{"id":20292,"date":"2016-08-19T00:53:38","date_gmt":"2016-08-19T07:53:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/?p=20292"},"modified":"2016-08-18T15:31:52","modified_gmt":"2016-08-18T22:31:52","slug":"hebrew-school-in-okanagan","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/2016\/08\/19\/hebrew-school-in-okanagan\/","title":{"rendered":"Hebrew school in Okanagan"},"content":{"rendered":"

Left to right, reciting the Four Questions at the Okanagan Jewish community\u2019s Passover celebration: Adarah Challmie, Ben Levitan, Jordan Spevakow, David Spevakow, Samara Levitan, and Kate Spevakow. (photo by Misty Smith)<\/em><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

Kelowna\u2019s Jewish community may be small, but it\u2019s poised for growth. The latest development: an expansion of its Hebrew school\u2019s curriculum.<\/p>\n

Led by the family of David and Natalie Spevakow, who moved to Kelowna from Calgary some 13 years ago, Hebrew classes were first provided last year. Now, more Jewish content will be added to the lessons, as well.<\/p>\n

At the moment, the Spevakows are spearheading this task. Parents lead classes every Monday after school, with kindergarten to Grade 3 first, followed by grades 4-to-7. The parents rotate each week, teaching the kids about Jewish traditions and the Hebrew language, prayers and blessings. Currently, there are 14 students in total (two of whom are Spevakows).<\/p>\n

\u201cTrying to have a Jewish life in a small community can be a challenge,\u201d said Natalie Spevakow. \u201cI would say our congregation at the Okanagan Jewish Community Centre is about 100 members, but only 25 to 30 are active members.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have a visiting rabbi who comes once a month, Rabbi [Shaul] Osadchey from Beth Tzedec congregation in Calgary. We set this up to bridge the gap with our communities, and that\u2019s been wonderful. With us having young families, we\u2019ve all decided that it\u2019s important that we get together, and we wanted to build a Jewish community for ourselves and our kids.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Spevakows are looking to hire a part-time teacher to start in September and work through June. They are searching for a creative, energetic person knowledgeable in Hebrew and the Jewish traditions to teach children ages 4 to 14. The position involves two hours of teaching a week, plus preparation time, and the teaching material is provided. In addition to an hourly wage, the teacher would receive a free annual family membership to the Okanagan JCC. (Interested readers should call Anne at the OJCC, 250-862-2305.)<\/p>\n

\u201cAll of our parents just want our kids to be with other Jewish children and get a sense of what it is to be Jewish,\u201d said Spevakow.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also try to get together with our Hebrew school every few months for a potluck,\u201d she added. \u201cWhen we have the visiting rabbi come, we do a potluck with the rabbi and do services with our children and our families as well. We make that a time to get together and bring the community together.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"photo
Dressed for Purim, left to right: in the front row, Bria Tizel, Anderson Parnes, Kate Spevakow, Ryder Golbey, Skyla Golbey and Chase Golbey; in the back, Jordan Spevakow, Abbey Parnes and a friend, and Adarah Challmie. (photo by Natalie Spevakow)<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

As of now, all the children involved in the school are Canadian-born, but there are Israeli-born children who will be joining classes when they come of age. The class curriculum is a combination of programs that the Spevakows sourced online with guidance from Osadchey. Parents are encouraged to take material home to practise during the week.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe learning works better if they do take stuff home,\u201d said Natalie Spevakow. \u201cI know, for the little guys, they\u2019re just learning the Hebrew letters and can repeat the words they learned…. We try to make it hands-on and more fun for them.\u201d<\/p>\n

Looking ahead, Spevakow feels that the Jewish community is growing, anticipating that one day it will be big enough to warrant more frequent visits from Osadchey.<\/p>\n

\u201cBut, right now, with our smaller numbers, it\u2019s very difficult for us to finance having a rabbi here all the time,\u201d she said. \u201cAs is, we\u2019re making it work, getting our kids educated and getting the resources we can.\u201d<\/p>\n

The older students are learning to lead Friday night services, with the goal of having them lead a service by May 2017, and then again, have them lead a service with Osadchey.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re not on our own, trying to make things up on our own,\u201d she said. \u201cIt\u2019s just a matter of people making time for their kids, so the program works. I think all the parents recognize they want this for our kids and are willing to put in their time.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe used to do it on weekends, but, with so many of us really big into skiing, it wasn\u2019t working out. So, weekdays are definitely working better for us.\u201d<\/p>\n

They also recognize there may be some older members of the community who may be interested in helping with classes, so they hope to bridge the gap and find ways to bring them in, too.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s something to be said about a small community, in that you really get to know all your members,\u201d said Spevakow. \u201cThey truly do become an extension of your family. You realize that anything you\u2019d like to see happen, things that, in a larger community you might have taken for granted because it\u2019s available, in a small community may not exist yet…. Connecting on a deeper level with the people in our community, figuring out the assets that each can bring to the table, has really benefited our community. Knowing everyone\u2019s faces really helps.\u201d<\/p>\n

Rebeca Kuropatwa<\/strong> is a Winnipeg freelance writer.<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Left to right, reciting the Four Questions at the Okanagan Jewish community\u2019s Passover celebration: Adarah Challmie, Ben Levitan, Jordan Spevakow, David Spevakow, Samara Levitan, and Kate Spevakow. (photo by Misty Smith) Kelowna\u2019s Jewish community may be small, but it\u2019s poised for growth. The latest development: an expansion of its Hebrew school\u2019s curriculum. Led by the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":20272,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[5938,3076,2726,218,5919,856],"class_list":["post-20292","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-local","tag-continuity","tag-education","tag-hebrew","tag-judaism","tag-ojc","tag-okanagan"],"blocksy_meta":{"styles_descriptor":{"styles":{"desktop":"","tablet":"","mobile":""},"google_fonts":[],"version":8}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20292","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=20292"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/20292\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/20272"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=20292"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=20292"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.jewishindependent.ca\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=20292"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}