“We take requests, but be careful, because we might give them back,” joked Marc Revenson, music teacher from the Milwaukee Jewish Day School as he accepted a request for the “Dreidel Song” from JCC Senior Center member Jerry Wolkenstein last Tuesday.
Revenson and Hazzan Carey Cohen led MJDS’s third-grade class in a post-Chanukah concert and get-together at the center as part of the school’s annual intergenerational program, now celebrating its tenth year.
After performing in the Rubenstein Pavilion at the Weinberg Jewish Terrace, the students and seniors shared lunch, and the students interviewed the adults, trying to capture a picture of the past.
The relationship grows through the children’s school year, usually beginning in September, when they write letters to the older adults (though this year’s early high holidays left no time for the usual activity); through Purim, when the children send mishloach manot and to Pesach, when they celebrate a shared seder.
The students asked a smattering of down-to-earth questions in their one-on-one interviews last week, from “When did you move to Milwaukee?” to “What was school like then?” Though forthcoming about sharing their stories, many of the adults were left scratching their heads when asked, “When did you first get a television?”
“When they see the students, it puts adrenaline in their veins,” said Myra Steiner, senior center program coordinator. “They love the students. Their stories are fascinating … and [the students] want to learn from the events and circumstances that brought them here.”
For the students, the program is not just about learning history, according to Roz Barland, the Jewish studies teacher who spearheaded the program and continues to run it annually. “The value is in meeting and talking with adults, giving without asking anything in return. They’re giving of themselves,” she explained.
The program is part of the Jewish studies curriculum that teaches hadarta p’nei zaken, bringing joy to the faces of the elders, and working to make the world a better place, Barland said.
Besides, she added, “Some of the kids don’t have grandparents [here. At this program,] they sit and really form friendships. They love it.”
Back in the classroom, the students spend a lesson with Barland discussing the experience. They also prepare a report with information learned in the interview. The program correlates to two other units learned: Old Milwaukee and the Jews of Milwaukee.
Senior center member Jean Frey said that though she has two great-grandchildren, neither of them lives locally. “It’s a wonderful feeling to be with those children. I enjoy it very much,” she said.
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