In my 36 years as director of Abrams Hebrew Academy I have wrestled with the issue of making prayers relevant to our day school students. The children are young, and they have many other things on their minds besides praying. That being said, we are proud that we have a viable minyan every morning and are able to provide services to area community members who want a minyan to attend. This past year we were particularly honored that noted attorney Allen Rothenberg attended our daily prayers.
In my search for a way to make prayers more relevant to our students I found a wonderful new prayer book called the Nehalel Siddur, devised by Michael Haruni. This Siddur incorporates beautiful photographs and illustrations into the prayer text, highlighting key passages. The Siddur took Michael Haruni 8 years to complete, and it is an inspiring Zionistic work of art that presents the traditional prayers in a contemporary way. I believe that it is a prayer book with which the students can relate, and I myself use it for daily prayers and own the Sabbath Siddur, as well. I met with Michael in Jerusalem this past spring, and he gives day schools a very fair price to purchase the Nehalel Siddurs for their students.
This year I will also be using a new textbook to teach my 8th grade class about Israel. It is entitled “Return to Zion,†and written by Eric Gartman. The book covers the history of Israel from the late 19th century to the present. In today’s world, when Israel is so often criticized, particularly on college campuses, it is important for our Jewish students to really know the history of Israel and its struggle to come into existence and to survive. Mr. Gartman has written an insightful and knowledgeable book about Israel that students will find very readable. I will use this book as a text so that when our 8th grade class goes to Israel for our annual graduation trip this year that will go as well-educated students who know about Israel before they visit. I commend Mr. Gartman for his well-written book and thank JPS for making the books affordable to day schools.
Rabbi Ira Budow
Director, Abrams Hebrew Academy
Edited 1 time(s). Last edit at 07/15/2016 12:09PM by mlb.
