Called to the Torah

June 19, 2009
Contributed by: Phyllis Pollak

[Blog Editor's note: For two years, five adult learners have been studying with AEMT's cantor and rabbis in order to become B'nei Mitzvah. They led services and were called to the Torah on Shabbat Korach, June 19, 2009. Phyllis Pollak is 2nd from the left in the photo.]

I am becoming a Bat Mitzvah because I want to be an adult Jewish woman in the full sense of this phrase; I want to be called to the bimah to recite the blessings before and after the Torah reading. I love being Jewish, and this is the next step in the development of my religious self.

My Hebrew name is Meiri Chai, which is “Mayer Lives.” My Mother’s name was Gertrude Mayer Grippi; her paternal grandfather, Gustave Mayer, was Jewish. His parents came here from Baden, Germany, during the 1890’s. They are buried in the Beth El Cemetery in Brooklyn. Due to intermarriage, my Judaic heritage was lost to me for a long time. I have returned to my Jewish roots and reclaimed my heritage.

On my Bat Mitzvah, I will be wearing the tallit of Ben Steinhauer. Ben is the father of a dear friend of mine, Eva Steinhauer Rosenberg. Ben was a Holocaust survivor. He endured 32 months of internment in concentration camps: Buna (a sub-camp of Auschwitz), Mauthausen, and Ebensee. I feel deeply honored to wear his tallit. Judaism lives!

Not Your Ordinary Preschool Graduation

June 17, 2009
Contributed by: Karen B. Goldstein, Director of Early Childhood Education

[Blog Editor's Note: Gan Yeladeem Learning Center is part of Anshe Emeth's Lifelong Learning program. The Gan includes an infant room (beginning with babies 6 weeks old), a Toddler Room, and a Preschool Program which includes developmentally appropriate Jewish programming.]

One of the advantages of a child-centered early childhood program is that your program never gets stale. The teachers in the Gan are observers and facilitators and their purpose is to guide the children as they discover and learn about what interests them throughout the year. It is essential to incorporate the interests of the children in the classroom because this is an indication that they are ready to learn about a particular topic or idea. So, while the curriculum is outlined, the specifics about how the curriculum is addressed is determined together by the children and teachers. The ideas explored changes year to year, as the class make up changes.

So, it follows that our Preschool Graduation would also be “non-traditional”. Oh, sure, the Graduates all marched in to a Preschool version of Pomp and Circumstance, but they were wearing crowns instead of mortar boards. You see, when we sat down to discuss some of the details of graduation with the 6 girls who were graduating, they learned that they would be wearing a special hat. What could be more special than a crown, after all? Especially to a 5 year old girl? So, crowns it was, because the children had initiated it, discussed it with their peers and assisted each other in making them.

After a bit of Israeli dancing, which the children had chosen to share with their parents and other guests because it had been part of their daily Tefillah and a favorite part of their day, the children guided their guests upstairs to the Social Hall, the site of our Graduation Art Show. For the past 6 weeks, the Gan preschool class had investigated and learned about 8 artists.
They learned a bit about each artist's life and the medium in which she or he had worked. Then, the preschoolers interpreted the style of each of the artist using similar materials. The results were amazing, the learning was genuine and it was a unique expression of this particular class's interests and abilities. It was their Graduation and their art show. And it certainly wasn’t stale!