Wednesday, July 05, 2006
by Adam Levin
WJW Intern
Chabad of Silver Spring's Rabbi Berel Wolvovsky is so confident that his center's soon-to-be-opened Sunday school will hook its students on Judaism that he is offering a hot commodity: an iPod to every child enrolled when the school opens this September.
"I am certain that if a child comes to the school that they will like it," said Wolvovksy, Chabad of Silver Spring's co-director. "The reason why I'm confident about the iPod program is because I know that if a child comes to our school and tastes it for one or two times, the third and fourth and 20th time, it won't be an issue for us" to get them to come.
Chabad of Silver Spring has seen its programs' popularity explode since opening on Kemp Mill's Bybee Street last fall. According to Wolvovsky, the center regularly draws around 100 people for Shabbat services. A Chanukah event last year at Wheaton Regional Park drew more than 300, and a Purim event brought in about 250.
Wolvovsky credits the large turnouts to the Chabad philosophy of injecting something special into Judaism.
"I believe from the people that are attending that there is some sort of excitement, and the excitement is catchy," said Wolvovksy. "People sometimes feel that doing the regular things we are asked to do doesn't give you that extra push. When something is done with a little excitement, that itself causes growth."
Wolvovsky hopes that the Sunday school, for youngsters 5-11, will be another extension of Chabad's service to the community.
"We had communitywide events where we saw the interest and wanting for more. It caused us to look in different avenues to see what we could do to put more of an excitement in Judaism at every moment possible," he said.
Area parents noted that Chabad's convenient Kemp Mill location and Wolvovsky's skill with teaching were two of the main benefits of the Sunday school.
"The Chabad center is three blocks from our house," said Yosef Wallach, a Kemp Mill resident who will send both his son, Zvi, 10, and daughter, Alma, 12, to the school in September. "My children have problems reading Hebrew, and I thought Chabad would be a good environment to learn in."
Wallach's children have had religious education in the past, with both kids attending the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville until third grade, but Wallach believes Chabad can provide better assistance to the needs of individual students, he said.
The school will be employing a recently created system of teaching its students to read and write in Hebrew. The system, known as Aleph Champ, promotes students through different skill levels as their ability increases.
"Picture a karate-style system. You start out with a lower belt, and as you advance with your learning, you get a higher and higher belt until you get a black belt, which is perfect reading and writing," said Wolvovsky.
Wolvovsky's wife, Chaya, who has acted as a director of Hebrew schools in New York's Westchester County and Rockport, Conn., will again wear the director's hat for the new school. The school will also be bringing in two seminary-age women from New York to help with the teaching, completing, along with the Wolvovskys, the staff of four.
Wolvovsky's hope is that the positive and creative attitude of the Hebrew school's faculty will create an atmosphere that students will want to participate in.
"The No. 1 response I get from parents is that they don't think their kids will want to go. The parents went to Sunday school, and the kids don't have the same excitement. Our goal is that the child should ask the parents to go to school," said Wolvovsky.
Wolvovsky also hopes that the school will be able to fill a void that he sees in the community.
"We had the idea for the school as soon as we were approached by a few people who said that something was lacking, that they needed something more in a local Sunday school," said Wolvovsky.
The curriculum that Wolvovsky has developed is geared to provide a thorough introduction to Judaism. Planned subjects, according to Chabad of Silver Spring's Web site, include Hebrew language, Torah, Israel, Jewish history, Jewish holidays and Jewish values. Although the Hebrew school does not include bar and bat mitzvah training, private lessons are available from Wolvovsky.
But what about those iPods? Wolvovsky admits that the idea may be a little unorthodox, but he firmly believes that the ends will justify the means.
"This is seriously cutting into our expenditures, but there's nothing like having a kid want to go to school," he said.
Wallach, meanwhile, sees the promotion as an added bonus to an already worthwhile program.
