For three years, Beth El Ner Tamid Synagogue and Congregation Beth Israel collaborated in running the Beth Torah Religious School to provide supplementary Jewish religious education for children from both synagogues and for some that belonged to neither.
That school, however, will close after this academic year, and the two synagogues will resume individual programs this fall.
Beth Torah principal Sharon Wasserberg and representatives of the two synagogues emphasized that the project is not ending because anybody was unhappy with the school, which this year has more than 100 students in grades K-4 through tenth, with roughly equal participation from both shuls.
“The decision had nothing to do with the quality of the program,” said Wasserberg.
“Everybody was pleased with the quality of the education and people liked me.”
Donald Bass, of Beth Israel, one of the two co-chairs of Beth Torah, said the school “was satisfying the educational needs of our synagogue, our families, our students and our teachers.”
Ava Bortin, the previous co-chair from Beth El, agreed. “We felt the program was of high quality,” she said, and praised Wasserberg, who “did a terrific job as administrator.”
However, Beth El decided it wanted to follow a philosophy of Jewish education that was both broader and more focused on Beth El members, according to Bortin.
“We wanted to implement a lifelong learning concept that emphasized intergenerational learning, and that would include religious school age children, post bar and bat mitzvah children, adult education and family education,” said Bortin.
“We also wished to coordinate our educational programs with other synagogue activities, such as the Men’s Club, the Sisterhood and other arms of the synagogue,” Bortin continued. This would be difficult to do in coordination with another synagogue, she said.
Finally, Bortin said, Beth El “promotes the idea of learning, practicing and then praying … getting our children and families into our services to practice what they learned.”
Bortin said that Beth El began considering its withdrawal from Beth Torah “with the last evaluation” the synagogue had of the program this past December. At the end of January, Beth El’s board of trustees voted to discontinue its participation in Beth Torah, and the synagogue notified Beth Israel before the end of February. Naomi Berkowitz will be Beth El’s new education director beginning July 1.
Bass said that Beth Israel officials were “surprised and disappointed to hear of Beth El’s decision.” Nevertheless, Beth Israel “has moved on and is viewing this as an opportunity to reestablish excellence in our own educational program,” Bass said.
“We are committed to providing an excellent educational program that feeds off the high energy that we currently have in our synagogue,” Bass said.
He added that Beth Israel, in planning its program and searching for a new education director, will use resources from the United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism, the umbrella organization of Conservative movement synagogues, of which Beth Israel is the only Milwaukee-area member.
Meanwhile, Beth Torah classes will continue “with no adjustment in standards or change of pace” until the official end-of-the-year picnic on May 22, Wasserberg said.
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