Jews Education

Uniting antiquity and modernity, the Orthodox Emek Hebrew Academy of Sherman Oaks will dedicate a state-of-the-art learning center Thursday, complete with some 80 Internet-capable computers. Dancing with the Torah, placing it in the arc and hanging a mezuzah at the entrance to each room, students, teachers and dignitaries will gather for the center's grand opening. Then they'll fire up their Pentiums.

What does Feng Shui, the ancient Chinese science of creating a harmonious environment, have in common with Jewish sensibilities? Enough, apparently, to fill a six-week course this fall. The class, "Eco-Kosher and Feng Shui," is one of several being offered in Agoura Hills and Thousand Oaks by the Conejo Valley Consortium for Adult Jewish Education. On Thursday, the series begins with a lecture on "The Tao of Judaism" at Temple Beth Haverim in Agoura Hills.

The government is barring 21 Orthodox Jewish schools from federal student aid programs on grounds they provide only "avocational" training. To be eligible for student aid money, schools must provide education that leads to a degree or certificate and "prepares students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation." The schools, all but one in New York City, were first told they might not be eligible for continued aid last October and were allowed a chance to appeal.

Saying they hope to produce students with strong minds and kind souls, founders of the Milken Community High School of Stephen Wise Temple dedicated their new campus Sunday in a celebration that honored Jewish history and religion. Rabbis and financial backers officially opened the $30-million campus, the nation's largest non-Orthodox Jewish high school, where ancient Jewish traditions share classrooms with modern disciplines like robotics and biotechnology.

Six-year-old Michael Wagman, blond and impish and bright, loves school. He knows his ABCs, and he's learning how to read, word by word, the way most American kids do--left to right. Michael also knows aleph-bet-gimmel, the first three letters of the Hebrew alphabet. And in his first-grade class at the Menorah Community Day School in Redondo Beach he's learning how to read the Hebrew way--from right to left.

Saying they hope to produce students with strong minds and kind souls, founders of the Milken Community High School of Stephen Wise Temple dedicated their new campus Sunday in a celebration that honored Jewish history and religion. Rabbis and financial backers officially opened the $30-million campus, the nation's largest non-Orthodox Jewish high school, where ancient Jewish traditions share classrooms with modern disciplines like robotics and biotechnology.

Eleven-year-old Shayna McCormack has never been to Israel. But for a day, she got a taste of what it is like. Monday afternoon, teachers, parents and students at the Hebrew Academy, a Jewish day school, transformed the playground into a pseudo-Israeli market--with signs in Hebrew, backdrops of the Western Wall hanging behind carnival booths, and teachers and students alike speaking only in Hebrew . . . at least as much as they could.

Motorists on the San Diego Freeway may think that a 15-acre construction site in Sepulveda Pass is just one more plot of parched earth. But to Uri Herscher, executive president of Hebrew Union College, the dusty site is akin to the Promised Land. It's the future home of the college's Skirball Cultural Center, a $55-million complex designed to celebrate Jewish-American experience. Foundations are now being laid for the 130,000-square-foot project, just west of the freeway at Mulholland Drive.

Five times each school year, star wide receiver Todd Fenton of Notre Dame High is required to attend a Catholic service at the Sherman Oaks campus. Each morning, before class begins, he respectfully stands for the pledge of allegiance and listens to a prayer read over the intercom. "In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. . . ." Fenton enrolled at Notre Dame three years ago because of its strong academic reputation and successful sports program.

For decades, Bar-Ilan University has seen itself as one of the few institutional bridges between religious and secular Jews in this nation's increasingly polarized society. A visitor strolling across its sprawling campus can see observant Jewish men in skullcaps and women in head scarves walking amicably with their secular, bare-headed classmates.

Five times each school year, star wide receiver Todd Fenton of Notre Dame High is required to attend a Catholic service at the Sherman Oaks campus. Each morning, before class begins, he respectfully stands for the pledge of allegiance and listens to a prayer read over the intercom. "In the name of the Father, and of the Son and of the Holy Spirit. . . ." Fenton enrolled at Notre Dame three years ago because of its strong academic reputation and successful sports program.

When Irving Gellman founded Tarbut V'Torah Community Day School six years ago, it opened with just 37 pupils. This fall, the hilly 10-acre campus south of Irvine has 340 students--up from summer enrollment of 190. "We can't figure it out," Gellman said. "I have been around in Jewish education for 35 years, and I have never seen such growth in any school." The increase is not unique, though. Across the nation, thousands of children are swelling the ranks at Jewish day schools.

Six-year-old Michael Wagman, blond and impish and bright, loves school. He knows his ABCs, and he's learning how to read, word by word, the way most American kids do--left to right. Michael also knows aleph-bet-gimmel, the first three letters of the Hebrew alphabet. And in his first-grade class at the Menorah Community Day School in Redondo Beach he's learning how to read the Hebrew way--from right to left.

Uniting antiquity and modernity, the Orthodox Emek Hebrew Academy of Sherman Oaks will dedicate a state-of-the-art learning center Thursday, complete with some 80 Internet-capable computers. Dancing with the Torah, placing it in the arc and hanging a mezuzah at the entrance to each room, students, teachers and dignitaries will gather for the center's grand opening. Then they'll fire up their Pentiums.

For decades, Bar-Ilan University has seen itself as one of the few institutional bridges between religious and secular Jews in this nation's increasingly polarized society. A visitor strolling across its sprawling campus can see observant Jewish men in skullcaps and women in head scarves walking amicably with their secular, bare-headed classmates.

The government is barring 21 Orthodox Jewish schools from federal student aid programs on grounds they provide only "avocational" training. To be eligible for student aid money, schools must provide education that leads to a degree or certificate and "prepares students for gainful employment in a recognized occupation." The schools, all but one in New York City, were first told they might not be eligible for continued aid last October and were allowed a chance to appeal.

A student who gives his name only as Peyman remembers that it took 27 hours to slip out of Iran on camel back. "It hurts on your back and it hurts where you sit," he said. "Sometimes soldiers came from Pakistan and from Iran to check on the border. We walked in the night. We could not see anything and did not know what was going to happen. There were mountains all around and big spotlights and helicopters."

When Irving Gellman founded Tarbut V'Torah Community Day School six years ago, it opened with just 37 pupils. This fall, the hilly 10-acre campus south of Irvine has 340 students--up from summer enrollment of 190. "We can't figure it out," Gellman said. "I have been around in Jewish education for 35 years, and I have never seen such growth in any school." The increase is not unique, though. Across the nation, thousands of children are swelling the ranks at Jewish day schools.

Eleven-year-old Shayna McCormack has never been to Israel. But for a day, she got a taste of what it is like. Monday afternoon, teachers, parents and students at the Hebrew Academy, a Jewish day school, transformed the playground into a pseudo-Israeli market--with signs in Hebrew, backdrops of the Western Wall hanging behind carnival booths, and teachers and students alike speaking only in Hebrew . . . at least as much as they could.

Motorists on the San Diego Freeway may think that a 15-acre construction site in Sepulveda Pass is just one more plot of parched earth. But to Uri Herscher, executive president of Hebrew Union College, the dusty site is akin to the Promised Land. It's the future home of the college's Skirball Cultural Center, a $55-million complex designed to celebrate Jewish-American experience. Foundations are now being laid for the 130,000-square-foot project, just west of the freeway at Mulholland Drive.