School & Youth Report – July 2021 Congregation Meeting
Melissa Kessler and Doug Smoller
Religious School
As expected, the 2nd-half of the 2020-21 Religious School year was a challenging one due to COVID-19. Thankfully, Cantor and his team met the challenge head-on, and with the support of our Religious School parents, made it to the finish line in May. Since then, our focus has been on identifying / developing ways to attract new students and enhance the educational experience for existing ones. The former is especially important given the declining Jewish population in our area (and related decline in Religious School enrollment). As it stands, we anticipate starting the new school year with only 15 students, with another 13 projected for CBT Chai (our High School program). These numbers are not sustainable, which is why, for the past few months, a “CBT Young Family Outreach Group” has been meeting on a regular basis to tackle this issue head-on. Among the key changes we’ve implemented:
Making our Dues Structure more welcoming for young families
- Now, all new member families aged 45 and younger are eligible to receive: o 1st year dues – free o 2nd year dues – 25%
o 3rd year dues – 50%
o 4th year dues – 75%
o 5th year and beyond – full dues
- Note: In the past, this offer was limited to families 35 and younger, and families with children in Religious School were not eligible for this discount
Opening our religious school to the entire community
- Now, anyone can enroll their children in our school, even if they are not synagogue members
- This allows us to be more competitive with other local institutions that offer a Jewish religious education without the obligation and expense of synagogue membership
Making Religious School more affordable
- We have reduced Religious School fees significantly for B’nai Tikvah members:
o $180/year for Alef, Bet & Gimel, $360/year for Dalet & Hei, no registration fees
- Our Religious School fees are also competitive for non-member families: o $360/year for Alef, Bet & Gimel, $720/year for Dalet & Hei, no registration fees
o Non-member families must join the synagogue, and pay full dues for year leading to their child’s B’nai Mitzvah
- We have reduced our B’nai Mitzvah fee from $1,200 to $400, again, to reduce the financial burden for young families, and to remove a potential barrier to parents enrolling their child in Religious School
In addition to these changes, we’ve taken initial steps to better promote the Religious School. This effort is long overdue, and includes everything from increased social media posts and word-of-mouth marketing, to researching (and eventually hiring) a marketing consultant / firm to identify, target and attract new families.
As we move forward, we will share updates re: our efforts and (we hope) our success stories. Next month Cantor will also share more re: his plans and objectives for the 2021-22 school year, which will kick-off on September 12th. In the meantime, special thanks go to the Co-Chairs of our Religious School Committee (Cheryl Crick and Sharon Cohen), and to the entire CBT Young Family Outreach Group, including (in alphabetical order): Nancy Asher-Shultz, Cindy Gittelman, Danny Goldberg, Andrew Goldberger, Steve Juro, Scott Kessler, Lesley Lewkowicz, Cantor Rockman, Stacey Rockman, Joe Plotnick, Kim Riemann, Adrienne Ross, and Amanda Uniman. Note: Our sincere apologies to anyone we accidentally omitted from this list.
Youth Groups – USY / Kadima (NSBUSY)
Under the leadership of our advisor Sydney Sookerman, over the past few years our chapter has won Hagalil Region’s top 3 awards (including, most recently, Chapter of Excellence). Making this more impressive is the fact much of the chapter’s success has come under the cloud of COVID-19. In response, Sydney and her leadership team have kept members engaged via a mix of virtual and socially-distanced events and activities, from a USY-led virtual Shabbat service and a virtual session with the Rabbi about antisemitism – to a tie-dye event in the B’nai Tikvah parking lot and a Lag B’omer bonfire in the Rockman’s backyard. This Spring also saw the election of a new Chapter Board – and the election of 2 of our members to the Hagalil Regional Executive Board (making us the only chapter in the region with 2 officers)! Please join us in congratulating all of our young adult leaders: Bashe Rockman (President), Sarah Wilk (Israel Affairs), Jordyn Weintraub (Social Action / Tikun Olam), Liam Rosen (Membership / Programming), Hannah Cadoff (Communication), and David Farber (Freshman Rep), and for REB, Rebecca Smoller and Rafi Rockman. Please also be on the lookout for regular updates re: upcoming NSBUSY events – many of which will take place in our newly refreshed Youth Lounge (which includes a ‘new’ couch donated by the Blackin family; a large table donated by the Valan family; and a foosball table donated by the Juro family).
Tots to Tweens Programming
In 2019 we partnered with The Jewish Federation in the Heart of New Jersey to become 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 has impeded our efforts, we hope / anticipate being able to resume limited – and socially-distant – events over the next 6-months. In fact, in May over 60 families attended a PJ Day at the Farm event that B’nai Tikvah organized. The event sold-out in a few hours – leaving a waiting list of families excited for the next opportunity to join us. To this end, we look forward to sharing more with the congregation as new events are added to the calendar. In the meantime, if you have any questions – about PJ Library, the Religious School, and or USY / Kadima, please feel free to contact Doug or Melissa. Until then, our thanks for your continued support as we look to grow the B’nai Tikvah family one child and family at a time.
