January-February 2012 - The Jewish Georgian

January-February 2012 THE JEWISH GEORGIAN Page 25
Joining forces for Jewish education in Augusta
The Augusta Jewish Community
Sunday School (AJCSS) is a combined
religious school consisting of students
from the Reform congregation,
Congregation Children of Israel, and the
Conservative congregation, Adas
Yeshurun. There are 39 students in the
school and six dedicated teachers. The
AJCSS boasts seven high school
madrichim and five middle school students.
Elliot Price has been the principal
of the school for the past three years.
According to Principal Price, the
religious schools of the two congregations
merged eight years ago. Because
the number of children in each program
was dwindling, they decided to share
resources and provide an environment
where all Jewish students had the opportunity
to interact with one another
socially. Additionally, for the past five
years, the AJCSS has participated in the
Goldring Woldenberg Institute of
Southern Jewish Life (ISJL) education
program. This partnership has enabled
the small but mighty religious school to
use the ISJL curriculum, a spiraled body
of knowledge in which students revisit
key content areas with increased sophistication
as they progress through the curriculum,
grade level by grade level.
AJCSS also enjoys broad support from
ISJL professional educators.
For example, AJCSS is visited by an
ISJL education fellow three times per
year, in the summer, fall, and spring. In
the summer, second-year Fellow Lauren
Fredman led teacher trainings that
focused on teaching to different student
learning styles, as well as how to create
classroom community. More recently,
Ms. Fredman had the honor of giving a
D’var Torah at both Augusta congregations.
She also led two separate allschool
programs focusing on Israel and
Israeli culture. Yet another event for the
students was an all-school program of
Jewish Values Maccabi Games at a local
park.
“There are many different ways to
teach Jewish knowledge, and it makes a
big difference if a child is motivated at
religious school. We have a very positive
environment at the AJCSS, and there is a
lot of excitement about being at religious
school,” Principal Price says. “We
are always looking forward to the events
that the ISJL brings to us. The lock-ins,
Jewish Values Maccabi Games, and
teacher and madrichim trainings have
made a significant difference in our ability
to meet the goals of our Sunday
school.”
The ISJL is currently recruiting the
Grandmas never leave us
By Lindsey Light Kuniansky
On November 11, my dad, Billy
Light, and I spoke about his book,
Grandmas Never Leave Us, at the Book
Festival of the MJCCA.
We spoke of how it came about, how
we designed it, how it became self-published.
My dad wrote this book over 20
years ago, when I was only seven years
old. I’m 30 years old and happily married
now. I remember my grandmothers
being very sick at the same time and in
different hospitals. My brother, Andrew,
who was four at the time, and I would
draw pictures and get-well cards for our
grandmothers to be posted on their hospital
room walls, because our dad told us
how happy it made them, and we wanted
them to know they were always on our
minds. Sometimes, we would sing on a
cassette tape that my parents could play
for them on their daily visits. It was such
a sad time, but I remember thinking we
were helping our grandmothers feel better.
Surely, they were the most popular
grandmas in the whole hospital!
Having grown up without our grandmas,
my brother and I always talk about
how we missed out on the experiences
our friends had. I still remember when
my dad had me draw pictures for his
story, because at the time I wanted to be
an artist. It was fun to draw the pictures
and remember all the good times, but it
was also a learning experience. During
the process, we asked all kinds of questions
about my grandmothers and what
was happening to them. My dad tried his
best to explain to us why they were sick,
as only a parent can do, to his still-developing
children. Then my grandmothers
died.
My dad’s story had been hiding in a
drawer for over 20 years. My husband,
Michael, and I put it into book form for
my dad’s birthday, and to see my dad’s
tears of happiness when he read it was so
amazing. We were able to bring the story
back to life. If only we could do the same
for my grandmas!
Today, I see with grateful eyes my
dad’s commitment to Andrew and me as
children and now as happily married,
young adults—me with my husband,
Michael, and Andrew with his wonderful
wife, Molly. We are exceptionally lucky
to have such great parents and friends in
our mom, Lynn, and our dad. Our parents
are our friends and biggest role models.
My dad and I hope that by sharing
our story with adults and children alike,
we can help others get through what we
know is a very tough time. Experiencing
loss is never easy, but what my dad did
over 20 years ago definitely helped us,
and we will always have a beautiful
reminder of our beloved grandmas.
ISJL Education Fellow Lauren
Fredman (back right) gets ready to
read Sammy Spiderʼs First Trip to
Israel by Sylvia A. Rouss, during the
Pre-K-2nd grade Israel program. (All
photos: Elliot Price)
next class of education fellows, to begin
June 2012. The Forward described the
fellowship as “a mobile Jewish Teach
for America.” Visit www.isjl.org for
more information, or contact ISJL
Director of Education Rachel Stern, at
rstern@isjl.org. In addition to the
Augusta congregations, other Georgia
congregations participating as ISJL
Education Partners are in Rome, Macon,
Fayetteville, Columbus, Brunswick,
andAtlanta.
Billy Light and
Lindsey Light Kuniansky
Lauren Fredman (left), teachers,
madrichim, and 3rd-7th-grade students
with an Israel Candy
Topography map, completed during
the Sunday Israel program
Students do a team building activity
during the Jewish Values Maccabi
Games, March 2011
And it reminds me, too, of how special
my dad, Billy Light, is to me, to our
family, and to our friends.
Please visit our Facebook page at
Grandmas Never Leave Us, and visit our
website, www.GrandmasNeverLeaveUs.
com.
Check us out on YouTube, too—type
in “Billy & Lindsey 11/11/11,” and you
can watch several brief video excerpts;
amazingly, we have had over 1,100 total
views so far.
Thank you, MJCCA Book Festival
friends, for allowing us to share our
story.
I am very proud of you, Dad.
We did good!