish year and life‐cycle events with confidence and joy, and a portal to lifelong Jewish learning. And they want flexibility in their children’s religious school schedules.

“We want to respond to families feeling pressured about time,” said Rachel Sesser, “while accommodating their desire for community and lifelong learning. It’s also important to serve the needs of individual students— their unique learning styles and abilities, and the pacing each requires for language acquisition.”

Rachel, Rabbi Laurence Groffman, and their team developed a new program around the following principles:

(1) Education builds Jewish identity best when it occurs within family and communal contexts simultaneously.

(2) Their child’s education is often the gateway for Jewish parents to develop a deeper connection to their Judaism— to Jewish practice, tradition, and community.

(3) Jewish learning has the power to build community by binding together the families of a congregation—who often operate separately—into deepened relationships.

(4) Family‐oriented Jewish education has the potential to significantly strengthen participants’ sense of Jewish community and to revitalize and transform synagogues as institutions.

The result is an education program which is a triangular partnership between school, family, and child. Families in each grade will create and implement a mitzvah project.

For example, if the mitzvah for the grade is Bal Tashhit (protecting the environment), the families can decorate the recycling bins in the building as a reminder to others to recycle.

The family and school will create a covenant, a Brit Limud, or Family Learning Covenant, that will lay out learning expectations. For Hebrew, the Brit Limud will be customized to the individual student’s needs.

Last month, Rachel and Hebrew coordinator Randi Elkin visited our offices to consult with us about the details of their Hebrew program. The plan looks like this:

Students will attend Hebrew class once a week for one hour. They will use the Shalom Uvrachah primer for decoding and the Hineni Prayer Booklets as their primary prayer materials.

Since the learning contract will be personalized, students will know what the school’s expectations are and they will be assessed on their progress . For example, a goal is that by October 30, the student will be able to chant the Torah blessings with fewer than three errors.

Families will use the Hineni Interactive CDs at home for one hour per week at a time of their choosing. Teachers will assess students’ progress online on the Behrman House assessment web site to be sure that the child is learning effectively at home.

Students will have the option to attend school on a second day of the week, for example, if they have special needs, are not meeting their goals, have been frequently absent, are ready for greater challenges, or even to learn trope cantillation.

The goal of the program is to provide flexibility for families in the amount and timing of their participation. Families can define their level of partnership and children can learn Hebrew at the pace that suits them best.

Above all, the Brit Limud will help ensure that there is a serious commitment to making the school and the family true partners in Jewish education.

Rachel Sesser, Education Director at Temple Sholom of West Essex, consults with Jeremy Poisson, e-Media editor at Behrman House

Rachel Sesser can be reached at rwsesser@gmail.com.