Together at Congregation Beth Chaim to celebrate the launch of the Promoting Healthy Families initiative, are, from left, Anne Berman-Waldorf, Rabbi Eric Wisnia, and Linda Meisel.
Photo by Marilyn Silverstein
September 9, 2008
For the first time in the region, a synagogue is joining hands with a Jewish social-service agency to provide on-site psychosocial support services for its member families.
Congregation Beth Chaim in Princeton Junction will launch its Promoting Healthy Families initiative this fall in partnership with the Jewish Family and Children’s Service of Greater Mercer County.
Supported by the Harry and Deborah Kauff Family Life Education Fund at JFCS, the project will include parenting workshops, adult education classes, a series on parenting teens, and regularly scheduled Ask the Social Worker sessions at the synagogue.
“It’s our effort to promote positive parenting,” said Anne Berman-Waldorf, Beth Chaim’s director of lifelong education, as she sat in Rabbi Eric Wisnia’s office at the synagogue with the rabbi and JFCS executive director Linda Meisel.
“One of the things we’ve been talking about at the synagogue is that we need to be concerned about our families — their parenting and their family life — and it just seemed natural to partner with JFCS on this,” Berman-Waldorf said. “We realized it’s more than just turning to someone in a crisis. We need to do preventive and pre-emptive work.”
In that spirit, Wisnia will offer a class on How To Parent with Jewish Values on Wednesday, Sept. 24, at 9:15 a.m., and Meisel will lead a workshop, Creating a Parenting Team, on Tuesday, Nov. 11, at 6 p.m.
In conjunction with the initiative, Beth Chaim will also sponsor a series of Monday-night programs for parents of high school students. Susan Strom, a college counselor based in Yardley, Pa., will present a workshop, How To Survive the College Application Process, on Monday, Nov. 3, at 7 p.m., and Meisel will lead a session on Teens and Internet Safety on Monday, Jan. 26, at 7 p.m. Two other programs in the series are being planned for the spring.
“We need to do what we do best,” Berman-Waldorf said. “We’re a synagogue. We offer prayer, tikun olam (social action), and education. But we’re not therapists, and we owe it to our congregants to provide the best of everything.”
The initiative is especially important when you consider the centrality of the family within Judaism, said Wisnia, who is in his 31st year as religious leader of the 800-family Reform congregation.
“Synagogues don’t deal with individual souls; we deal with family units,” he said. “The basis of Judaism is the family. For us, family is at the center of the religion. It’s very important, and we need to build up strong families for Judaism to stay healthy.”
The Promoting Healthy Families initiative marks the first time her agency has ever entered into such a relationship with a congregation, Meisel said.
“The cutting-edge piece is that you go where the people are,” she said. “It’s really terrific to bring JFCS into the congregation, because the congregation is the natural Jewish home for people. The idea of having an Ask the Social Worker night at the synagogue offers an opportunity for people to ask questions about things on their mind in a non-clinical setting in their own Jewish home.”
“It’s non-threatening,” interjected Berman-Waldorf. “It breaks down barriers. In the synagogue world, we talk about outreach and lowering the barriers to participation, and this is the same thing.”
“And,” said Meisel, “it stresses that JFCS is there for them. Sometimes, it’s just a resource. Sometimes, people want information and referral, and we can do that, too.”
For Berman-Waldorf, who came up with the idea for Promoting Healthy Families, seeing the initiative get off the ground is gratifying.
“I realize we’re just at the beginning,” she said. “We’re hoping this will be long-term.”
“We’re open to all possibilities,” Meisel said. “It’s always great when Jewish institutions work together to support Jewish families.”
For information about attending programs in the Promoting Healthy Family series, call Berman-Waldorf at the synagogue, 609-799-9401. For information about partnering with JFCS, call Meisel at the agency, 609-987-8100.
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