‘DO ONE THING’
Opportunities abound to connect children to Jewish identity
Rabbi Glenn Black remembers growing up in the Montreal suburb of Chomedey-Laval.
“My parents sent me and my sisters every morning by bus, in the dead of winter and the heat of summer, for an hour- and- a- half in each direction to Hebrew academy in Côte-Saint-Luc,” he recalls. “They believed that the financial sacrifice and the push to their child was worth it.”
Today, he’s CEO of Jewish youth organization NCSY Canada and the creator and champion of “Reverse the Trend,” a movement to empower Jewish identity.
“Not everyone would be willing to get up at 5:30 to attend a Jewish day school and not everybody can afford the tuition,” he says. “With Reverse the Trend we’re asking parents to choose just one vehicle among the many that are available to them to help strengthen their kids’ cultural identity and provide some Jewish context for their lives.”
That might involve enrolling kids in Jewish day school or in Torah High, an afterschool program founded by Rabbi Black to provide Jewish-themed education credits recognized by the Ontario Ministry of Education.
The Toronto- and- area school has been operating for 14 years and has provided students and their parents with just one way to strengthen their identity.
“Students e xperience warmth and a feeling of home,” says Rabbi Black. “They’re getting a connected- ness to young and dynamic educators who make them feel excited to be there. When moms and dads are sending their kids to these Jewish options (such as day schools or other after-school programs), they’re telling them that it’s important for them to be more connected to their heritage, so that they can be great- er contributors to the Jewish community and the community at large.”
Some parents and their kids opt for Torah High’s sister institution, Jewish Virtual High School. It’s the first Jewish online school offering courses for high school credit.
Sherene Schwabacher and her family immigrated to Canada in 2012 and found themselves looking for an opportunity to maintain a cultural connectedness. Her two children, Gina and Adam, had previously been enrolled in a private Jewish day school in South Africa, but the family found that similar programs in Canada were far less affordable.
“They were going to a public school here and they knew nobody,” she recalls. “I just needed them to be part of the Jewish community and to continue a way of life they had experienced in South Africa.”
She spoke to a local rabbi, who suggested she contact NCSY Canada. Gina, now planning her second year at the University of Western Ontario, became involved in the organization during her first week in Canada. She took part in shabbat on weekends and other programs.
“I met my best friends on an NCSY summer trip to California,” she says.
Gina studied for Torah High program credits in grades 11 and 12. “Coming from a Jewish school in South Africa and entering public school in Canada, Torah High made me feel as though I was back in my Jewish school,” she says. “It was a class full of students who were all on the same page, and it allowed me to catch up on everything I was missing.”
Adam, entering Grade 11 in September, took his first Torah High credit while he was still in Grade 8.
“My mom encouraged me to go,” he says. “Torah High helped me to meet new Jewish friends and reconnected me to Jewish education. I would really recommend that younger students take the Jewish studies credit like I did. You can learn so many things over a wide range of subjects.”
Schwabacher says that she appreciates Torah High’s unique approach to learning, combining high student expectations with a generous level of personal support.
“You still have to work for your credit, but the teachers are easygoing and there’s no pressure on the students,” she says. “Both my kids always looked forward to it. It’s been a very positive experience for all of us.”
Regardless of the choice a family makes toward Jewish identification, Rabbi Black says that consistency of experience is crucial to success.
“We find that having that commitment to culture reflected both at school and at home makes the greatest difference,” he says.