Rabbi Moishe and Layah Kievman, director and education director at Chabad Chayil-Highland Lakes in North Miami Beach, Fla., started their Hebrew school like most others, offering a day or two a week after school with a traditional curriculum.
They had some students, but knew that in their heavily Jewish neighborhood, there were many more youngsters who could benefit from a strong afterschool program.
So they took a gamble and threw out the playbook for running a Hebrew school, and instituted CHAP, Community Hebrew Afterschool Program. Offered every afternoon in a recently built public elementary-school building, the program features all kinds of extracurricular activities—arts, drama, sports, music—help with homework, and, of course, Jewish studies.
“Every activity has a Jewish component,” explains Layah Kievman. “The kids are totally immersed in Jewish programs five days a week. They daven and learn the alef-bet. Because it has all the different components, it appeals to students and parents, even those who wouldn’t necessarily be looking for a daily Judaic program.”
For instance, she says, a game of ball may involve the use of the Hebrew alphabet, and the children “don’t feel like they are learning because they are having fun.” Same goes with making challah, food projects and holiday crafts, as well as listening to Jewish music.
The Kievmans also made the program convenient for parents—particularly those with children at the Aventura Waterways K-8 Center, which has a significant Jewish population—by offering their program within the same public-school building. The Chabad center is just across the street; it’s also centrally located between several other public schools.
Held Monday through Friday, CHAP begins at 1:40 p.m. for the youngest set (then staggered for later grades) and lasts until 6 p.m. (ending earlier on Friday afternoons in the winter, according to the timing of Shabbat). Parents are free to pick and choose the amount of hours their children participate in the program and which days their children attend.
“I absolutely love everything about it,” gushes Hannah Schorr, 13, who will be completing the Hebrew-school program this year. “I love my teachers, my friends. I’ve been going there for about three years, and everyone there is like family. The curriculum is wonderful, and they teach it in a way that’s fun.”
Location Fits the Bill
The appeal of such flexibility speaks volumes.
When the Kievmans first started the program eight years ago, fewer than a dozen students signed on. By the end of the school year, that number had more than doubled to 27 youngsters. This year, a whopping 200 kids are enrolled in the program.
They add that they were fortunate enough to purchase the new Chabad House location around the same time that the Aventura Waterways center was built. “We were there the day it opened,” recalls Layah Kievman, noting that about 25 percent of the school’s student body is Jewish.
Since the public school was open to having its classrooms rented out in the afternoons, the Kievmans were able to lease the space for its Hebrew school. (During school hours, according to the Anti-Defamation League, U.S. government policy states that “outside religious organizations and clubs must not meet at public schools. After school hours, such groups may meet at a public school only if the school permits other outside clubs and organizations to meet at the same time and does not endorse the club’s religious activity.”)
Operating inside Aventura Waterways almost since the get-go also helped create a trust with parents, attests Kievman: “The fact that it was hosted in a public school gave families a comfort level.
A Social and Religious Outlet
For Jennifer Vega of Aventura, Fla., whose 6-year-old daughter Farah attends Aventura Waterways and the CHAP program, having her child in one location all day is a real benefit.
“It was a blessing for me to find Chabad,” says Vega, who was introduced to the program by a friend whose children also go there. “I like the fact that my daughter enjoys the [Jewish] holidays and comes home with arts-and-crafts based on them. They keep the religious aspect strong.”
And, yes, they do offer an option for those who still prefer a one-day-a-week Hebrew school. “We have found that families want more afterschool activities as opposed to programs on Sundays, when they have family time,” says Kievman. “That’s why they want a midweek program, even if they are coming just once a week.”
Hannah Schorr’s mother, Margaret, notes that in addition to being a great social outlet, “the program provides her with really great Judaic-studies opportunities.”
“The focus is child-centric. One of the things I love about Chabad is that everything they do is done in a gentle and loving way,” she continues.
“They don’t say, ‘Do this or you’re a bad person.’ Rather, they say this is such a wonderful way to live, a wonderful tradition, a wonderful aspect of your history and your heritage.”
For more information about CHAP, see: www.hebrewschool.info.
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