Concerned about promoting family values and Jewish learning, Congregation Rodef Sholom’s family education coordinator Joanne Greene decided to develop a home video viewing project.
So she approached Marin Video Droid stores, developing a partnership enabling members of the Rodef Sholom Jewish Family Video Club to rent Jewish videos for $2 apiece.
She also wanted members to benefit from the rich video resources of the S.F.-based Bureau of Jewish Education, which are not commercially available.
She arranged for families at the San Rafael synagogue to borrow one of these videos each Sunday, at no charge. Videos are provided from the combined libraries of the BJE’s Jewish Heritage Video Collection, the Battat Educational Resource Center and the Educational Technology Center and transported to the synagogue by volunteers.
Between Video Droid and the BJE, more than 250 films are available.
In addition to such commercial hits as “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “Yentl,” “Exodus,” “Chariots of Fire” and “An American Tail,” participants can view such films as “Abraham & Eugenia: Stories From Jewish Cuba, “A Chanukah Adventure,” “Fun With the Alef Bet,” “The Hating Movie,” and “We Must Never Forget: The Story of the Holocaust.”
Last spring, Greene approached Mitch Low, Video Droid president, about working together to make Jewish family videos more accessible. Today three of the nine Marin Video Droid outlets now contain special Jewish family video sections, with more than 70 titles.
“He liked my idea and took it on,” said Greene, who added that Low went out and purchased additional titles to bolster his Jewish collection. “We both think in terms of business.”
Said Low: “I put the Jewish films next to the new release section to bring prominence to them. We’ve gotten a terrific response so far. And if someone wants a special video that’s not in the catalog, we’ll order it for them.”
Participants in the Jewish Family Video Club, which now numbers 115 families, receive membership cards and discussion sheets to fill out with such questions as, “Discuss the Jewish content and how it was treated,” “What’s the story?” “Summarize the theme, plot and main characters” and “What did the youngest member of your family think of the film?”
Discussion sheets have a bagel rating section, with one bagel for “stale, plain, why bother?” two for “day-old but still pretty fresh,” three signifying “toasted with cream cheese — hits the spot,” and four meaning “Now this is a bagel (with lox, no less).”
Mini reviews will be published monthly in the synagogue bulletin and discussion sheets will be distributed in a booklet at the end of the school year.
Club members are expected to view and evaluate at least one film per month from either Video Droid or the synagogue rental program, and then turn in their discussion sheets.
“What I think is so valuable about this is families rent videos anyway. What we’re giving them is an opportunity to also spend Jewish quality time together,” Greene said.
Rodef Shalom’s Rabbi Stacey Laveson agrees. “It’s an amazing project. We’re getting calls from all over the country asking how to start similar programs. It’s a wonderful way for Jewish families to learn about Judaism and themselves.”
The management of the synagogue’s tape distribution system is handled by volunteers. Some of the costs are defrayed by a grant through the Jewish Family Education Project, a collaboration between the S.F.-based Jewish Community Federation and the BJE, funded by the Jewish Community Endowment Fund.
Howard Freedman, coordinator of the BJE’s Education Resource Center, is also “excited about” the project “because this new club promotes a valuable asset…quality family time. We support any activity that supports Jewish education.”