A Community of Learners (May 2013 KOL)
For many years, congregations focused all of their attention on educating the children, and recent studies reveal that many did not even do a good job with that. Adult Jews roam the country scarred by their religious school experiences in childhood, which is unfortunate. But not so, for all of us at Temple B’nai Shalom. When the congregation was founded in 1986, we made a conscious decision to have as our congregational goals and values:
1- The creation of the best religious school in Northern Virginia, where students want to come and learn for a lifetime.
2- An ongoing, thriving adult learning program that would enrich the lives of our adult members, and facilitate their ability to live life as, or with, knowledgeable Reform Jews.
We understood from our inception that we wanted to be a Community of Learners. We have succeeded beyond our wildest dreams. Our young people love religious school and often tell their parents they like learning at Temple better than any other learning in their lives. Our kids want to come and to continue, and we have the most wonderfully committed students go on to Confirmation and Post-Confirmation, college involvement in Hillels, and even rabbinical school. Some of our current religious school faculty are graduates of our very own temple religious school, which makes me so proud. Over the past 27 years we have seen that the partnership between synagogue and home is a vital part of this success. The young people who have a vital and committed Jewish life at home, lifelong attendance at services and involvement in youth group, and a history of making Jewish choices as family choices continue to live Jewish lives and raise Jewish children. I want to thank all of you who make these important choices every day. Your devotion to this community of learners is insuring the Jewish future of tomorrow.
On May 17th, twenty-one of our high school seniors will graduate from our Post-Confirmation Program. I want to applaud these amazing young people who have spent the two years following Confirmation studying the modern issues facing adult Jews by reading some of the leading publications for Jewish information. I am grateful to the publishers of Moment magazine and The Forward newspaper for providing the core texts for our learning. They have embraced the best Jewish values by helping to educate tomorrow’s leaders. Faithfully, each month they have sent me enough copies of their publications for our class. What a gift! Our Brotherhood also provides the book On the Doorposts of Your House, a Jewish home companion, as a gift for each student in memory of Les Strausberg (may his memory be for a blessing), a devoted founding member of our Brotherhood. Brotherhood also gives a scholarship to the graduates who have shown devotion to temple as religious school aides, as well as our congregational, regional, and national NFTY youth program. I want to thank the parents of these amazing young people and commend the Post-Confirmation Class of 2013/5773 for their devotion to Jewish study. I pray that all of them continue to be the lifelong Jewish learners I have encouraged them to become.
On Sunday, May 19th, twenty-seven Confirmands will stand on the bimah to confirm their devotion to the Jewish people and to the sacred journey of learning, bonding, and growing that they shared this year. Our Confirmation program is second-to-none in providing a safe and nurturing environment for our teens to explore the sensitive issues of their lives in the context of our year long theme of “Making Jewish Choices.” This year’s Confirmation theme is #Confirmation, proving yet again the relevance of Judaism in the life of a 21stcentury teen.
And we have had an interesting year exploring “IN GOD’s IMAGE” through our L.I.F.E. Program (LEARNING IS FOR EVERYONE), the newly named Adult Education Program. The most successful part of the program this year was the three-part series “Planning Your Own (or Someone Else’s) Funeral,” which included two sessions in our social hall overflowing with members eager to learn and plan, and culminated in a field trip to Jefferson Funeral Home and King David Cemetery. We have had wonderful speakers share their knowledge, from Professor Pamela Nadell helping us mark the 100thanniversary of Sisterhood in August to our own members sharing important messages and life experiences, including Jacob Kohn’s amazing time in India with the American Jewish World Service. Minyan Makers and Women’s Torah Study are also thriving with adult learning, as well as Deborah Coblenz’s Adult Hebrew classes on Tuesday nights. Learning takes place at our temple seven days a week and on the Internet as people access our Rabbi Study and podcasts 24/7.
If you have an idea for next year, let either rabbi or Maureen Zaniel, our L.I.F.E. chairperson, know that what you are interested in and consider attending this year’s Adult Ed planning meeting. We will continue with our learning all summer, from our wonderful “VBS at TBS” (vacation bible school for our younger members) to a host of adult learning opportunities throughout the rest of this year and the summer.
We are a community of learners. I pray that we continue to have all of our members, Jews and non-Jews, young and old (and everyone in between), excited and engaged in the richness of making Jewish choices through knowledge and understanding.
Yours in study,
Rabbi Amy R. Perlin