Educating the Kids

Columbia’s early and strong influx of young Jewish families made religious schooling a priority. A group of parent volunteers organized lessons for 35 children in Hebrew language and Jewish culture in 1968. By 1970, almost 100 students were signed up. Early leaders turned to the Baltimore Board of Jewish Education for help in professionalizing Howard County’s first Jewish school.

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An early Sunday school class, Wilde Lake Interfaith Center, late 1970. (Note the community’s portable ark and Chanukah menorah in the background.)

Courtesy of Columbia MD Archives

The Community School

The Howard County Jewish Community School incorporated in 1971. As its name suggests, its founders recognized the delicate position of a school meant to educate children from a religiously diverse Jewish population. The new, independent organization had a board with balanced representation from each of Howard County’s three young congregations. In the spirit of inclusiveness, school events observed kashrut, and the curriculum covered only those observances common to all streams of Judaism. It was an unusual experiment in cooperation that became a respected and essential communal institution.

Even before incorporation, the school started to charge a tuition fee and began paying its faculty, many of whom were local parents.

Courtesy of Jewish Federation of Howard County

To underscore the intent to provide students with a rigorous Jewish education, the Community School quickly affiliated with the Baltimore Board of Jewish Education, which approved curricula and certified teachers in Baltimore-area Jewish schools.

Courtesy of Jessica Rowe

Harriet Chaitovitz at work, 1980.  

Courtesy of Jean Grinspoon

We used to carry the books around in the trunk of our car—the school was our baby. 

Marty Chaitovitz

Harriet Chaitovitz was the midwife of Jewish education in Howard County. She and husband Marty were original members of the Jewish Study Group that formed prior to the founding of Columbia, and Harriet spearheaded efforts to start a group for local teens. A founding member of the parent group that formed the Sunday school in 1968, she served as its de facto administrator prior to incorporation. She taught at the Community School—and later at Beth Shalom’s religious school—as well as at Bet Yeladim preschool. 

Tight quarters at the interfaith centers forced school administrators to seek classroom space at places such as at Bryant Woods elementary school. Teachers had to set up their classrooms anew each time their classes met. 

Courtesy of Jewish Federation of Howard County

Flyer for a Community School fundraiser. Parents could shop for Chanukah while their children were in Sunday school. 

Courtesy of Jewish Federation of Howard County

The Jewish Council held “Spring Fling” dances at Columbia Mall in 1973 and 1974 to benefit the Community School. “There was a band at each end of the mall, drinks and dancing. So many people came out–not just the Jewish community–because we were young and we were partiers,” said Jeff Friedhoffer. Each time, the event raised $3,000 (roughly equivalent in 2023 to $21,000).

Courtesy of Jeff Friedhoffer 

Community School report card, 1986. Fifth-grade students took a full course of Jewish studies: history, bible, Jewish law and observances, and Hebrew language.

Courtesy of Janet Epstein (Filtzer) Brady

Hattie Katkow teaches Community School pupils at the Meeting House, c. 1980.

Courtesy of Jewish Museum of Maryland

Workbook used by Community School students, c. 1983

Courtesy of Jewish Museum of Maryland

The school always walked a tightrope—it was hard to be all things to all people.

Harriet Chaitovitz

What happened to the Howard County Jewish Community School?

The Community School grew exponentially in its first decade. By the mid-1980s, with some 7,000 Jews living in the county, the school boasted around 500 students from across the Jewish spectrum. But from the start, its mandate to serve all of Howard County’s Jewish children ran up against the evolving needs of a diverse population. The school was challenged as early as 1973 with the founding of the Jewish Family School [see sidebar].  Later, the Community School faced repeated challenges until it could no longer serve as the primary unifying institution for Howard County’s Jewish community.

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In 1973, small group of parents who found the Community School too conventional created another school, known as the Jewish Family School because it encouraged the participation of parents as both teachers and learners. Its adventurous curriculum included themes such as “agriculture and social justice” and classes that tried to evoke the atmosphere of a European yeshiva. Jewish history was mined for contemporary relevance. As parent Dottie Goldmeir explained, “in Hanukkah, we think the major lesson is the right to be different.” 

The Jewish Council, which had invested much time and effort into launching the Community School, looked askance at this new organization, but granted it membership in the Council and a small amount of funding. The Family School lasted into the early 1990s.

