Roy and Sandra Reuveni chat with Hebrew High Schoolers at Society Hill Synagogue
| intergenerational programs |
| Israel's Jewish Cultural Tapestry: Generations Communicate May, June 2006 |
|
In a program designed by Drexel’s Judaic Studies Program, local Philadelphia residents who have lived in Israel shared their experiences with 8th and 10th graders in the Society Hill Synagogue Hebrew School, alongside Drexel University students. Members of different generations in a given family discussed with the children how they maintained their cultural inheritance in Israel, and then after immigrating to the US. In advance of these meetings, the Hebrew school teachers prepared students with background material on the subject. The focus of the program was to learn about the different Jewish ethnic groups and subcultures that coexist in Israeli society from a personal perspective, and to understand the immigrant experience of Israeli Jews of different backgrounds in the USA. Following the intergenerational classes, the Hebrew school pupils, college students, and community guests chatted informally over supper. | |
| The intergenerational project, called “The Israeli Jewish Cultural Tapestry: Generations Communicate,” was organized in conjunction with the Drexel University course, The Jewish Cultural Tapestry, which focuses on the folk traditions of the various Jewish subcultures the world over. The course was taught, and the project created, by Dr. Rakhmiel Peltz, Director of Judaic Studies at Drexel University. Drexel University Judaic Studies students studied the "big" uniting Jewish traditions that all Jews share, as well as the "little" local traditions that have been retained and had helped to sustain Jewish life. The Drexel students got the opportunity to see how a synagogue school functions and to meet local community members of different ages who come from Israel. |
Roy and Sandra Reuveni chat with Hebrew High Schoolers at Society Hill Synagogue |
 Middle Eastern/Sephardic band, Divahn |
The entire program culminated in a concert on Sunday, June 4, at Drexel Unversity. The concert, “Tsiyon: Israel’s Jewish Cultural Tapestry in Song and Music” included Yiddish, Hebrew, and Ladino song (plus Arabic and Turkish) sung by tenor Richard Lenatsky, the Congregation Beth-Am Israel Choir (directed by Alexander Botwinik), and featured the first visit to Philadelphia of Divahn, an all-female ensemble of musicians and singers specializing in contemporary Mizrakhi and Sephardic sound (led by Galeet Dardashti). | |