LESSONS - Congregation Agudas Achim

Program Unites Jewish Community Hand in Hand
© 2011 Hearst Corporation, reprinted with permission
By Jenny Halpin, Contributing Writer - Updated 12:22 p.m., Wednesday, November 30, 2011
Children at Heintz Preschool at Congregation Agudas Achim learn about their Jewish heritage from teachers
and senior citizens, including grandparents of many students there, in the monthly program “Yad B’ Yad” (“hand
in hand” in Hebrew). Pictured (from left) are Charlotte Woo-Bloxberg, Baylor and Landry Kerr with grandmother
Carolyn Glick, Sari Valdez with grandmother Nancy Hoenig, Shai Ben-Amotz with adoptive grandparent for the day
Mel Eichelbaum, and Lauren Met.
Photo: Courtesy Photot/SA
Thanks to a unique local grant, children at Heintz Preschool at
Congregation Agudas Achim are learning more about their Jewish
heritage from teachers who are more than half a century older.
The program is called “Yad B’ Yad,” which means “Hand in Hand”
in Hebrew. Participants are young Jewish children and Jewish
senior citizens, many of whom are grandparents. Each month, both
generations join together to celebrate and take part in a variety of
Jewish traditions from honoring Shabbat, the Jewish Sabbath, to
playing musical instruments, dancing to Israeli songs, and even
creating art together.
Four-year-old Gavin Valdez said his favorite part of Yad B’ Yad is
“eating challah,” a ritual egg bread with his grandmother. During
the Nov. 18 Yad B’Yad gathering, children and grandparents
joined together in classrooms to create paper covers that protect
the challah. Then, at a miniature table, both preschoolers and
seniors enjoyed the traditional bread along with a Dixie cup full
of grape juice.
“After the last event, several grandparents hadn’t even left our
school parking lot when they called their children to tell them how
much fun they had with their grandkids at school that day,” says
Heintz Preschool Early Childhood Director Dena Hoenig Valdez.
The November event drew more than 30 Jewish seniors from
across the city. For children whose grandparents live out of town
or have passed on, stand-in grandparents are provided. According
to grant Coordinator Risa Weinberger, “It’s beneficial to both. It’s
an opportunity for them to teach another generation.”
Jean Karren, a surrogate grandmother to a 4-year-old boy named
Jack, said sharing her mornings with him and celebrating their faith
is a “real treat” for her, especially since her two grandchildren are
older and live in Dallas. After they first met, Jean realized that she
had attended Jack’s mother’s Bat Mitzvah in Houston decades ago.
“It’s all about family tradition, sharing a lifestyle,” said Carolyn
Glick. She and her husband, Howard, haven’t missed an event with
their two grandchildren, Landry and Baylor.
Rabbi Leonardo Bitran said the traditional Jewish setting that is
created at each event, like the Shabbat services, evokes wonderful
memories for many seniors. “To be connected through tradition is
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emotional for all the generations,” added Bitran.
Grandmother Susanne Jalnos became teary-eyed as a pianist
played traditional Jewish music throughout the Shabbat service.
“It’s so beautiful. I’m so glad they do it. It makes me feel very
good,” she said.
The special program wouldn’t be possible without funding from
San Antonio’s Golden Manner Jewish Senior Services. Valdez
said over the last 10 years, she’s applied to various organizations
for a grant that would fund an intergenerational program, but was
always turned down.
Daniel Laser, executive director of Golden Manor, said the
organization is extremely pleased with the program’s success
so far. “We saw this as a program that would reach some of San
Antonio’s seniors that we may not have been reaching before,
in a way that was different from what had been done in recent
years,” says Laser.
The Yad B’ Yad program will continue throughout the school year.
In the coming months, coordinators plan to take the show on the
road when preschoolers climb aboard a bus and head to a North
Side nursing home to visit and interact with residents there.
Valdez said seeing her idea come to fruition has been gratifying.
“It’s lifting spirits and bringing back those traditions and
customs from the past that have sort of been lost for three
different generations.”