Michele MarrRebbetzin Yiska Berkowitz, the young mother...

Michele Marr

Rebbetzin Yiska Berkowitz, the young mother of a 2-year-old daughter

and 18-month-old son, will tell you categorically that, from a

child’s first smile, first step and first word, there is no greater

“nachas” -- pride and pleasure -- for a Jewish mother than raising

Jewish children.

Not long after she moved to Huntington Beach with her rabbi

husband to work at Congregation Adat Israel under the leadership of

her father-in-law, Rabbi Aron David Berkowitz, another mother at the

synagogue suggested Yiska start a Mommy and Me program.

At the time, Berkowitz’s daughter Leah was just 1 and she was

expecting her second child, Mendel. So she told the mother she would

look into to the idea and perhaps start a program the next year.

Last January, she did. The Mommy and Me program ran through the

spring, broke for the summer and has now started again, meeting at

10:30 a.m. each Tuesday at the synagogue on Warner Avenue.

“I started it not only because this mother wanted something like

[Mommy and Me] for her children, I started it because I feel like

it’s probably one of the best ways to get people more involved with

our schedule, our synagogue. Parents are drawn to a place where their

children are having fun,” Yiska Berkowitz said.

Many of the families who become members of the congregation first

have children who attend the synagogue’s Hebrew school, Bar Mitzvah

or Bat Mitzvah classes and make friends.

“Whatever it might be, I think a lot of times it’s children who

drag their parents places,” Yiska Berkowitz said.

As a stay-at-home mother, she knew that the structure of having at

least one event her children would look forward to each week would be

good for them.

“Leah anticipates it,” she said. “When I tell her we are going to

Mommy and Me, she just doesn’t stop asking, ‘When are we going?’”

Mendel, even at 18-months, looks forward to playing with the

children and singing the Jewish songs.

This year she is directing the program with the help of Rebbetzin

Bluma Marcus, the mother of two boys, who runs the Chabad synagogue

in nearby Rossmoor with her husband Rabbi Shmuel Marcus.

The first 20 minutes of the morning are devoted to free play with

a variety of toys that are set out. While the children play together,

their mothers may chat and share laughs or spend time with a child,

perhaps reading a book, playing with Legos or working together on a

puzzle. Jewish children’s music plays in the background.

The mothers have time to confer with each other on parenting

concerns, such as when it’s OK to take away their child’s “binkie,” a

favorite blanket, or to start toilet training or teaching the

alphabet. They also have time to ask Yiska Berkowitz or Marcus

questions about Judaism.

After the free play, Yiska Berkowitz introduces a craft project,

usually with a Jewish theme based on the weekly Torah portion or an

upcoming holiday, though not every project necessarily has a Jewish

or religious focus. Sometimes the children may simply finger paint or

make prints of their hands or their feet.

“[Our Mommy and Me] appeals to mothers who are religious and

mothers who are not religious at all,” she said.

The children are given healthy snacks, with blessings said on

their food, before they gather in a circle to learn songs and some

age-appropriate prayers. Some of the songs are Jewish and some, like

“If you’re happy and you know it, clap your hands,” are not.

Whichever they are, Yiska Berkowitz provides puppets that correspond

to the songs for the children to wear on their hands.

Then she reads the children a story, usually an interactive story

to which the children learn motions to make with their hands, before

giving the children more free time to play.

The morning ends with a song, “Shalom Haverim,” Hebrew for

“Goodbye My Friends,” as Yiska Berkowitz blows soap bubbles and the

children take turns blowing bubbles, too. On the way out, each child

gets a colorful sticker for his or her hand.

“Some of them don’t want to leave even though for children of this

young age an hour and a half is long,” she said.

Trishia Bazerman’s 3-year-old daughter, Sascha, is one of those

children. Sascha has two older siblings but she likes playing with

children her own age.

“Yiska makes it really fun and exciting,” Bazerman said. “When

[Sascha] comes home she acts out the same thing she did in playgroup

with her dolls and her animals.

She appreciates the program for other reasons as well.

“It repeats what you’re doing at home so the religious connection

is nice,” Bazerman said. “Yiska puts together a program that really

prepares the kids to start pre-kindergarten. She offers the art and

singing and organized play where [the children] really learn to

share. I like it because it’s more intimate, it allows for more

one-on-one, than some [Mommy and Me] programs.”

Yiska Berkowitz knows the mothers want their children prepared to

enter preschool or kindergarten with some knowledge of the Hebrew

alphabet, of the blessings said for food and of the Jewish holidays.

“So that is what we do in a very fun way, catered to really little

ones,” she said.

* MICHELE MARR is a freelance writer from Huntington Beach. She

can be reached at michele@soulfoodfiles.com.