You bet, if Hebrew school is sitting around the kitchen table with friends and a dynamic teacher talking—with Jewish insights and perspective—about issues that matter in their lives.

You know your kids will love Judaism if it helps them with the things that matter to them—school, relationships with their friends, even getting along with you. Holidays, rituals, history and Torah won’t be “subjects to learn in school,” but highly relevant ways to deal with life. No kid is too young to begin to use Judaism—and that’s how we teach it, as something your kids will use. Now.

Even before your child begins school, we’ll help you choose the best and most meaningful Jewish books to warm your children’s hearts and open up their minds.

Alef Bet Shabbat meets once a month for infants to six-year-olds and their grown-ups. Together, we’ll celebrate Shabbat in a joyful, educational way through prayer, song, dance, arts & crafts, and storytelling. They’ll learn songs and stories now that they’ll later recognize as prayers and Torah. They’ll feel that lighting the menorah, making a seder, reading the megillah, and shaking a lulav are activities that belong to them. They’ll feel great about Shabbat, too—especially after they’ve baked their first challah. And every session is followed by kiddush and lunch.

Kids meet every other Sunday and become a peer group, depending on and learning from each other. They will learn to translate traditional and biblical stories into their own lives and see their own lives in the traditional stories. All of Torah comes alive when Joseph is the brother or sister you can’t stand.

Working with a Hebrew specialist for the first of two hours, your child will learn Hebrew decoding skills and important Hebrew vocabulary. Soon they will be able to follow a prayer book and think with Jewish word concepts.

In the second hour, they will focus on Torah stories, holiday rituals, history, and Jewish values. At Aitz Hayim, learning happens through discussion. Here, kids are invited to ask the questions they’d be reluctant to ask in more formal settings.

Our teens and pre-teens gather around pizza and pop with Rabbi Benay Lappe, an award-winning teacher with a gift for touching the hearts and minds of young people. They bring to class the issues that become the springboard for the group to delve into the Tradition. The kids talk and sincerely listen to each other. Ultimately, by integrating the Tradition into their real lives, they think Jewishly and therefore live Jewishly.

The students meet every other week to grapple with the ethical dilemmas they’ve encountered in their lives. By discussing their own situations, they learn basic Jewish principles, such as the imperative to save a life, rescuing those in need, intervening actively on behalf of others, preserving human dignity, and the intrinsic value of human life, and the Jewish ways of living them out. Twice a week, the students continue their Hebrew language instruction, focusing on the meaning of Jewish prayer, the meaning of Shabbat and its prayers and rituals, the fundamentals of Hebrew grammar, and more advanced Hebrew reading and writing skills.

This group builds on the Jewish principles and methods of previous years, but now incorporates a study of the lifecycle and Jewish ritual as techniques for dealing and coping with real-life problems. This study group begins to take on a “youth group” feel as the young people start to establish close and trusting relationships with one another and Rabbi Lappe. Students are encouraged to participate in the Ta’am Yisroel trip to Israel.

At Aitz Hayim, high school is not a time when kids drop out of Jewish learning. It’s when they bring dating, sex, work, parties, drinking and drugs, driving, applying to college, and other issues they’re facing, to their Jewish learning. Nothing orients them more to a Jewish future than seeing that these discussions impact what they do and how they cope with their stresses. Just about every student writes about the group in their college essays. Students are encouraged to, and most participate in, a summer program in Israel.

Each month, students and their families participate in a tzedaka outing that not only serves the community, but teaches them Jewish values and principles that the outings help them put into practice.

At Aitz Hayim, a bar or bat mitzvah is not just a party—it’s about a child of 12 or 13 who wants to become part of the adult Jewish community.

Preparation for the celebration is unique for each child. Most read Torah and deliver a personal d’var Torah. Bar/bat mitzvah preparation becomes more meaningful as the family grows together in the process. Watching the movie Keeping Up With The Steins becomes an important part of opening up the discussion about planning the celebration.

1. During the pre-Bar/Bat Mitzvah year, the student joins weekly with their B'nai Mitzvah peers to discuss the meaning of becoming a Jewish adult and to acquire the specific skills necessary to chant Torah and participate in the Shabbat service.

2. Students meet privately with Greta Rothschild to learn their Torah portion. The task is geared to their own individual talents and interests.

3. Students meet individually with Rabbi Lappe to apply their Torah portion to this moment and to write a d’var Torah. It’s not just about the speech, but about establishing a relationship with a rabbi and mentor, which becomes important as they develop a young teen Jewish life.

4. Every parent or family will meet with Marc Slutsky to discuss the meaning, structure, and planning of the event and service—a celebration that mines and reflects a meaningful Judaism as well as the expanse of each individual family’s creativity.