'Midrasha' Hebrew high school keeps teenagers in the mix
Reprinted from 3/5/04 Jewish Voice & Herald
By Jonathan Rubin

Editor's note: In response to Partnership efforts to encourage innovation in outreach programming, the Voice & Herald presents part 2 of  a series highlighting four programs that involve Jewish people from a variety of backgrounds.

PROVIDENCE - The assignment is tricky - How can you use the Passover story of the four sons (wise, rebellious, simple, and he who does not have the capacity to ask a question) to decorate a Passover table for an exhibition?

Someone suggests using a a car to represent each son. "The Hummer is an evil car... it's not environmentally friendly," says Ethan Gnepp, a Providence  8th grader.

"Or the car that Hitler drove!" said another.

Michael Feinstein, also in eighth-grade, said ,"We could do political leaders. Evil could be Saddam Hussein. Simple is... that French guy. No capacity to understand would be George Bush and... I can't think of a wise one."

Discussions at the Harry Elkin Midrasha (HEM) Community High School aren't typical, and neither are the classes. But both are one of the reasons that the HEM is able to draw in 187 high school students from all over the state to learn about what makes Judaism, and Jews, tick.

The school meets in two locations; on Wednesdays, it meets at a synagogue in either Cranston or Warwick (this semester it's Temple Sinai in Cranston), and on Sunday mornings it's at Temple Emanu-El  and the Alperin Schechter Day School in Providence. The largest number of students come from Providence (71) and the West Bay (62).

The school draws students from numerous synagogues that have agreed to support a community school for all students rather than work exclusively with members only. So far, five synagogues are participating - Temple Torat Yisrael, Congregation B'nai Israel, Congregation Agudas Achim, Temple Am David, Temple Emanu-El and Temple Sinai. Each donates at least one clergy hour per week in the classrooms. Students do not need to be members of any organization to take classes.

Unconventional
To understand why so many high school students are eager to learn about Judaism during off-school hours, you need to understand the HEM environment.

A few Sundays ago, class began at 9:30 a.m., and students filed in. The perkier ones were ready to go, but some needed a little pick-me-up, provided by either the Dunkin Donuts coffee they bring in with them, or the orange juice, muffins, Mountain Dews and Cokes on sale (in the spirit of tzedakah, all proceeds are given to charity).

In between  classes, students mill about in the halls, saying hi to one another and hugging the ones they usually only see at HEM. For most of them, it's the most Jewish faces they see all week.

"I go to a Catholic school," said Jessica Louise, 15, of Foxboro, Mass. When it comes to Jewish activity in her life, "this is it." She likes the social aspect of HEM, but also likes the classes.

"You get to hang out with other Jews here," said Andrea Cohen, of Warwick. "It's Jew time."

Rather than make students study the traditional way, with rote memorization and quizzes, HEM focuses on both process and the content. They use role-playing, simulations, case studies and self-evaluation as ways to making learning fun. The "quiet when I'm talking" atmosphere between student and teacher is less severe at HEM, and, because most classes are discussion-based, students have  a lot of flexibility to say what's on their minds.

Take Susan Blitzsky's comparative religions class. To get the kids warmed up, Blitzsky, a social worker who lives in Providence, starts up an icebreaker called "a big wind blows," where students pose a question and then stand up if their answer is yes. After some laughs, they settle down and talk about one of the subjects that was brought up - Buddhism. "Why is a combination of Judaism and Buddhism very attractive to many Jews nowadays," Blitzsky asks.

"For some people, Judaism is an identity rather than something you practice," said Shira Adler, 11th grade, of Providence.

"My dad wants to be Buddhist, I think," one student added, somewhat sheepishly.

Other classes are much more focused on text study, such as capital punishment or ethics.

Ari Winkleman, 15, of Pawtucket, said he doesn't mind the classes because "You don't memorize facts, you discuss them." Asked what classes he plans to take this year, he gives a typical sort of answer "anything by Steve Jablow."

Many students tend to follow their favorite teachers from class to class, whatever the topic - Jewish mysticism, the dueling between Rabbinic greats Hillel and Shammai, or even a new class, SimJudaism, where students create a theoretical Jewish community and try to make it thrive.

Choices
Students can either take Sunday classes, Wednesday classes, or both, and receive degrees based on the number of classes attended.  Years ago, both days were required, but the school changed its policy in recent years based on the ever-increasing extra curricular workload of students.

Emily Weintraub, 17, is active in theater and the school band. "[Midrasha] is fun, but I'm very busy," she said.

"It's more like college than anything else - you pick your own classes based on your interests" said Richard Walter, director of teen education at HEM. And, like college, classes are broken up into categories such as Bible, community service, ethics, arts & culture, Hebrew and history, and there are required classes such as Talmud as well. A few classes can be taken for college credit at Rhode Island College, although "some kids drop out of those when they see how much work there is," Walter said.

Class size is in constant fluctuation, and Walter actively recruits at synagogues and at parlor meetings and open houses. "We need to do a better job of talking to the parents," Walter said. "Even as teenagers, kids still value their parents opinions."

One of the challenges of the school, Walter said, is showing people that the school can handle a wide variety of Jewish backgrounds, from students with advanced instruction to those who have had less exposure. Besides clergy, HEM uses Brown students, educators, and professionals from a variety of backgrounds to teach.

Transportation is currently provided by bus from the Jewish Community Center in Providence to the Cranston / Warwick location on Wednesdays.

Besides striving to be enjoyable, many of the classes are used as preparation for other events, or for real life experiences. "Signs" focuses on Jewish approaches to hearing-impaired individuals, and while another focuses on events in the Middle East on a weekly basis, with two Israelis offering their opinions as well.

One class prepares students for the March of the Living trip, which joins Rhode Island teens with Jews from all over the United States in a powerful march through the concentration camps in Poland, and then takes them to Israel to see the Jewish state so they can see Judaism thriving today.

"There are definitely some good classes," said James Rotenberg, of Providence. "They create an opportunity for kids to think about things without too much pressure."