Seeing the world through Jewish eyes

Judaism comes alive for day school students

ALISA SLOAN
Special Sections Editor

Anyone who has been to a Jewish camp knows the feeling of religious unity the experience can impart. Jewish traditions and sensibilities are integrated into every aspect of a camper's day, from mealtimes to evening services. Children learn, study, sing, play, forge friendships, develop crushes - all with other Jewish kids.

For most children, that experience - where being Jewish is as natural as playing softball or singing a song - happens only at camp. But for the children who attend Jewish day schools, the sense of "Judaic normalcy" is a part of each and every day. Here in the Valley, there are five Jewish day schools: The Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School, Tri-City Jewish Community Center, The King David School, Pardes Jewish Day School and Phoenix Hebrew Academy. In all, nearly 600 children are enrolled at the various educational institutions.

Making the transition
A portion of the students who enroll at Jewish day schools have come from public schools, and, predictably, there is often a period of adjustment. Jewish day schools can offer some surprises for public-school students: daily religious studies, smaller classes, more student/teacher interaction, and more attention paid to students - even those who wish to blend in.

"Sometimes when they come in from public schools they can feel a bit uncertain," says Rina Kenton, language arts teacher at Pardes. "Particularly at the middle-school age, there can be a lot of competition (at a public school). They feel they've got to be dressed right, the girls have got to have the right makeup, they've got to have the right hair."

At a Jewish school, she says, students are free to be themselves. Further, says Jill Kessler, the new head of school at Pardes, "whenever you have low student-teacher ratio (and) small class sizes, the beauty of it is that you have fabulous relationships that develop between the peer groups, between each student and the faculty people. It's like a family." Children are also free to share special moments in their Jewish lives, such as a bar or bat mitzvah, with their Jewish peers, adds Kessler. "In the Jewish day school that can all be expressed, whereas, I think students might tend to withhold some of that in a larger setting."

But there is more to the transition than feeling at home. Sometimes the classroom experience itself can hold surprises for new students. "In terms of academics, certainly as a teacher I feel that I can give every individual child in my class the attention that they need to succeed," says Kenton. "Now, I'm not for a moment saying that public school teachers don't work like hell to do that. But I think we can relax a little bit more."

Kenton explains that the teachers get to know the children so well that they can tailor their teaching methods to meet individual needs. "I'm thinking back to when I taught public school, and maybe had one or two kids in the class that were really struggling, or alternatively, were really racing ahead and beginning to feel that they were being held back," she says. "In a smaller classroom, you can accommodate those kids much more easily." Further, in such small environments, children don't have to work as hard to stand out. Says Kenton, "Once they get used to our environment I think they feel that they can be themselves, and I think that's really key. Obviously, if you're happy, you're going to learn more effectively, aren't you?"

Why a Jewish education?
In terms of receiving a public education, Bonnie Morris, founding head of school at Pardes, says she wanted more for her own children. "I found the local public schools - even the good ones - to be lacking in some key elements of what I thought was important in elementary education," says Morris. Those elements included a commitment to excellence, personal attention for each student and fostering spiritual growth in a child.

She explains that Pardes curriculum is designed to help children "see the world through Jewish eyes" by weaving Judaism and general subjects into every aspect of their lives.

Jennifer Henry, the new assistant principal, K-fourth at The King David School, says, "My history is very rooted in my traditions, and I believe very strongly in them continuing for each generation. And of course, (Jewish) education is the best way to do this." Henry, who has been teaching in the Valley for more than 16 years, has been involved in Jewish education from the time she emigrated here with her family from Capetown, South Africa.

She chose a Jewish day school for her children while they were living in South Africa to continue the heritage she grew up with, she says, "that I value as most significant in my life. The most important part of being." There are a lot of different reasons to send a child to a Jewish day school, says Rabbi Harris Cooperman, principal of Phoenix Hebrew Academy. "Obviously, you want to preserve your heritage," he says. "We have too many Jews out there that are Jewish by birth but practice nothing and they are unfortunately very ignorant of Judaism because they never were taught."

Some parents, he notes, want to rectify that. "They want their children to be better off than them, Jewishly, to grow more and to be more knowledgeable," Cooperman says. The hamish (homey) atmosphere is another reason, he adds. "It's the whole ambience, it's the whole feeling, it's the whole atmosphere that the day school creates," Cooperman explains. "It's a nurturing type of an atmosphere where parents want to send their kids because they know that their children will be attended to in the best possible way."

Jewish day schools live Jewish values
Joel Gereboff, chairman of the Religious Studies Department at Arizona State University and member of the Jess Schwartz Jewish Community High School faculty, says, "In Jewish educational settings, since the parents who send their children are interested in their developing their Jewish identities in particular and their overall value commitments and characters, we are able to deal overtly with critically important issues."

Living a Jewish life and celebrating Jewish values are the foundation of the Jewish day school experience. This is done by incorporating Jewish thought - or thinking about things from a Jewish point of view - into every lecture and lesson. One of the unique attributes of Jewish educational institutions, says Gereboff, is that they are able to integrate secular subject matter with Jewish subject matter.

"When studying general history, one can examine how the broader context both was interpreted by Jews and may have had an impact on the development of Jewish views and practices," Gereboff explains. "When studying science, and biology in particular, students can think about both the scientific aspects of the topic and the values questions, from a Jewish perspective, raised by such developments as genetics."

According to Kessler, the immersion in Jewish studies goes far beyond what children can pick up in a few hours of Sunday school. Kessler quotes Rabbi Alan Berlin of Temple Solel as saying, "In a day school, you're not only learning about Judaism, you're living a Jewish life," and she gives examples. "The respect that our students have for one another," she notes. "The respect that our parents have for faculty, our faculty have for parents. The respect that our faculty have for students."

The benefits may extend even further, the longer the commitment to Jewish education. "Even though going to a day school is great, continuing a Jewish education is extremely important," says Cooperman. "There have been many surveys that have come out about how do your preserve Jewish identity and how do you limit assimilation and intermarriage. One of them is having a strong Jewish day school background." According to Gereboff, in terms of being a tuned-in citizen, "Jewish education is committed to developing Jewish human beings, and in the case of American Jewish education, to (developing) Jews who can fully participate in American and worldly issues."

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