The Howard Simons Mensch program was created to instill inter-personal social and emotional skills into the hearts and minds of Temple Beth Sholom’s nursery and religious school children. The program is named after congregant Howard Simons who passed away in 2013, and is remembered for his encouragement of educating young people to appreciate life.
 

From Nursery School to High School, the program aims to provide our young members with the necessary relational skills to navigate their challenging world. Importantly, all of the skills are contextualized through their connection to Jewish values and ideas.

The program has become an integral part of our religious schools environment. Whether through specific curriculum dealing with issues such as active listening, personal awareness and sensitivity to the other, through our educators’ individual initiatives or through sessions with Rabbi Leiken, the program permeates through our walls and is beginning to make a true difference in the way young people perceive the entire synagogue environment. The Mensch program has even inspired parents to begin attending sessions with their children, to begin the creation of a Family Volunteer Program that will bring families together to work on a collaborative project benefitting the entire community and to build a collective 7th grade Mitzvah Project for B’nei Mitzvah students to work together.
 

The program will eventually include professional development for educators from organizations such as Facing History and Ourselves (an organization which understands the Shoah through the lens of human behavior) and the Right Question Institute (an organization which has developed curriculum teaching children how to ask good questions). It will also include more opportunities for family re-enforcement at home and new means of experiential learning.
 

Ultimately, the Mensch program is aimed at revolutionizing Jewish education by focusing on its relevancy to our children’s modern life. While we continue to teach our children about how to be Jewish through Hebrew literacy, Jewish historical education and beyond, Mensch focuses on teaching our children about WHY to be Jewish.
 

We hope the program will eventually become a model for other communities in their quest to build a relationship between families, children and our Jewish tradition.