Luria Academy of Brooklyn – To launch a Shabbat afternoon program that will engage 3rd through 10th graders in Jewish learning and community building with peers of diverse Jewish backgrounds.

What did you see in your community that inspired you to create the Shabbat Experience at 664 Bergen?

The Jewish community in Brownstone Brooklyn is exploding, but there are no current options for non-denominational, device-free Shabbat afternoon programming for the 8,000 Jewish children living in these neighborhoods. While there are a handful of successful Hebrew schools associated with established shuls, only 16% of the 26,000 Jewish households in Brownstone Brooklyn currently belong to a synagogue, leaving little for families seeking something other than this traditional option. The Shabbat Experience at 664 Bergen will operate as a membership model, allowing families to drop in whenever they would like throughout the school year. There are currently no local Shabbat afternoon opportunities for children that do not require weekly attendance or follow a pre-set schedule.

On average, children ages 8-12 in the United States spend 4-6 hours a day watching or using screens, and teens spend up to 9 hours. To provide this release for children in an inclusive, non-denominational Jewish environment, where they will learn to navigate across differences in both observance and practice while simultaneously expanding their social networks and enhancing their own personal Shabbat experience, feels profound and necessary.

What are you hoping children learn from participating in this program?

In embracing the diversity of the Jewish experience in Brooklyn, and subsequently building a Shabbat afternoon program with diversity as a core value, we are providing these children an opportunity that will not only serve them today but also in their future. At Luria Academy, we believe that the most lasting, valuable work is in learning to be in authentic relationships with one another—this program will be not for one type of Jew but for all Jews. We believe that this is work the world truly needs right now.

Additionally, device-free, weekly programming will promote face-to-face, non-school day socialization in creative and innovative ways while simultaneously stretching children’s relationships to their own Jewish practice. We believe that helping young people develop a personal Shabbat practice will have a lasting impact on their lives forevermore.

What is most meaningful to you about being a Jewish educator?

I became a Jewish educator because I love learning Torah. It inspires me, challenges me, and makes me want to be better and do better. I wanted to bring Torah to other people’s lives so their lives could be enriched in the same way mine was. An added benefit of becoming a teacher of Torah was getting to spend my own time learning Torah, but the thing about being a student of Torah is that you’re never done learning. Learning is part of who we are as a people; it is part of our culture.