Mini-School's Impact on Houston Immeasurable

Houston, TX

Houston is the fourth largest city in the U.S., yet it still maintains its small town feel, where people are very friendly. The Jewish community is a mixture of long time, multi-generation families and newcomers co-existing in synagogues and communal organizations. The rabbis meet monthly and relations are cordial. Houston has several day schools, kosher restaurants and bakeries. There are synagogues representing all of the movements, with Reform and Conservative representing the largest groups. The Houston Jewish Community Center is headed by Jerry Wische, who has been executive director for 31 years.

The Houston Florence Melton Adult Mini-School was originally started to provide the JCC staff with a high quality Jewish learning experience. "All of the staff have to fulfill a certain minimum number of hours of Jewish learning," explains Rabbi Eve Ben-Ora, Director of the Houston FMAMS. "The Melton School was chosen because it would provide this opportunity from a pluralistic perspective, which fits well with the JCC philosophy. The school has gone far beyond what anyone envisioned."

Everyone from Religious school teachers to JCC staff, parents and grandparents who have participated in the Mini-School has been touched by the high quality of Jewish learning. "The impact of the Mini-School on the Houston Jewish community is far reaching," Rabbi Ben-Ora says. "They in turn take their enriched knowledge and enhanced confidence about their Jewish identity into the world they inhabit. The impact is immeasurable and significant."

There are six FMAMS classes ranging in size from 8-25 students. The classes are held in different centers: a synagogue in Missouri city, a suburb of Houston; the Houston JCC; and at the Merfish Teen center, a satellite building owned by the Houston JCC. The faculty is made up of a Ph.D. graduate in education, a college professor, a writer and several congregational rabbis (including Rabbi Ben-Ora's husband). Retirees, JCC staff members, middle-aged couples, and young couples with school age children make up the student body.

Besides the regular studies, the Mini-School also organizes field trips relevant to the topics being studied, and also provides lunch and learn opportunities which include a book fair, and an author and scholar-in-residence program. At the book fair, authors of recently published books of Jewish interest are invited to come to Houston to speak about their book. One of these authors gave a special lecture to Melton students. The book fair author and scholar-in-residence program is a program where an author, usually from Israel, comes to Houston and presents a series of lectures. One of these lectures is given specifically for Melton students immediately after classes to ensure that attendance by Mini-School students is optimal.

A class to study the Moss Hagaddah has also been offered in the past to the Houston Jewish community. The Moss Haggadah was created by calligrapher David Moss in 1980. He created a single, hand written, illuminated haggadah for a private collection. Though the text follows the traditional form and content, the illuminations are anything but traditional. According to Rabbi Ben-Ora "it is a wonderful means for teaching Passover and the liturgy of the haggadah."

"I became Director of the Houston FMAMS by being in the right place at the right time," Rabbi Ben-Ora gladly discloses. "Jody Hirsch, founding Director, was getting ready to leave for Hong Kong, and I had just moved to Houston."

"It is fun for me to go places in Houston and have mature sophisticated adults introduce themselves to my children as my students," says Rabbi Ben-Ora. She sums up living in Houston by saying that despite the horrible summer and enormous bugs Texan lifestyle is good and Houston is a great place to bring up children.

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