'We water each flower separately': Innovative Jewish education board marks 100th anniversary
It long has been the Board of Jewish Education's model to innovate programs and "when the need is met by the community, we move on to something else," said Alan Brown of Winnetka, board vice president.
First formed as the Jewish Education Committee in 1923 then incorporated three years later as the Jewish Board of Education of Metropolitan Chicago, the independent nonprofit will mark its 100th year with a celebration on Sunday.
"Honoring the Past, Building the Future" will be held starting 4 p.m. Sunday at the DoubleTree Hotel, 9599 Skokie Blvd., Skokie.
"A big part of it is honoring individuals who have been exemplary in contributions to the Jewish community," said board President Dr. Michael Halpern of Deerfield, a retired obstetrician of 42 years with Northwestern Memorial Hospital. His wife, Toby, taught with the board for 25 years.
Speakers will include Irving Cutler, a World War II veteran, author, teacher, former president of the Geographic Society of Chicago and a founding member of the Chicago Jewish Historical Society. A recipient of the L'dor V'dor award ("from generation to generation"), Cutler also is celebrating his 100th birthday.
Sherwin Pomerantz, former Jewish education board president and former president of the Maine Township Jewish Congregation-Shaare Emet, will lead an informal panel discussion of Jewish life in Chicago over the past century. Pomerantz, who moved to Israel from Chicago 39 years ago, has had a long career in state, regional and international trade and economic development.
Also, attorney Alex Garel-Frantzen, author of "Gangsters & Organized Crime in Jewish Chicago," will make a presentation on that topic.
The overriding message of Sunday's celebration and fundraiser is "to highlight progress over 100 years and stress what we have been in the past and what we are in the present, and some of our vision for the future," Halpern said.
Information on attending is available at bjechicago.org.
Beginning with the 1924 establishment of the College of Jewish Studies in Chicago, the predecessor to the Spertus Institute for Jewish Learning & Leadership, the Jewish Board of Education has created a variety of schools, summer camps and teacher-training programs at different locations.
It started after studies showed only 21% of Jewish elementary schoolchildren received any kind of Jewish education, according to the nonprofit's website.
"When the board was founded in 1923 it was the first of its kind in doing just about everything it did. It was the community coming together to try to support Jewish education in Chicago," Brown said.
Since closing a half-day early childhood center in Northbrook in 2022, the Board of Jewish Education operates its Early Childhood Center for children 6 weeks to 5 years old at 3220 Big Tree Lane, Wilmette. It leases office space at Congregation Anshe Tikvah, 3320 Dundee Road, Northbrook, where the board previously ran its half-day center.
For the past several years, the board's emphasis has been on its Early Childhood Center and on its online educational resource, JTeach.org.
JTeach.org, rebranded in 2020 from the Frank G. Marshall Jewish Learning Center, offers more than 500 original lessons among a wealth of resources accessed by visitors and educators from 133 countries or territories.
"JTeach is an online presence of many subjects related to Jewish wisdom, culture, current events and how it affects our daily life. We've had contact and downloads from across the world. It's very exciting," Halpern said.
The school, which Brown stressed is "open to everyone," is rooted in Jewish values and the Reggio Emilia model of childhood development, which the board introduced in its early childhood centers in 1994. This philosophy is child-centered, child-directed.
As an example, following the SpaceX "Starship" launch on April 20, the board's early childhood center students wanted to build their own rocket. The ensuing project required planning, teamwork and communication, drawing and motor skills.
"If you think of each child as a flower, we water each flower separately rather than sort of aiming at the whole group," said Brown, who added the emphasis is on socialization and building self-esteem.
All this costs money, particularly when paying teachers decently, providing benefits and trying to realize Halpern's "dream" to offer tuition based on "what people can afford" rather than on a set rate.
Most of the revenue for the Board of Jewish Education's Early Childhood Center comes from tuition with the balance from grants, a handful of generous benefactors and events such as Sunday's anniversary celebration and a June 30 golf outing.
"We need scholarship money so parents can afford it and teachers can be paid what they need to be paid," Brown said. "We're doing our best to provide a service that is needed, and being economically viable. That's the challenge moving forward."