Our students are having a great time, and it is incredible to see all they ways they are already growing! We are spending much of our first unit of learning thinking about how we treat each other and how we build Jewish community.  We studied the text from Deuteronomy 22:8 that commands us to build a fence around our roof…

Hello all!  Maya here, lead teacher at Makom Community.  I’ll be popping up on the blog here from time to time.  I have so enjoyed getting to work with our students these past few weeks.  I am continually impressed by the insights they share and the work they create at our different shulchanot avodah (learning centers).  Last week we explored…

It has been amazing seeing our students get to know each other and enjoy exploring such deep and fruitful ideas from Jewish tradition!  This week, we’re exploring what it could mean to be holy. We’ve talked about being holy noticers—watching for body language, really listening to how our friends are talking, asking if we can help each other, and letting…

We’re so excited to have our kindergarten students join us this week! We’ll spend our first weeks getting to know each other and laying the groundwork to collaborate on our Makom Community Brit. A Brit is an amazingly special kind of promise. It’s the Hebrew word used when God tells Noah that the world will never be flooded again, and…

Half-Day Camps Beginning 9/17 Greenfield Elementary and Chester Arthur Elementary parents both got information this week about a significant number of half-days when their child’s elementary school will be closed. I can only imagine that’s a pretty stressful piece of information for families who have already made afterschool and other childcare arrangements. So we leapt to our feet and began…

We’re SO excited for the opening of Makom Community Afterschool on September 8! Thanks to all the families who joined us for our Open House today! Missed it and want to come visit? Join us for next week’s open house– Monday 8/25 from 5:30-7pm or be in touch to schedule a tour! Check out these pictures of our some of…

We are just 37 days from Makom Community Afterschool’s opening day on September 3! And we’re so excited about it! Just like it takes a supportive community to raise children, it takes a supportive community to help Makom Community be prepared for our launch. And we need your help to make sure we have a high quality program ready to…

Thanks to our friends at Jkid Philly and Jewish Learning Venture who shared this blog post about Makom Community (also below). Also, if your children are between the ages of six months and 8 years and are not yet getting free PJ Library books and CDs in the mail, definitely sign up for that while you’re there!  I’m working on…

Earlier this spring,  I spoke with Dr. Saul Wachs, who is now a member of our Advisory Board. He was excited about the new model for Jewish education that Makom Community brings to Philadelphia, and asked me to come and present at the final session of Gratz College’s doctoral seminar this spring. I was so honored to be asked, and…

We’re looking forward to getting together to celebrate Shabbat with your families this coming Friday night! And this week, we also had an exciting article in The Jewish Exponent. If you haven’t seen it yet, check it out!

Grateful. Sitting here right now, I have a new sense of gratitude. Since beginning my work toward launching Makom Community almost a year ago, I have met with one hundred and something people to bounce ideas around, learn from them, and ask them to connect me with other folks in our community who might add to the conversation. All of…