Temple Educator's Column - April 2024

Full disclosure: I am a comic book fan boy. Always have been. I once had a subscription to the Legion of Super-Heroes. The new issue arrived by mail! (I am also one of those fan boys whose mother gave away the collection while he was in college. Sigh.) I still enjoy comics now and then, and I love all the superhero movies.

I have not given up my love of superheroes. As I have matured, I have learned that there are REAL superheroes. They rarely wear a cape, although occasionally they wear tights – even if they are not going to a yoga class. And while they cannot fly or stop bullets with their bracelets, they can make imaginations soar and help us feel stronger than ever.

I am talking about teachers of course. And because of who I am and where you are reading this, I am particularly talking about Jewish teachers. Our teachers do amazing things. If you have a child in our religious school, I don’t need to tell you about them. You know. If your kids are out of the house, or not yet old enough to join us on Sundays or Wednesdays, you have not had the pleasure of hearing kids running up to their parents in the lobby to tell them about what happened in their classroom or somewhere else in the building.

I have only been here since August, but I would be happy to sit down over a cup of coffee and tell you some great stories about Miriam Heyman (K), Karen Rabinovici (1st), Jack Brown and Lia Solomon (2nd), Lizzie Sharp (3rd ), Eli Buchdahl (4th ), Noah Tirschwell (5 th ), Danya DubrowCompaine (6th), Shelley Capozzi (7th) or Rabbi Moss (10th - 12th ) and the amazing experiences they have created for their learners. (I teach 8th and 9th , but I don’t like to blow my own horn.)

One of the things that helps make some of these heroes most effective is that they are members of the congregation. I have yet to hear something like “Hey Lauren! It is so cool that your mom is our teacher!” at TBT, but I have heard it often throughout my career, as I love to hire our members to teach.

Why am I telling you all of this? First of all, join me in shepping naches (being really proud) from all of the amazing things our fellow congregants are doing. Next, and just as importantly, please think about becoming a member of our team. Start by reaching out to me and we can talk about what being a teacher means, and what it can do for you. (All of our teachers do it because they love it – even though we do pay them!) We can dream a little bit together and I can help you develop some skills.

We do not look specifically for professionally trained teachers – although some of our teachers also teach in general education. We are looking for people who love kids and being Jewish, who are not overly shy and who are really good at listening. We are creating experiences where our learners can decide what being Jewish will mean to them, not just filling them with information.

Call me at 203-245-7028. Email me at rsdirector@tbtshoreline.org. Or just drop in. Teaching will be great for you and awesome for our learners. Capes and tights are optional. If you want a mask, we can talk.

L’shalom,
Ira Wise

Education Director's Column - January 2024

Are you ready for the summer?

I have been quoted as saying that overnight Jewish summer camp is the most valuable thing you can give your child after connecting them to a congregational community and teaching them to care about being Jewish. (I have suggested many other things that it is the best thing after, but let’s stick to the Jewish stuff.) My wife Audrey, I, and both of our adult sons are products of Jewish summer camps, and we all went on to become counselors and more. In fact, we believe much of how we parented our sons is based on what we learned as camp staff.

Camp is an immersive experience. You learn about being part of something by being part of it. In a Jewish camp, Jewish identity, Jewish ideas and Jewish values are built into everyday living. Kids there do all of the fun summer stuff: sports, arts and crafts, hiking, drama, music, climbing and ropes courses, laying down in the grass with your friends and declaring what clouds look like, and even repairing the world. It is a safe cocoon – some camps call it the Bubble – where they can help one another get on with the business of figuring out who they are.

On Sunday, January 21, we will be hosting several overnight Jewish Camp representatives from 11:00 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. They will each have different activities for the kids as they move through their stations, giving them a taste of camp. Parents are invited to join us and to have more focused conversations about the possibilities for your children down the road.

Some of our kids are already planning to attend a camp this summer. They will simply have fun. Others might go to an overnight camp in a year, or three, but are not ready for this summer. They will also have fun. We are not trying to convince anyone to go to camp right away. We are trying to plant the seeds with them and with you to think about Jewish summer camp when they and you are ready.

All of the camps we have invited participate in the One Happy Camper program sponsored by the Foundation for Jewish Camp. It offers a significant scholarship for ALL first-time campers at Jewish summer camps, regardless of financial need. They do it because they agree that Jewish Summer Camp is that important to the Jewish development of our kids. I look forward to seeing many of you there!

L’shalom,
Ira Wise Interim
Director of Education

Guest Column with Ira Wise - December 2023

Happy Chanukah!

The library at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York has some amazing books and artifacts. On a visit with a group of educators many years ago, librarian David Kraemer passed around a brick of lucite. Inside was a very old document. It was one of several dozen handwritten copies of a letter from, and signed by, Rambam (also known as Maimonides), arguably the greatest authority on Jewish law in history. The letters were sent to Jewish communities throughout the 12th century Western world, asking Jews to send money which would be used to ransom the Jewish community of Jerusalem. They were being held captive by either the Crusaders or the Saracens – I cannot remember.

Pidyon Sh’vuyim – Redeeming Captives – is, according to the rabbis of the Talmud as well as Rambam, the greatest of mitzvot (commandments). It is even more important than clothing and feeding the poor. It is outrageous that in our celebrated modernity, redeeming captives is still something that is needed anywhere.

We are a week away from the beginning of Chanukah. It should be a time of celebration, lighting candles, spinning dreidels, and overeating things fried in oil like latkes and sufganiyot (jelly doughnuts).

And we will. It may feel strange to you, as it does to me, to plan a celebration while watching the news feed each day waiting for the next ten hostages to be released. I hope that by the time you read this, those releases are still happening.

The Jewish year continues to happen, no matter what else is going on in the world. Chanukah will begin on the 25th day of the month Kislev (the evening of December 7), like it does every year. Even in the darkest times of Roman persecution, the Inquisition, and even the Holocaust, our ancestors often found ways to mark the festivals and holy days. And many Israelis are making sure to celebrate important lifecycle moments, if they are able – even with the war going on.

So, I urge you to celebrate Chanukah. Keep the captives and the civilians in your hearts and minds. Even talk about them as you spin the dreidel, or after you sing Ma’oz Tzur, if that works in your home. There are resources for talking about the situation with children here. Remember that one of the things we celebrate at Chanukah is Jewish autonomy and freedom. Let’s celebrate on behalf of those who cannot. Let’s gather in prayer and a festive meal on December 8 for Shabbat Chanukah. Make donations to Magen David Adom or through the Jewish Federation.

Our joy may be diminished, but Chanukah teaches that we must bring light into times and places that are dark. I hope to see you over the holiday!

L’shalom,
Ira Wise Interim Director of Education