Peta Pellach

Purposes, Dramas, Rhythms
Sydney, Australia

A Passion That Has Never Waned

Pellach Famiy left to right: Husband Aharon Michal, Cygal, Peta, Adir, Meirav, and son-in-law Ami

"Bringing Melton to Sydney was one of the most exciting things that has happened to this community," says Peta Pellach. "I was convinced that adult education was the most important item on the agenda of the Australian community," she says, explaining why she had a role in bringing the Mini-School to Sydney. While 70% of the children were in Jewish day schools, there was a huge gap in the area of Jewish education, with most parents only having a basic level of Jewish education.

Peta Pellach has been teaching in the Mini-School for ten years. "I began in Dilemmas and have since moved on to all four courses," says Peta. "The first lesson was the best teaching moment in the Mini-School for me. There was such a buzz and we lived up to the community's high expectations." Peta says she loves feeling part of an activity that is changing the community, and being part of an international movement with such a prestigious faculty.

Peta has a BA in History, a MA in International Affairs from Columbia University, NY, and is a Jerusalem Fellow. She began her teaching career as a high school teacher in day schools, but was always involved in parent education and other adult education activities in a voluntary capacity.

Asked to describe herself she says, "I have four wonderful children, am an Orthodox Feminist Jew, passionate about Israel and a fifth generation Australian on my father's side." She met her husband while Israeli dancing at Columbia University. Her hobbies include Israeli dancing, vicious, competitive Scrabble, cryptic crosswords and she also considers her work her hobby. If she were granted one wish it would be to go on Aliyah - tomorrow.

Asked about how her teaching has changed she explains, "I now recognize the importance of structure and curriculum, holding to specific objectives and maintaining flexibility at the same time. I am more concerned about building from one lesson to the next, creating an intellectual framework while also building a sense of community with a common language." She prepares for every lesson saying to herself that if she doesn't find something new and inspiring in the materials, the students won't either. The greatest challenge she finds is responding to the questions of students. "You can never predict what they will ask," she says.

"We have hundreds of 'Melton moments' ", says Peta, in describing how her students have developed. "For instance when, after the lesson on Tisha B'Av, a student who was a day-school graduate said that for the first time in her life she saw some meaning in the fast because we had talked about what "loss" meant; when a couple who had only had a civil marriage decided in the class to have a chuppah; when the student undergoing cancer surgery wrote an email to all her classmates describing her hopes and the support she felt from the class - and she had only known them for 6 months!" Peta assures us that the list is endless.

Peta believes that preparing a lesson thoroughly, and giving thought to student activities as well as content, contributes to the success of her teaching. It is also important not to panic about finishing the material (something she used to do), to be unpredictable - not standing in the same spot, changing the routine of the lesson, reading texts in a different order than they are found in the reader, and to introduce contemporary issues at various opportune moments.

Her advice to a new Mini-School teacher would be: Forget about "finishing" a lesson. Make sure that after 55 minutes you have conveyed one new idea to each person and that they go away challenged. Turn NOT completing the lesson into a VIRTUE - "Look how much more there is to know about this topic!"

It never occurred to Peta NOT to be involved in Melton. This was a natural extension of her teaching in schools and a passion that has never waned. In addition to being a teacher at the Sydney Mini-School, she is also the Director with Susie Klein.

Peta Pellach can be reached by email at: petapellach@shalom.edu.au

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