Center Puts Chassidus Into Play

By COLlive reporter

Children are taught that Hashem created the universe, but how can young students fully grasp the greatness of Hashem and the Jewish people’s survival throughout the ages?

The Baal Shem Tov’s answer is simple: Tell them stories.

The Lamplighters Yeshivah boys school in Crown Heights, using Montessori Methodology, has introduced new ways to use the power of inspirational stories to teach children.

One such work was on display this summer on Eastern Parkway with a long black rope stretching the full length of an full city block, ending with a red rope. The giant rope conveyed magnitude of time, of the generations which built up over time to ready the world for Moshiach, bringing them to the point where they stand at the last little bit of rope – their place in the world – beckoning a new, G-dly era.

This “impressionistic lesson” is only one of the many Jewish-Montessori lessons designed by Moshe and Rivka Schack, the educational directors of Lamplighters Yeshivah, a demonstration school in Crown Heights for Chassidic al-pi-darko education.

The Schacks are a dynamic couple whose drive to develop exemplary Jewish education led them to open one of the first Jewish Montessori schools and to begin one of the only comprehensive Jewish-Montessori straining programs in the world.

This summer, the Schacks ran their second year of the training for their Center of Jewish Montessori Development (CJMD) in which they provided teachers from Lamplighters Yeshivah and other schools with a basic understanding of the methodology of the method as it is adapted to Jewish and Chassidic teachings.

It was this passion for chinuch-al-pi-darko and creating a replicable model of education that propelled the Schacks and the staff at Lamplighters Yeshivah to create a robust teacher-training program.

This summer, the training for Primary teachers was open to everyone and mandatory for the teachers at Lamplighters. The training ran for three weeks in August and hosted teachers, educational directors, and shluchos from across the world who have a strong interest in chinuch-al-pi-darko, currently teach in Montessori schools, or are planning on opening their own centers.

The training covered both the theoretical aspects and practical elements of Montessori and Jewish academic thought and gave the teachers real-life experiences in developing their own Jewish Montessori lessons.

Trainees spent some time researching Montessori and Jewish/Chabad teachings and also worked on creating her own Jewish lessons adhering to Montessori principles. Given the general rise of Jewish Montessori schools, the training allows for a level of professionalism without years of education and with a targeted approach for Jewish Montessori schools.

“As early childhood educators, the CJMD provided a remarkably enlightening and satisfying experience by sharing with us their innovative curriculum and system of instruction,” shared Nechamy Segal, a local educator and Crown Heights resident who attended the summer training.

“CJMD provided the tools and wisdom so that we can effectively educate our children to serve Hashem with joy and study His Torah with pleasure. We cannot accomplish this by just being good; we learned how to go the extra mile to ensure each child’s success. Remaining true to our Jewish core while integrating everything we know about children enables us to dedicate our work sincerely for the sake of Heaven. So re-energizing!”

The Schacks feel strongly that the best way for teachers to learn is by being put in the place of their future students, so each morning the trainees file in as students, choose an independent project from the shelves and work on it while supervised by the training directors. Afterward, the trainees grouped together to speak about their experience: how it felt to choose from the many works, what skills they think the work developed, the purpose of the work, and the environment lent by the “teachers.”

“I’m very cerebral, bookish but there’s something that makes this different,” commented Ilana Spencer, a teacher at Lamplighters who attended the CJMD training in July 2012. “You can read about the nefesh habahamis your whole life and then you see it in this context and you think of it in a way you’ve never thought of it before.”

“The way that the Schacks were teaching about Tanya and chassidus…they drew a huge map of the human body and in middle they placed a gas lamp that’s turned on, and that’s the neshama – I’m getting chills just thinking about it. What struck me is every person can benefit from this.”

Currently, the Schacks are conducting an Elementary teachers training for their Rebbes and for their Morahs at Lamplighters Yeshivah. The intensive training is preparing the teachers in Montessori methodology and the CJMD’s own tried and tested curriculum for elementary classes in secular and Judaic subjects including kriah, ksiva, chumash, Mishnah and chassidus.