Bet Yeladim 

Bet Yeladim, the Jewish preschool, opened in 1975 after Etarae Weinstein’s son came home from nursery school with Easter jelly beans just as she had finished cleaning for Pesach. “I thought, he can’t bring that into the house, it’s traif!,” she said. “I decided I had to do something.” She contacted other moms, and a group of five women organized the school: Etarae, Jean Grinspoon, Gloria Jacobs, Nancy Oppenheim, and Carol Parness.

Bet Yeladim took off from the start, partly because the need was great, but also because it was well-organized and well-credentialed, meeting state requirements and attracting talented teachers. Nearly 50 years later, it is a highly respected community institution in Howard County: “My husband called it ‘the Harvard of preschools’,” says retired director Jean Grinspoon. “If you live in Columbia, you’ve heard of Bet Yeladim.” Despite maintaining a Jewish curriculum, the school has attracted both Jewish and non-Jewish families for decades.

The first Bet Yeladim class of three-year-olds at Wilde Lake Interfaith Center, 1975. The nomadic school moved seven times in its first decade. At top right is Harriet Chaitovitz, next to an unidentified man.

Courtesy of Jean Grinspoon

Bet Yeladim preschoolers’ Shabbat celebration made the cover of the Columbia Flier in 1976. 

Photo by Paul Abel for the Columbia Flier, courtesy of Janet Epstein (Filtzer) Brady

Jean Grinspoon, pictured here with her first class of four-year olds, was a founder of Bet Yeladim and filled in as a substitute teacher early on. A certified early childhood educator, she began teaching full time in 1980 as the school expanded. She became Bet Yeladim’s director in 1984 and served for 29 years.

Courtesy of Jean Grinspoon

Thanksgiving at Bet Yeladim, 1989. Bet Yeladim teachers do not program around Halloween or Valentines Day because of those holidays’ Christian roots. They celebrate Thanksgiving and other American secular holidays, along with Jewish holidays.

Courtesy of Jewish Federation of Howard County

Starting with morning classes for three- and four-year-olds, over the years Bet Yeladim added afternoon classes, classes for two-year-olds, and a full-day program that started in 1986. In 1994, the school opened an all-day kindergarten that was highly in demand until 2008, when Maryland’s public kindergartens became full-day. Bet Yeladim pivoted, closing the kindergarten and adding a daycare program for infants and toddlers.

Bet Yeladim teachers Elaine Hercenberg (right) and Maddy Windheim give kindergarteners a geography lesson, 1998.

Photo by Kyle Bergner for the Baltimore Jewish Times, courtesy of Jewish Museum of Maryland   

Education in congregational life

Howard County’s congregations have always played a key role in educating Jewish children about their religion and heritage. From the beginning, bar and bat mitzvah training was the province of the congregations. Model seders, children’s services, and youth groups also have provided opportunities for Jewish learning and identity formation.

Temple Isaiah children lead a model seder, 1977.

Photo by Jeff Friedhoffer, courtesy of Temple Isaiah

Rabbi Steven Fuchs addresses the children of Temple Isaiah, 1986.

Photo by Paul Abel, courtesy of Temple Isaiah

Teens meet for snacks, fun, and event planning at a Beth Shalom USY meeting, 1993.

Courtesy of Beth Shalom Congregation

B’nai Mitzvah Slideshow

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Ron Jeffreys bar mitzvah booklet cover, Columbia Jewish Congregation, 1976. At CJC, families created their own b’nai mitzvah services and designed their own siddurim in booklet format.

Courtesy of Shep and Helaine Jeffreys

Beth Friedhoffer at the Torah with her parents Carol and Jeff and Rabbi Steven Fuchs, Temple Isaiah, 1981.

Courtesy of Temple Isaiah

Bar mitzvah tutor Sigi Rowe and Jennifer Sigall on the bimah, Columbia Jewish Congregation, 1984.

Courtesy of Jessica Rowe

David Fagan’s bar mitzvah invitation, Columbia Jewish Congregation,1976. 

Courtesy of Bobbi Fagan

Debra Eigles with tutor Sigi Rowe, Columbia Jewish Congregation, 1977. 

Courtesy of Jessica Rowe

Jonathan Wenocur, Columbia Jewish Congregation, 1978. 

Courtesy of Jessica Rowe 

Stephen Eigles, with sister Debra and tutor Sigi Rowe, Columbia Jewish Congregation, 1982.

Courtesy of Jessica Rowe

Danny Tucker and tutor Sigi Rowe, Columbia Jewish Congregation, 1983. 

