Helping Jews get Judaism
Holiday Hebrew classes
By RUTH BASHINSKY
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

For Jews wishing to feel more connected to their roots in time for the High Holy Days, the National Jewish Outreach Program may have an answer.

Starting today, the organization will offer pre-Rosh Hashanah classes at 200 locations nationwide, including seven synagogues and Jewish centers in Queens.
Free courses in reading Hebrew and basic Judaism, and a one-day review of Hebrew reading, will be offered as a way to help Jews feel more comfortable in the synagogue.

"A feeling of discomfort is one of the most common reasons that Jews don't attend synagogue on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur," said Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald, founder and director of the program, which was formed to address the issues of Jewish assimilation and intermarriage.
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(Newark, NJ)
Sunday, September 07, 2003

EXCERPT

Shul shopping: Programs help unaffiliated Jews find a home for the High Holy Days

BY PATRICIA C. TURNER
Star-Ledger Staff
"Another effort to make it easier for Jews to return to their religious heritage is the annual free Hebrew courses offered at 14 locations around New Jersey and almost 200 nationwide by the National Jewish Outreach Program.

"A feeling of discomfort is one of the most common reasons Jews don't attend synagogue on Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur," said Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald, founder and director
of the outreach program, with headquarters in New York City.

The classes are designed "to help local Jews with little or no background in Judaism or the Hebrew language prepare for the High Holy Days. By participating in these programs now, individuals will be able to follow along in a prayer book and feel more connected to Judaism by Rosh Hashanah, which begins on the evening of Sept. 26."
Buchwald continued, "Often people feel intimidated because they can't follow along in a prayer book or they don't know the basics of Jewish life and worship. NJOP's goal is to make all Jews, regardless of their background or education, feel comfortable enough to go to the High Holiday service."

The Hebrew Reading Crash Course focuses on teaching the Hebrew alphabet and reading skills. In five 1 1/2-hour sessions, participants learn to read Hebrew and follow along in a prayer book. All students will receive a free copy of the outreach program's Hebrew primer, which will enable them to practice reading at home.

For those who completed the Crash Course in the past or already know how to read Hebrew, perhaps slowly, can take either a Level II Hebrew Reading Crash Course to advance their skills or the One Day Review to brush up before the holidays.

The National Jewish Outreach Program has also designed a Crash Course in Basic Judaism, five weekly lectures "providing a basic introduction to Jewish philosophy and observance," Buchwald said. "The up-beat course emphasizes the positive aspects of Jewish life."

Familiar sounds take on new meaning: Hebrew links students to roots
By Janet I. Tu
Seattle Times staff reporter

EXCERPT
"Standing before a large chart of the Hebrew alphabet, Charles Shifren leads a group of 11 adult students in reading aloud a line in Hebrew.

The students, faces scrunched in concentration, work their way through.
"That means: 'Let every living being praise the Lord, Hallelujah,' " Shifren tells them. "That comes directly from the Siddur - the prayer book. That's what you're hearing them sing in service."
Ahhh!, the students say, finally understanding something they've been uttering for years.

"Learning how to read the words and translate them makes the prayers so much more meaningful," said student Mike Zeno, 47, of Kirkland. "It just makes the services mean more."

That's the idea behind Read Hebrew America, a crash course in Hebrew sponsored by the New York-based National Jewish Outreach Program.

For six years, dozens of Jewish centers and synagogues in the United States and Canada have held the course each November so students will understand basic Hebrew in time for Hanukkah, the eight-day festival that begins at sundown tonight."

The Oklahoman
Hebrew literacy important part of Jewish life
2003-11-01
By Carla Hinton

IS it possible to learn to read a 5,000-year-old language in five easy lessons?

The National Jewish Outreach Program is teaching people to read Hebrew as part of its Read Hebrew America campaign in November.

The campaign offers four free classes at synagogues across the United States, Canada and other countries. The first one, the Hebrew Reading Crash Course, is designed for Jews with little or no Hebrew background.

The annual literacy effort has taught more than 165,000 North American Jews to read Hebrew, according to the Jewish Outreach Program.

A recent survey of Jewish life in America shows the need for the literacy program, said Rabbi Ephraim Buchwald, director of the National Jewish Outreach Program.

"The results of the National Jewish Population Survey (released in September) show a decline in the American Jewish population, making it clear that we need to offer American Jews access to engaging educational programming that will inspire them to integrate Judaism into their lives," Buchwald said.

The Read Hebrew America classes are generally taught by volunteer teachers at synagogues, Jewish community centers, college campuses and other places.
The campaign is held in November because the Jewish Outreach Program expects the Jewish High Holidays rekindled the interest of many Jews. The campaign also will help those who might have felt frustrated or lost during Rosh Hashana and Yom Kippur services because they could not read Hebrew.

CINDY SHER
Associate Managing Editor

Rabbi Eddie Fox fondly anticipates his weekly visits to Polk Correctional Institution, a prison just outside of Tampa, Fla., where he has been teaching a group of Jewish prisoners to read Hebrew for four years. He says that as he walks through the corridors of the facility prisoners yell, "Hey, Rebbe, hey Rebbe," and he answers, "Give me a high-five." His students love learning Hebrew vocabulary and songs and about Jewish traditions. "As much as they get out of it, I get more out of it," said Fox.

At The ARK, a partner agency supported by the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation offering free social services for the needy and disabled, Rabbi Shlomo Tenenbaum conducts Hebrew classes with clients.

In both of these unusual settings and in 700 other locations around the United States, Canada, and abroad including an Iowa deli, a Montana Ranch, and an American Army base in Iraq adult Jewish students learn Hebrew through Read Hebrew America, an annual program hosted by National Jewish Outreach Program (NJOP). CLICK FOR FULL ARTICLE