Posted by Aron:

Growing up, I went to my fair share of supplementary Jewish schools. This was the trade-off to going to a public school rather than a Jewish day school. From the grade three to my Bar Mitzvah, my Wednesday evenings and Sunday mornings would occupied by being yelled at by my fair share of Hebrew teachers who I don’t think were actually teachers but Israelis who felt entitled to the role because they could speak the language. Looking back on my Jewish education, I say with humour that everything I learned about Hebrew I learned in Grade 2. However, as a Jewish educator today, I am happy to say that I turned out okay.

My story is very similar to the many students in Jewish supplementary schools across North America. The truth of the matter is that between Hebrew and Jewish studies there are too many things to cover in only a few short hours over the course of a week. The truth of the matter is that children of the 21^st Century are smarter than ever. And this environment, you cannot simply sit a child down, tell them everything they need to know about Judaism and expect them to absorb the information like a sponge.
Children today have to experience Judaism. In the supplementary program where I work, Jewish children are learning by going on retreats, and being in youth groups that mix learning about Judaism while being social.

The best place for a child to learn about Judaism is at a Jewish summer camp. No classroom experience compares to this. I just came back from spending two-weeks at one of these camps putting together a promotional video. I can hear you thinking. Most people take time off from work to go to Mexico or Florida. He went to summer camp. I can honestly say that what these children learn away from the classroom completely blows away any Jewish supplementary education they may receive during the year. At this camp in particular, buildings and places have Hebrew names. The ‘chadar ochel’ is the dining hall, ‘agam’ is lake, ‘tzrifim’ are cabins, and ‘chanichim’ are campers. Whether it’s community, King David’s Psalms, or the Creation narrative, each unit of campers are given a ‘study theme’ to centre their Jewish programming around and Rabbis, Cantors, and Jewish Educators come up to camp as faculty to help steer the programming. It is here where Judaism leaps off the pages of our sacred texts and becomes relevant and interesting to Jewish children. What is more exciting? A teacher at the front of a classroom explaining the history and significance of the Book of Psalms, or having King David arrive ‘himself,’ and explain who he was while atop a horse.
At the end of a session at camp, children walk away with a sense of understanding and belonging. They will have learned specific in Judaism, and a new vocabulary of Hebrew words, but they will have learned that Judaism as a culture and religion is alive and relevant to them; a concept that us educators are still trying to figure out how best to explain on Wednesday evenings or Sunday mornings.

ARON POSTED:

Passover is always a time of challenges, and in a secular world, observing the holiday takes work. In my family, we have always restrained from eating Chametz during the holiday and on nights when we’ve eaten too many Matzah Pizzas or run out of creative ideas we will eat out at restaurants, always avoiding the breaded, battered, or “leavened” options on the menu.

This past weekend, I was out of town visiting with family and was faced with the challenges of eating out on Passover. If you are one with a similar observance I am sure you can agree with me. The days were filled with deep thoughts, “can’t have this, can’t have that, don’t want to go there, can’t eat this there etc..” running down the lists of places to go and more importantly what we could eat if we go to a specific place. This experience really got me thinking about Passover and freedom. Sometimes we feel trapped by our usual routines. We go to the same restaurant where we eat the same meal every time. Passover serves as a reminder that we are free, and can actually redeem us from our enslaving routines. It gives us the ability to look at menus differently than we do every other week of the year, and allow us to try something new, something different than we might have previously picked, and bring us awareness of what we eat by looking deeper into those little description beside each option.

The festival is in for a suprise as it falls in the middle of the High Holidays this year.

ARON Posted:

Every September, Hollywood meets in Toronto for the Toronto International Film Festival, or the TIFF as it’s usually called. It seems this year there might be a real ‘tiff’ about it. The festival traditionally begins on the first Thursday after Labour Day and ends nine days later on a Saturday night. By pure unfortunate timing, it falls smack in the middle of the High Holidays.

I know that some of us joke that there is a large Jewish influence in Hollywood (and the anti-Zonists take that further and skew it for their antisemitic agenda) but there is some truth that there is definitely a Jewish presence in Hollywood. The fact that the media have started picking up on it tells you this festival will be different than the ones in years past.

Based on the calendar if you are observant, you’ll be missing four out of the ten days of the festival. What will you do if you are a top sponsor? (as so many Gold Sponsors are Jewish) What about the industry players and execs?

I’ll be curious to see how it affects the planning of the TIFF in the months to come. I am sure this is only the beginning.

A key moment in our prayer service is the Shema. It is our personal and community declaration that we have one God and that our God is One. My synagogue community is small with only a couple dozen people attending Shabbat services on a weekly basis, and maybe 200 people when there’s a Bar or Bat Mitzvah happening. In small congregations like mine and small Jewish communities spread all over North America it can sometimes be hard to feel a greater spiritual connection to Judaism.

This past weekend I spent Shabbat at the Union for Reform Judaism’s Biennial Convention in downtown Toronto.

Kabbalat Shabbat services was attended by over 3500 Jews from all across North America. Talk about a lot of Jews in one room. The most amazing feeling was being able to join in prayer with over 3000 people, and standing all together as we recited the Shema, “Hear O Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is one!” It was such a wonderful experience surrounded by so many people joined together by prayer.