It isn’t everyday that one arrives at Hebrew school to find the temple closed by order of the Syrian government.
But that’s what happened in Cotati when Congregation Ner Shalom students showed up for class and a Chanukah lesson they’ll not soon forget.
Greeted by a written proclamation from the “Syrian government” and the mock sounds of fighting at the entrance of Ner Shalom last month, students and their parents watched as the door was flung open by Maccabees (aka teacher aides) to the triumphant shout of “We are freed!”
They then embarked on a re-enactment of the historic temple restoration — oil, menorah lighting, miracle and all. Each grade level lit one branch of the menorah and the “traif” stones of a “sacrileged altar” were removed from the temple. Children and parents then retreated to classrooms for more traditional Chanukah lessons.
This Chanukah program, created by Ner Shalom education director Gesher Calmenson, is an innovative approach to the growing field of Jewish family education. It’s a field in which Calmenson has been honing his skills, both through his work at the Reconstructionist synagogue and as a family education fellow for the S.F.-based Bureau of Jewish Education.
“Family education is at the core of how I get things done,” explained Calmenson, a retired publisher. “The educational process has to involve the family in order to be effective. It demonstrates to the child the value the parent places on Jewish study. It has them both learning together. And it makes the kids much more serious in their focus.”
This belief in educating kids and adults together in Judaism prompted Calmenson to apply for the family education fellowship in the spring of 1999. A partnership between the Jewish Community Endowment Fund and the Jewish Family Education Project of the BJE, it was started as a way to carve a professional Jewish family education niche in the Bay Area community.
The program, now in its second year, unites Calmenson with 12 other Jewish leaders from a wide range of educational jobs: one camp director, one Jewish community center staff person and 10 synagogue staff members.
“We’re a very diverse group,” said Deborah Isaak-Shapiro, one of the fellows, who is a family educator at the Conservative Peninsula Sinai Congregation in Foster City and a social worker. “We really learn well from each other.”
Each participant has received a $5,000 fellowship for the year and a $1,000 fellowship for summer study. An estimated $500,000 in JCEF funds is expected to be spent by June.
The fellows each put in approximately 10 hours weekly, solely devoted to the topic of family education. Some, like Calmenson, do this in their regular job, or like Isaak-Shapiro, as an additional job.
They also meet for monthly, daylong seminars led by the core staff of the Jewish Family Education Project — Vicky Kelman, Ellen Brosbe and Rachel Brodie. These seminars cover the subjects of Judaism, family and education.
The fellows’ dedication isn’t for “a degree or a credential,” said Kelman, “just for the love of work in the Jewish community.”
She added: “In an era of 50 percent, or more, turnover of Jewish educators, this group remained 100 percent despite the high standards and serious workload.”
It was during a monthly seminar that Calmenson, an administrator and teacher who is constantly trying to expand the educational program at Ner Shalom, brainstormed the Chanukah program.
He decided that making the children and their parents a part of the Chanukah story would better help them understand the lesson from history and the idea of spiritual rededication.
“Sometimes things come up in life, like the destruction of a temple, that somehow pulls you away from your spirituality,” said Calmenson. “I wanted them to learn how to rededicate themselves to that spirituality.”
Isaak-Shapiro, who has also implemented programs at her congregation, calls the creation of successful Jewish family education programs “an art.” She said that many schools that claim to offer this type of programming do not actually meet the mark.
“A successful program makes everybody happy at the same time, while empowering parents as their kids’ teachers of Judaism,” said Isaak-Shapiro, who holds a double master’s degree in social work and Jewish communal service.
In February the fellows will travel to Israel for a two-week seminar. “It’s hard to teach about a place we don’t have a relationship with,” said Isaak-Shapiro, explaining that only two of the fellows have been to Israel before. “The notion is to go as a group and see how we can create a curriculum around Israel.”
Already, Calmenson says, the fellowship program has been “life-changing.”
“My own practice has gotten more informed; it has professionalized my work and introduced me to wonderful colleagues,” he said. “We’ve even started our own fellows meeting separately, to put in place mutual support, for when the fellowship ends.”
For Isaak-Shapiro, on the other hand, the largest reward has materialized in her own at home. She’s been reaping personal benefits by instilling her lessons on Jewish family education on her two children, Joshua, 11, and Naomi, 4.
On Rosh Hashanah, for instance, Joshua, she said, pointed to a large object in the sky and said, “Mom, it’s the Goodyear Blimp.”
“He told me it was going to be a good year,” she said, “and I knew he was looking at it through Jewish eyes.”