Melissa Kessler and Doug Smoller
Religious School
What a difference a year makes! Although COVID-19 still looms, thankfully, its impact on the Religious School this past year was minimal. This was largely due to the dedication and vigilance of Cantor and his team, and of course, our Religious School parents and students. Even Mother Nature cooperated; as a result, we lost only one day of instruction due to weather.
If there’s one thing we learned over the past 2-plus years, it’s that our staff and students have an incredible ability to adapt. As such, whether classes were held virtually or in-person, the result was a meaningful educational experience. For this reason, in Fall we will continue to offer virtual instruction 3 Wednesdays / month, with the 4th Wednesday dedicated to special in-person activities and learning. Sundays, meanwhile, will remain in-person (as laid-out on the Religious School calendar, a copy of which will be distributed later this Summer, along with the curriculum).
Speaking of Summer, although the school year is over, our need and efforts to attract new families continue. As it stands, we anticipate starting the new school year with 24 students in Pre-K through 7th Grade. This is comparable to last year, but a far cry from where we want to be. Case in point: Whereas we used to have one class per grade, in recent years we’ve had to combine grades due to low enrollment. Thankfully, there are some bright spots – including the PJ Library program, which has attracted new / younger families to the Religious School. For this reason, PJ Library will remain a priority in 2022-23. Another priority is promoting the lower dues that were approved last year, and our comparatively low Religious School fees.
Of course, nothing beats word-of-mouth, which is why we have this simple request: If you know – or know of – an area family with Religious School-age children, please let us know…and make sure they know about us. As proof that it’s never too late to learn, last year we had 2 students join the Religious School in 5th Grade. Like all of our students, they did more than learn – they benefited from all the school has to offer: from our annual Challah Bake and Passover Seder, to our Purim Experience and student-led Friday Night-services. Not surprisingly, we will be doing all of these again in 2022-23…with new events and activities added to the mix.
Teens & Young Adults
Time and again, our Youth Advisor Sydney Sookerman has overcome the challenges presented by COVID-19 to create meaningful experiences for our teens and young adults. This past year our USY and Kadima chapters (aka NSBUSY) featured more in-person events than in 2020-21, and our hope / expectation is to conduct even more in 2022-23. This includes events with other chapters in our region, all of which (like ours) are dealing with declining enrollment and participation. Thankfully, while our numbers may be down, enthusiasm is not; as proof, one need only look at the number of awards our chapter has won in recent years – as well as the number of NSBUSY-members who’ve been elected to the Hagalil Regional Executive Board (including 2 this past year, and 1 for 2022-23). Speaking of the Board, our chapter has 2 open Board-positions – so if you know of a teen or young adult who’d enjoy everything from a bonfire to a Shabbat service, please contact Sydney!
Along with NSBUSY, for the past few years B’nai Tikvah has ‘bridged generations’ via a Better Together grant overseen by Stacey Rockman. The purpose of Better Together is to bring Jewish teens and seniors together to create meaningful relationships – amongst the individual participants, and between the participants and B’nai Tikvah. Stacey’s programs have done just that – attracting a great mix of teens and active adults for everything from Challah baking to Havdalah. Of course, we have equally high hopes for 2022-23 – which is the final year of the Better Together grant; beyond that, the onus to create (and fund) these programs will fall to B’nai Tikvah (a challenge – and opportunity – we will be prepared to tackle).
Tots to Tweens Programming
As previously noted, since 2019 we’ve partnered with The Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey to serve as a hub for PJ Library programs. Our goal was – and remains – to reach the greater Jewish community in our area and bring together young Jewish families. Although COVID-19 limited the number of in-person events we were able to hold this past year (since the participants weren’t eligible for the vaccine), we’re cautiously optimistic about 2022-23. As it is, under the leadership of Melissa Kessler, PJ Library has been a tremendous success for B’nai Tikvah, attracting new families to the Religious School and congregation (even though we’re prohibited from soliciting families at the events).
We encourage anyone with young children (or who knows others with young children) to contact Melissa to learn more – about PJ Library and / or the Summer Tot Series spearheaded by Cheryl Crick and Sharon Cohen. The theme of this year’s Summer Tot Series is ‘Exploring Jewish Values,’ and it’s geared toward children age 5 and below. The first of the series’ 6 ‘playdates’ is July 7th – so there’s still time to register online!
In conclusion, we’d like to thank everyone who contributed their time, energy and expertise to our various School & Youth programs over the past year. These programs are an integral part of our community and congregation, and would not be possible without the support of B’nai Tikvah’s staff, leadership, and members.