Who among us would believe that “cool” and “stimulating” would ever be words a teenager would use to describe a Jewish high school program?
Felipe Winsberg, a 10th-grader at Palo Alto High School, grew up mainly unaffiliated with the Jewish community. He said he was hooked, however, once he attended the Bureau of Jewish Education’s Peninsula Havurah High.
“I ended up learning a lot and thinking it was cool,” Winsberg said. “We have more fun paying attention than messing around.”
In envisioning an after-school high school, community leaders wanted a Jewish program that would foster a fun and educational environment. They wanted to fashion something that was not synagogue-based and not obligatory, but fun, light, informal and substantial.
This unique formula took on a life of its own. The high school once had two campuses (San Francisco and the Peninsula), but now the BJE puts all its resources into the campus at Congregation Beth Am in Los Altos Hills, a program that continues to grow and thrive after seven years.
Claire Mikowski, Havurah principal, said this year is going to be bigger and better. (Last year, the high school had about 160 students; this year Mikowski is hoping for 190.) She recently hired new teachers who she says she believes will be hot commodities at the high school.
A recent graduate of the Stanford School of Education, Ronit Stahl, 25, will teach “Going to College?” — a class that will provide students a forum to hash out college concerns and issues.
Jewish college students face predicaments in school they never knew existed before. Days off on Yom Kippur and confrontations about the Middle East become vivid problems when surrounded by new peers with different perspectives.
“The class is going to be a reminder that they’ve lived a certain kind of Jewish life with their parents up until now, and now they are on the brink of something very different,” said Stahl.
“How do you deal with the different voices and respect them? How do you know where you stand, but still be flexible enough to have respectful conversations with people who don’t agree?” Stahl asked.
Micah Morris, 26, another new Havurah teacher, will teach “Comic Books and Escapism from the Holocaust,” a class exploring the relationship between the comic book/comedy industry and the post-Holocaust United States.
“I’m interested in the variety of ways that students can connect with Jewish culture,” Morris said, noting that the pop-culture aspect of the class lends something different than a traditional high school Jewish education.
Morris wants his students to realize that in addition to being a religion, Judaism in America is a living culture that has its own distinct identity. Hebrew and Judaica classes provide a foundation; classes at Havurah expand into informal and creative realms of learning and understanding, he said.
Whatever the classes offer the students, either intellectually or emotionally, Mikowski said the social aspects are an important aspect of Havurah. She describes the program as an “antidote to high school,” where grades, homework and stress don’t exist.
The program officially starts at 6:30 p.m. However, students have a space and forum to hang out for a half-hour before and eat dinner, chat and listen to music. Another social break falls between the first-hour core class and the second-hour elective, a time when students can connect with friends and socialize.
Mikowski said students on the first day of class usually recognize people from camp, nursery school, middle school, even high school, who they never knew were Jewish. These connections are special, she said.
“[My goal for the program] is that they become positive, self-loving, proclaimed Jews, and really know why they are a part of this religion,” said Mikowski, who has been the principal of the program for one year. “Here they are all Jews; they have a common denominator; they are the children of Israel.”
Zack Lenox, a 10th-grader at Palo Alto High School, said that he used to be one of those teenagers whose parents had to prod him to attend Havurah.
“[It was] definitely my parents’ choice at first,” said Lenox. “But when I saw all my friends there, I decided to stay. It’s mostly about friends, and learning a little in the process,” Lenox said. “I’m not deeply religious, but I’m into it.”