Cantor Avima Rudavsky Darnov founded the Hebrew Corner in Marlboro, a learning center for children and adults.
Photo by Jill Huber
August 12, 2008
When Cantor Avima Rudavsky Darnov founded the Hebrew Corner in Marlboro, a learning center for children and adults, her mission was to help her students develop a closer relationship to Israel and their own Jewish heritage.
One year later, 20 students are enrolled. Six are adults, and the rest are youngsters between ages nine and 16.
The Hebrew Corner meets Sundays through Thursdays at 45 North Main St. Rudavsky Darnov calls it an independent learning facility in which Reform, Orthodox, or Conservative children and adults — or those who are unaffiliated — can study conversational and prayer book Hebrew, and, if they desire, prepare to become b’nei mitzva.
Private b’nei mitzva tutors are common, but the Hebrew Corner represents a departure in that it offers a range of educational services usually found in established synagogues.
“I try to reach people on their own level,” Rudavsky Darnov said. “Some are not affiliated with a synagogue but still want to define their Jewish identity, if only to begin the process. Many have a deep-rooted spirituality that they’ve had trouble accessing.”
Rudavsky Darnov said class size is deliberately kept small (there are usually four or five students in each class), which she says allows for better interaction between student and teacher. She also offers one-on-one instruction for b’nei mitzva students and will conduct private tutoring sessions on any topic at a student’s home.
“Learning to read Hebrew is the beginning of a journey to a more intense connection with Israel, Judaism, and Jewish culture,” she said. “I use computer software programs, music, books, and art to enrich the learning experience, and I try to take a flexible approach in my teaching.” (Special needs children are also welcome, she said.)
The Hebrew Corner also applies a flexible approach to its bar/bat mitzva study courses. In addition, it will supply prayer books and a Torah scroll for the ceremony itself, and Rudavsky Darnov will officiate. She has prepared more than 850 children to become b’nei mitzva during the past 25 years.
Search for meaning
Rudavsky Darnov was invested as a cantor at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York in 1989 and was among the first group of women Conservative cantors. She grew up in Framingham, Mass., and is the daughter of the late Rabbi Hilel Rudavsky, who was the religious leader at Congregation Beth Mordecai in Perth Amboy at the time of his death in January 2006. Her mother, Chana, now lives in Israel.
Rudavsky Darnov’s husband, Rabbi Allen Darnov, is the religious leader at the Reform Temple of Putnam Valley in New York. They have two sons, ages 13 and 15, and reside in Marlboro.
“I was a rabbi’s daughter, and both of my parents spoke Hebrew at home. I grew up loving the language, and I was always touched by the beautiful Israeli and cantorial music that surrounded us,” she said.
Prior to opening the Hebrew Corner in 2007, Rudavsky Darnov was for three years the cantor at the Marlboro Jewish Center/Congregation Ohev Shalom.
“But I had reached a crossroads, and I thought my ambitions would be better served in a different environment that provided different challenges,” she said. “Opening the Hebrew Corner has satisfied that need.”
As she celebrated the 18th year of her investiture, she decided to leave the full-time cantorate and pursue the “road not taken.”
She also turned to another outlet — her love of weaving — and created the Tallit Corner, an enterprise that provides customized and hand-woven tallitot and kipot. She began the business in 2007 and meets with her customers at the Hebrew Corner location. The actual weaving is done on a 60-inch loom in her home.
The Tallit Corner also visits schools and community organizations to present workshops about tallitot, tzitzit, and weaving.
“I consider myself an experienced tallit wearer, having wrapped myself in a variety of tallitot as a cantor and as a private worshiper for more than 20 years,” said Rudavsky Darnov. “I took some courses at the Philadelphia College of Art, but I decided to pursue a career in the cantorate, and weaving took a back seat to my cantorial career.”
“For 18 years, I inspired worshipers with melody and song, and now I can focus on inspiring prayer through color and fiber,” Rudavsky Darnov said.
And opening the Hebrew Corner has given her new insight into Judaism.
“I’m meeting interesting people and seeing other sides of Jewish life,” she said. “I can relate to their spiritual and religious search, and I have the freedom to search for meaning in my own heart.”
Additional information on the Tallit Corner and the Hebrew Corner is available at www.thehebrewcorner.com.
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