H eadlines
Religious Continued from Page 1
return to the familiar, schools
are still making changes,
trying to rebuild a feeling of
community that atrophied
over the past 18 months.

“It’s what our families
really seem to want and need,”
Congregation Rodeph Shalom
Director of Youth Education
Jennifer James said. “Because
as effective as we can be over
Zoom — and we were effective
— there is a limit.”
The Philadelphia-based
synagogue will resume Berkman
Mercaz Limud, its learning
center, Sept. 12, welcoming
back more than 200 students to
in-person classrooms.

Rodeph Shalom’s learning
center has been lucky; attendance
was strong during the pandemic
year. It was able to adapt its
in-person programming to an
online format quickly.

Hebrew school students
haven’t seemed to suffer in
terms of learning: GJC’s online
Wednesday Hebrew program
was so successful that it will
continue to be held weekly
over Zoom this year. However,
students’ experience of Hebrew
school was hurt the most by the
inability to connect in person
with their peers.

For Levi Rudick, 16, the
missing social component of
religious school at GJC drove
his decision not to attend
GJC’s online program last
year. Under non-pandemic
circumstances, religious school
offered a departure from the
strictness of secular school.

“At least at GJC, it’s not as
serious as school,” Rudick said.

“After a week of serious school,
it’s fun to play around.”
Sitting in front of a computer
Following the path of his two
older brothers, Rudick, now
fully vaccinated, will complete
confirmation with the rest of
his cohort, most of whom he’s
known since the first grade.

“I kind of missed the
company,” Rudick said. “We
had a lot of fun times.”
Rudick hopes that this year,
returning to an in-person
format will allow him and
his peers to engage with the
classroom material at religious
school. Rudick’s mother is grateful
the return of in-person
learning will afford her son
the opportunity to experience
confirmation in the same way
his older brothers did.

“His entire religious school
experience kind of culminates
in this 10th-grade program,”
Wolf said. “I would have been
build community over Zoom
last year: Rodeph Shalom
transferred its Panim el
Panim (face-to-face) commu-
nity-building activity to
Zoom; BZBI continued its
Rosh Chodesh and Shevet
teen groups online; GJC hired
outside organizations, such
as the Bible Players, to create
improv activities and skits with
students to make the Zoom
space more dynamic.

This year, the push continues
to re-engage students in the
classroom. And along the way, BZBI
will focus on supporting their
teachers and encouraging
them to focus on social-emo-
tional and spiritual learning in
the classroom, Nissen said.

“Rather than thinking of
yourself as being in a class-
room, students really feel like
they’re part of a micro-com-
munity that they have a sense
of ownership in,” he said.

Other religious school
programs are hoping to do
the same.

In previous years, GJC
hosted an annual Havdalah
and potluck from a student’s
home. This year, it hopes to
host three of these events.

The Bible Players will have an
in-person encore performance
at GJC as well.

The ambitious goals are
a sign of optimism for these
religious schools.

“Our regular school is
a place of a lot of energy,”
Weinberg said. “We just need
to come back together and
remind people of it.” l
srogelberg@jewishexponent.com; 215-832-0741
You are invited to
Our plan at the moment is never not a moving target. ... Our regular
school is a place of a lot of energy. We just need to come back together
and remind people of it.”
ABIGAIL WEINBERG
Rabbi Max Nissen, director
of youth and family educa-
tion at Temple Beth Zion-Beth
Israel, said they had a similar
experience at BZBI’s Neziner
Hebrew School.

“Our attendance was consis-
tent enough to be able to run a
strong program,” he said.

Nonetheless, Nissen
acknowledged the absence of
some students, and Weinberg
saw the same at GJC; she
noted the sizable difference
in her religious school classes
last year.

“That was painful, to not be
able to serve them and include
them,” Weinberg said.

JEWISHEXPONENT.COM for religious school at the end
of a school day began to feel
like a continuation of school to
Rudick. According to Denise
Wolf, Rudick’s mother, even
Rudick’s wrestling practice was
virtual. Zoom fatigue after just
a few weeks of religious school
was too much for Rudick, and
he decided he needed a break
for the year.

“There was a lot of similar-
ities between bland, virtual
online school and [Hebrew
school],” he said.

With GJC revamping
in-person religious school
this year, Rudick will return
to the classroom on Sept. 12.

really disappointed if it was
virtual, and he couldn’t do it.”
Rudick isn’t the only student
at GJC returning after a year
away. According to Weinberg,
of the 36 students currently
enrolled, 11 are students who
did not participate last year.

With the return of students,
religious schools are making
a special effort to focus on
social-emotional learning this
year. “There’s a big push to think
intentionally about how we
come back together after a year
of being apart,” Nissen said.

Religious schools made
a concerted effort to try and
JEWISH EXPONENT
R Remembrance
Re e emem mbran
meme embr
mbr anc
an c ce e Day
M mor
Me m meme or ial i iorior al Service
Se rvi
Serv rv i ceicei
Memorial InInI In Mem
Memo Memory
o ryrryr y of o f All
A llllll l Loved
L o ve
vedd Ones
On Sunday, September 12th
at 12 Noon
Rabbi Isaac Leizerowski
Family, Friends and Public Welcome
Celebrating each life like no other.

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