Hebrew College Today - The Prozdor Phenomenon

BY DEBORAH SOSIN
Berkowitz photograph by Dan Vaillancourt
Group photograph by Jim Webber

Like most teens, Hayley Russman would rather sleep in on the weekends. But when her alarm clock buzzed at 7:30 one Sunday morning in September 1999, she got up and out of the house, not complaining about the 40-minute bus ride from Canton to Brookline.

"My parents wanted me to further my Jewish education and, with everything going on, heading into high school, attending Prozdor wasn't my top choice of Sunday activities," says Russman, looking back. "But my town is not very Jewish and my only Jewish friends were from summer camp, so I figured I'd be with other Jewish kids."

By her junior and final year, Russman, now 16 and a 2002 graduate, still didn't love the early wake-up call. But she loved Prozdor. She'd made new friends, performed at Israeli dance festivals, participated in a social justice project in Washington, D.C., and joined a thriving young Jewish community. Russman had made the Prozdor connection. And she's not alone.

"Our primary responsibility is to transmit and deepen Jewish identity. Identity means individuality."

The numbers say it all: enrollments at Hebrew College's Prozdor high school program have exploded over the past five years, from 177 students in 1997 to over 700 teens from 50 different Metro Boston communities this fall. Central to that exponential growth are individualized and diverse programs, experienced faculty and staff, and a klal Yisrael environment geared not only to teens like Russman, who seek year-round affiliation beyond camp, but those of all backgrounds, observance levels and learning styles.

Freedom and choice are at the heart of Prozdor's success. "Historically, Jewish high school education was a fixed package, transmitting a certain body of knowledge with certain expectations. You just had to take it the way it was," says Marjorie Tarmy Berkowitz, Prozdor's Director since 1998, and a Prozdor and Hebrew College alumna. "Working with such a diverse population of sophisticated and, in many cases, overscheduled kids, our primary responsibility is to transmit and deepen Jewish identity. Identity means individuality. One way to deepen identity is to reach a kid's soul—to provide opportunities for any child to access Judaism by connecting our program with his or her special interests."

Along with fulfilling core course requirements at every grade level, students may select from a range of electives taught by over 50 faculty members on campus at Hebrew College and at branches in Cambridge, Canton, Lexington, Marblehead, Natick and Needham. Within the four- or six-hour programs—including a comprehensive curriculum of courses in Jewish ethics, Israel, values, culture, history and religion, and Hebrew language—choices abound.

Flipping through the catalog, students may encounter classes such as Red, White and Blue: Israel and the United States, Being a Jewish Teen, Rappin' with Rashi or Introduction to Jewish Philosophy. Art and music electives are popular, including the Prozdor Klezmer Band and Nilhav, Prozdor's Israeli dance troupe, which performs at dance festivals throughout the region. Serious art students may enroll in the Rimonim program at the Leventhal-Sidman Jewish Community Center in Newton, an in-depth exploration of the arts through a variety of media and with a Judaic perspective.

Trips and Shabbatonim enhance students' social and learning experiences—this year, Newport, R.I., and Montreal top the list of destinations. Of special note, some Prozdor students and staff will travel to Haifa in November as part of the Boston-Haifa program; 25 high school students from Haifa's Alliance School will spend Hanukkah with Prozdor families.

Students interested in rigorous text study may enroll in Tochnit Talmud Torah, a specialized, six-hour curriculum taught chevruta style; others choose Masoret, a new, intensive, self-directed seminar for highly motivated students, which drew 35 teens last year. "Flexibility is key," says Berkowitz. "For instance, some do well with language, others not so well. Although Hebrew language study is no longer a requirement, a majority of students enroll and are succeeding in the program." Notably, Prozdor is one of only two non–day school sites in the country chosen by the NETA Hebrew Language Project, a national venture based at Hebrew College and funded by The AVI CHAI Foundation, for teaching Hebrew language in Jewish high schools. (See NETA Pilot at Prozdor.)

So strong is the Prozdor connection that nearly a third of the 2002 graduating class—35 high school seniors—have returned to campus this year for a senior seminar on Jewish education, geared toward their future goal of teaching religious school while attending college.

"Every kid can find a way of personalizing the Prozdor experience," says Berkowitz. "Some get excited about a subject; others find a faculty member who can truly influence their life and affect them as an authentic role model. Our faculty are as diverse as the kids—we have a wide range of religious and culturally identified Jews, from left-wing kibbutzniks to a habad rabbi."

For most faculty, teaching at Prozdor is a second job. "I would teach at Prozdor for free," says Geoff Berdy, an assistant director at the Anti-Defamation League and regular faculty member since 1997. "In my philosophy class, I encourage critical thinking and questioning, and then I step back and watch. After the September 11 attacks, we talked a lot about whether there is such a thing as evil. Today's kids live in a complicated world, without a lot of absolutes. Their sophistication and intellectual curiosity is impressive—and Prozdor is a safe place for them to probe deeply and be accepted for who they are."

Beginning this year, Prozdor's new Academic Director, Mark Rosenberg, who brings many years of experience as a Jewish educator, will oversee faculty activities, refining protocols and guidelines. "At first I'll observe and learn what's happening in the classroom," he says, "with a goal of offering hands-on supervision and learning where we can improve and what we are already doing well. Above all, we need to maintain high quality while continuing to innovate and think out of the box so that even our most motivated students will be challenged and nurtured."

Among the staff, including Assistant Director Bil Zarch and Program Director Ruthie Strosberg, teamwork keeps the wheels turning. "We constantly check in and ask ourselves, 'How can we stay fresh? How can we pique the kids' interests, meet their needs?'" says Zarch, whose uncanny memory for details about each student's and family's life adds to the community's sense of belonging.

From the parent's perspective, Hayley Russman's mother, Elyse Levin-Russman, who helped establish Prozdor's Canton branch, expresses a common view among Prozdor mothers and fathers: "You just try and stack the deck—give them as many opportunities as you can find and they'll come to their Jewish identity on their own."

Looking ahead, Berkowitz says, "Now that we've found a way to meet our community's needs, sadly, we have to turn families away because there's simply no space, even at the new campus."

As she eagerly awaits the next phase of campus expansion, Berkowitz can be proud that her efforts to help teens build a lifelong Jewish identity are reaping great rewards. "Being part of Prozdor made me feel part of the Jewish community," says Hayley Russman, whose brother, Adam, 13, began Prozdor's eighth-grade class this fall. "The connection doesn't stop when you graduate. You take what you learn and expand it. I always want to stay involved."