Connecticut Jewish Ledger

NEW HAVEN — Starting next September, Jewish students in New Haven entering grades nine and ten will have a new option for continuing their Jewish studies - the New Haven Judaic Academy.

The Judaic Academy will serve as an after school program, offering students a fairly intense curriculum of Jewish studies classes.

According to the program’s brochure, “the location for the program is currently under negotiation. The Academy will be centrally located within the City of New Haven, in the heart of the Yale campus.” Co-founder Rebecca Martin stresses that NHJA will be an “option for the community-some will attend day school, some will attend MAKOM [the community Jewish high school program], and others will attend NHJA…The NHJA is an innovative model for a midsize community with such amazing resources to tap in to as Yale University and the New Haven Public school system.”

Most teens attending NHJA students will be students at Wilbur Cross, a public high school located in the East Rock neighborhood of New Haven, or at other New Haven area public high schools. Students at other private and public schools are also eligible to participate in the NHJA program.

Classes and Community Service
The Judaic Academy’s curriculum will cover such subjects as Chumash, (The Five Books of Moses), Navi (The Prophets), Talmud, Hebrew language, Jewish history and philosophy. On Mondays through Thursdays, students will take three hours of Judaic classes. Students will have dinner together on Tuesdays and Thursdays at Yale University’s Slifka Center; they will then attend an additional Jewish studies class. On Fridays, students will participate in a community service project. Two Sunday mornings per month, students will attend additional classes.

Students at NHJA will be eligible to apply to the Independent Study and Seminar Program (ISSP) which allows students to take Yale and Southern Connecticut State University courses. And they will have an opportunity to travel to Israel on the Judaic Academy Summer Program, which will combine study and volunteer work.

The director of NHJA, to be hired in the next five months, will serve as a mentor to students and be responsible for the day to day administration of the Academy. Teachers in the program will be college professors, graduate students and teachers especially trained for the New Haven Judaic Academy.

To be considered for admission, applicants must complete an application, send recommendations letters and school transcripts, and take the BJE exam. The program will be approximately $5,000 for the academic year 2007-2008. Scholarships will be available.

While NHJA will not officially open to students until September 2007, the program is already generating a great deal of interest and support. Martin and co-founder Dr. Michael Wiener been working with the New Haven Public School system, Yale University, the Slifka Center for Jewish Life, the Department of Jewish Education (DJE) of New Haven, and the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven to develop the program, and they have been meeting many families interested in learning more about the Judaic Academy option.

“Since the Foundation’s inception, our goal has been to use our resources in the most effective way possible to ensure the community’s vitality now and for generations to follow,” said Dr. John Levy, Chairman of the Jewish Foundation of Greater New Haven.

Another supporter is Steven Fraade, the Mark Taper Professor of the History of Judaism at Yale University and the current chair of the Education Committee at Ezra Academy in Woodbridge.

“The high school years are critical ones for Jewish education, especially since so many of our youth cease their Jewish educations and commitments soon after becoming bar/bat mitzvah,” Fraade explained. “The New Haven Judaic Academy is an innovative addition to the options presently available, and promises to offer a rich curriculum of Jewish studies to high school students of diverse affiliations and backgrounds.”

An Open House for the New Haven Judaic Academy will take place on Tuesday, May 9 at 7:30pm at the JCC of Greater New Haven.

For more information, contact judaicacademy@sbcglobal.net or call Rebecca Martin at: (203) 215-6410.