How do you successfully adapt an ancient scholarly tradition to the notoriously hectic schedules and short attention spans of modern American adults?
And how do you get people into classes and hold their attention, particularly if they are unaffiliated or non-practicing Jews and going to a synagogue is not part of their regular lifestyle?
The challenges seem large, and yet adult education is a thriving component of programming at many Bay Area synagogues.
The Jewish tradition of learning and questioning is not surprising, explains Barbara Oldershaw, program coordinator at Kehilla Community Synagogue.
“It’s interesting when you think about it,” she said. “I mean, the Torah is only five books, but we have hundreds of books commenting on and interpreting the Torah.”
Kehilla, a congregation in Piedmont affiliated with the Renewal movement, draws Jews and interfaith families from all over the Bay Area and believes in “stretching the envelope of Jewish learning,” she said.
So it wasn’t much of a stretch — pardon the pun — for Kehilla to come up with a class called “Yoga and Torah: Counting the Omer.” In this class, two teachers in the synagogue’s bat mitzvah program (who are also yoga instructors) used yoga postures to illustrate the ritual of counting the Omer. They then discussed how the movements related to principles from the Torah.
At Congregation Adath Israel, a Modern Orthodox congregation in San Francisco, Rabbi Joshua Strulowitz strives to engage adults by offering interesting classes, then bringing them to the people at times and places convenient for them. One of its courses, on Jewish business ethics, is taught at lunchtime in the Financial District.
Strulowitz relies on feedback from the congregation to make the classes work. For example, he split his class on the Talmud into two — one for men and one for women. “The women felt that they had a different learning style from the men and they requested their own class,” he said.
Congregation Kol Emeth, a Conservative synagogue serving 600 member families in Palo Alto, is located right next to Stanford University and doesn’t have the same need, or demand, for ongoing adult education classes. “We don’t want to compete with Hillel and with the university itself, which puts on so many excellent educational programs,” said Maureen Sullivan, Kol Emeth’s executive director.
Instead, Kol Emeth tends to offer one-time programs — often in concert with other congregations and centered around holidays. It recently hosted a three-day conference on “Rededication of the Soul,” featuring scholar David Foreman, who flew in from Israel.
Temple Beth Abraham, a Conservative congregation in Oakland, offers classes ranging from the basics of Judaism and Hebrew lessons to a Torah study group that meets once a week in a coffee shop in Montclair. Rabbi Mark Bloom takes suggestions from congregants about what they would like to learn, and the classes are open to anyone who is interested in attending.
Reform Congregation Emeth in Gilroy blends adult education with religious education for young people whenever possible. Classes on topics like Yiddish slang, Jewish current events and the basics of Reform Judaism are designed to be accessible and interesting to adults and teenagers alike.
Two Saturday-morning adult-only classes — one on leading prayer services, the other on writing a d’var Torah — also allow older congregants to study together.
None of these congregations overtly use adult education as a recruiting or marketing tool for growth. Rather, it is viewed as a natural way of reaching out to congregants and anyone else who is interested in Judaism as it relates to contemporary life.
Whether through ongoing classes or once-a-year events, or both, congregations are working diligently and successfully to keep their members engaged and involved in a lifelong commitment to Jewish learning.