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Guideline No. 8 in the Or Shalom Jewish Community Religious School Handbook reads: "Or Shalom's Judaism School is a voluntary program."

While most religious schools have loosened up their environments — gone are the days of neatly lined-up desks and chairs — the Renewal movement's Or Shalom is the only area school with the policy that children cannot be coerced into weekly classes.

Not that cajoling is necessary.

The facility looks inviting. The entryway to Or Shalom's building on Woodside Drive in San Francisco resembles an activity center: It boasts indoor basketball hoops, a mini-dodgeball court, air-hockey tables, Nintendo and computer games.

Inside the classrooms, however, are most of the familiar trappings of Hebrew school. Nine-year-olds are struggling over the Sh'ma and a fifth-grade class is presenting a play about Lot's wife. Games and snacks are reserved for break time.

"I developed the model on the premise that kids learn more if they want to be there," said Or Shalom's rabbi and education director Pam Frydman Baugh. "If a child is unhappy or complaining about being in Judaism or Hebrew school, maybe something else is going on. Maybe the student is lost. Maybe it's time to have a power struggle with Mom and Dad. This isn't the arena for that.

"We don't have angels here," she admits. "We have wild boys and girls who like to giggle a lot. This is by no means a panacea. We have problems like every school."

However, the difficulties at Or Shalom have more to do with keeping the level of Hebrew reading and comprehension high than with discipline or behavior.

Even with an open invitation to drop out, only two or three children quit school each year. One parent allowed her daughter to drop out because "Hebrew school was too much pressure. It was moving faster than she was comfortable with."

Although tutorials are available, the mother didn't press the issue with her daughter.

"She's Jewish. She knows it. We do Shabbat. And if she wants to go back and learn more at some point, she can," the mother said, adding: "I realized the pressure for my kids to attend religious school was because I didn't feel a part of the Jewish community. I'm taking a basic Judaism class and loving it. And it takes the pressure off my children."

Another parent, Robin Cooper, also likes the anti-coercion attitude of the congregation. However, rather than offering religious school as a choice, she presented it as "what we're going to do on Sunday mornings.

"Given the choice, cartoons would have won out. But the same can be said about my daughters' art classes too," Cooper said. "My oldest daughter loves Judaism school. It's social. It's a community. She likes what she learns and how she is treated."

Jessica Mass, Or Shalom's administrator, believes the reason children "want to come and want to stay" is that "it's a welcoming into Judaism vs. the transference of information. It's a holistic approach."

Maybe.

But David Lewis, 10, insists he likes "sitting on pillows and hearing stories." Madeline Kolbe-Saltzman, 9, enjoys "reading and doing skits from `Sedra Scenes.'" Adam Peretz, 11, is a fan of the smaller class size. "I went to another Hebrew school where the classes were big. I get more attention here."

Frydman Baugh is pleased to hear the accolades.

What began in 1988 as a small group of children learning in her home has grown to a 130-household congregation. Nonetheless, the personal touches remain.

At a pre-Thanksgiving ceremony children give thanks for all the faiths in the world — or at least those represented in the school, which has many interfaith families.

Frydman Baugh addresses pain and loss by leading memorials and healing circles for students' sick and dying relatives, and even pets.

Photos of students plaster the walls.

In addition, Frydman Baugh works with parents to try to help them sort through their own ambivalence about religion.

"To be able to present Hebrew school as an exciting and positive thing, you have to believe it yourself," she said. "Parents have their own fears and anxieties about religion. I tell them to come to a service and see what religion is like here, what it's like to be a part of a community of people."

It's a philosophy many parents appreciate. Especially Cooper.

"The issue of believing in God is one I grapple with. I talk to my children about it and allow them to make their own choices," Cooper said. "There's a lot of room in Or Shalom to make those choices. My views of religion are accepted here — so I can have my children there.

"I wouldn't send my kids to something which has no meaning for me."