"I think it's great. I think my daughter has an iPod already, but my son could use one."
by Adam Levin
WJW Intern
Chabad of Silver Spring's Rabbi Berel Wolvovsky is so confident that his center's soon-to-be-opened Sunday school will hook its students on Judaism that he is offering a hot commodity: an iPod to every child enrolled when the school opens this September.
"I am certain that if a child comes to the school that they will like it," said Wolvovksy, Chabad of Silver Spring's co-director. "The reason why I'm confident about the iPod program is because I know that if a child comes to our school and tastes it for one or two times, the third and fourth and 20th time, it won't be an issue for us" to get them to come.
Chabad of Silver Spring has seen its programs' popularity explode since opening on Kemp Mill's Bybee Street last fall. According to Wolvovsky, the center regularly draws around 100 people for Shabbat services. A Chanukah event last year at Wheaton Regional Park drew more than 300, and a Purim event brought in about 250.
Wolvovsky credits the large turnouts to the Chabad philosophy of injecting something special into Judaism.
"I believe from the people that are attending that there is some sort of excitement, and the excitement is catchy," said Wolvovksy. "People sometimes feel that doing the regular things we are asked to do doesn't give you that extra push. When something is done with a little excitement, that itself causes growth."
Wolvovsky hopes that the Sunday school, for youngsters 5-11, will be another extension of Chabad's service to the community.
"We had communitywide events where we saw the interest and wanting for more. It caused us to look in different avenues to see what we could do to put more of an excitement in Judaism at every moment possible," he said.
Area parents noted that Chabad's convenient Kemp Mill location and Wolvovsky's skill with teaching were two of the main benefits of the Sunday school.
"The Chabad center is three blocks from our house," said Yosef Wallach, a Kemp Mill resident who will send both his son, Zvi, 10, and daughter, Alma, 12, to the school in September. "My children have problems reading Hebrew, and I thought Chabad would be a good environment to learn in."
Wallach's children have had religious education in the past, with both kids attending the Melvin J. Berman Hebrew Academy in Rockville until third grade, but Wallach believes Chabad can provide better assistance to the needs of individual students, he said.
The school will be employing a recently created system of teaching its students to read and write in Hebrew. The system, known as Aleph Champ, promotes students through different skill levels as their ability increases.
"Picture a karate-style system. You start out with a lower belt, and as you advance with your learning, you get a higher and higher belt until you get a black belt, which is perfect reading and writing," said Wolvovsky.
Wolvovsky's wife, Chaya, who has acted as a director of Hebrew schools in New York's Westchester County and Rockport, Conn., will again wear the director's hat for the new school. The school will also be bringing in two seminary-age women from New York to help with the teaching, completing, along with the Wolvovskys, the staff of four.
Wolvovsky's hope is that the positive and creative attitude of the Hebrew school's faculty will create an atmosphere that students will want to participate in.
"The No. 1 response I get from parents is that they don't think their kids will want to go. The parents went to Sunday school, and the kids don't have the same excitement. Our goal is that the child should ask the parents to go to school," said Wolvovsky.
Wolvovsky also hopes that the school will be able to fill a void that he sees in the community.
"We had the idea for the school as soon as we were approached by a few people who said that something was lacking, that they needed something more in a local Sunday school," said Wolvovsky.
The curriculum that Wolvovsky has developed is geared to provide a thorough introduction to Judaism. Planned subjects, according to Chabad of Silver Spring's Web site, include Hebrew language, Torah, Israel, Jewish history, Jewish holidays and Jewish values. Although the Hebrew school does not include bar and bat mitzvah training, private lessons are available from Wolvovsky.
But what about those iPods? Wolvovsky admits that the idea may be a little unorthodox, but he firmly believes that the ends will justify the means.
"This is seriously cutting into our expenditures, but there's nothing like having a kid want to go to school," he said.
Wallach, meanwhile, sees the promotion as an added bonus to an already worthwhile program.
"I think it's great. I think my daughter has an iPod already, but my son could use one."
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