January 13, 2023 | 20 Tevet 5783
Candlelighting 4:58 p.m. | Havdalah 6:01 p.m. | Vol. 66, No. 2 | pittsburghjewishchronicle.org
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Making religious school ‘personal’: Bring out the bokser, it’s J-JEP continues to grow Tu B’Shevat season
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p Dried fruit and nuts are typically eaten on Tu B'Shevat. Photo by Chic Bee via Flickr By Adam Reinherz | Staff Writer
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p J-JEP students celebrate Chanukah.
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By Justin Vellucci | Special to the Chronicle
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hen Adam Resnick moved to Pittsburgh about 9½ years ago, the public policy researcher for the RAND Corp. quickly enrolled his infant son, Asher, in Congregation Beth Shalom’s Early Learning Center. The decision to send Asher — and eventually his brother Judah, now 7 — to J-JEP, the Joint Jewish Education Program, came just as naturally. “It’s a terrific program,” Resnick told the Chronicle. “The proof is in the pudding. When we pick up the kids, they run down the hallways — and they enjoy the projects they’re working on.” Asher and Judah better watch out; J-JEP has big plans for 2023. Rabbi Larry Freedman heads J-JEP, a collaborative, pluralistic religious school by Rodef Shalom Congregation and Congregation Beth Shalom that is open to all K-12 students in greater Pittsburgh.
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The mission of the program, according to its promotional materials, is to provide “innovative, experiential learning that will inspire and prepare students to engage meaningfully in Jewish life.” Freedman hasn’t always worked in an educational space. A New York state native, he was an associate rabbi/educator at Pittsburgh’s Temple Sinai congregation for 10 years, starting around 1996, and also worked in a pastoral capacity for a small congregation of 150 households in Newburg, New York, about 60 miles north of Manhattan. Then, he heard about J-JEP, which now has an enrollment of about 130 children. “This opportunity came up, the job presented itself — and I love doing education,” Freedman said. “I said, ‘I’ve got to get back to that.’” 2023 presents a lot of opportunities
ducators and spiritual leaders are planting the seeds for a meaningful Tu B’Shevat. The Jewish holiday, which celebrates the birthday of trees and promotes ecological awareness — often through eating figs, dates and other fruit — begins the evening of Feb. 5. Though weeks remain until carob lovers can officially rejoice, Pittsburghers are already preparing. On Feb. 2, Chani Altein, co-director of Chabad of Squirrel Hill, and Sue Berman Kress are hosting a Tu B’Shevat-inspired event. Kress is a master challah baker who has previously taught community members how to make holiday-themed bread. Altein is an author and Jewish educator. The two women are partnering on what Altein billed as a fun educational evening: While Altein shares lessons about Tu B’Shevat, Kress will instruct participants on creating grape-shaped challah. Grapes, Altein noted, are one of seven biblical species — the other six are wheat, barley, figs, olives, dates and pomegranates. Tradition teaches that there are several ways to celebrate Tu B’Shevat, but one holiday custom is eating and enjoying “at least some of the seven species that Israel is praised for,” Altein said.
Please see School, page 11
Please see Tu B’Shevat , page 11
Photo courtesy of Rabbi Larry Freedman
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