Courtesy of Jessica Rowe

(L-R) Rabbi Martin Siegel, bar mitzvah Andy Katz, tutor Sigi Rowe, and lay cantor Shep Jeffreys, Columbia Jewish Congregation, 1984. 

Courtesy of Jessica Rowe

Debbie Filtzer, Temple Isaiah, 1986. 

Courtesy of Janet Epstein (Filtzer) Brady

Temple Isaiah program for bar and bat mitvah services. Used during the bat mitvah of Debbie Filtzer, 1986.

Courtesy of Janet Epstein (Filtzer) Brady

Toby Siegel with tutor Sigi Rowe, Columbia Jewish Congregation, 1986.

Courtesy of Jessica Rowe

Cover of Jonah Ibson’s bar mitzvah booklet, Columbia Jewish Congregation, 1989.

Courtesy of Bill and Laura Salganik

A page of Joel Barkin’s bar mitzvah booklet, Columbia Jewish Congregation, 1989

Courtesy of Bill and Laura Salganik

A second generation of Columbia Jewish Congregation was still creating personalized bar and bat mitzvah ceremonies and booklets in the early 21st century.

Courtesy of Shep and Helane Jeffreys

Congregational Religious Schools

Beth Shalom started Howard County’s first congregational religious school in 1985, feeling the need to tailor a curriculum to fit the observances and teachings of the Conservative movement with which it was affiliated. The new school joined with a consortium of Conservative religious schools in Montgomery County. In 1993, Beth Shalom was able to bring the school in-house when it moved into Howard County’s first synagogue building. Temple Isaiah founded its own religious school in 1992 while remaining in the shared space of the Meeting House.

Confirmation class with Rabbis Stephen Fuchs and Amy Scheinerman (back row, center), c. 1985. Rabbi Fuchs recalls that Temple Isaiah set clear expectations that b’nai mitzvah students would continue their Jewish education through the tenth grade and confirmation. “It is a source of pride to me that nearly 100 percent did so,” he says.

Courtesy of Temple Isaiah

 Beth Shalom Hebrew School classes in 1993.

Courtesy of Beth Shalom

Temple Isaiah third graders proudly show off “Torah scrolls” made with soda bottles, 1993. The model Torah was the signature project of teacher Dalia Feldman, who taught for the Community School and TI for over 30 years. 

Courtesy of Temple Isaiah

Having fun in their Purim masks, Temple Isaiah students mug for the camera.

Courtesy of Temple Isaiah

Teachers

  • Arie Eisner
  • Lee Lilienfeld
  • Judy Maimon
  • Ruth Pessin
  • Norma Rose
  • Ruben Stollman

Substitutes

  • Bobbi Fagan
  • Dottie Goldmeier
  • John (Shep) Jeffreys
  • Helen Ruther
  • Jackie Shulik

The Community School grew exponentially in its first decade. By the mid-1980s, with some 7,000 Jews living in the county, the school boasted around 500 students from across the Jewish spectrum. But from the start, its mandate to serve all of Howard County’s Jewish children ran up against the evolving needs of a diverse population. The school was challenged as early as 1973 with the founding of the Jewish Family School [see sidebar].  Later, the Community School faced repeated challenges until it could no longer serve as the primary unifying institution for Howard County’s Jewish community.

In the 1980s, Beth Shalom Congregation began studying the feasibility of starting its own school. Its members increasingly felt that the Community School “wasn’t meeting our Conservative needs,” as Marty and Harriet Chaitovitz put it. Jewish Council leaders worried about the possible repercussions. In a 1985 newsletter, then-president Jean Friedberg lamented the “uncertainties surrounding our future as a community. Our most important community institution--the Howard County Jewish Community School--may not continue as a community institution if one or more of the congregations set up their own schools.” 

But despite the implications for community cohesion, when Beth Shalom formed its own religious school in 1985 it took away only 55 students. The Community School continued on with the participation of Temple Isaiah and Columbia Jewish Congregation. However, in 1992, Temple Isaiah also opened its own religious school, causing a majority of the students (whose families were Temple Isaiah members) to pull out. The Community School’s director became the Temple Isaiah religious school director.  

At that point, the Community School was serving primarily students from the Columbia Jewish Congregation along with some unaffiliated students and a few former Jewish Family School parent-led classes. Nevertheless, it maintained its status as the "Howard County Jewish Community School"—an independent legal, financial, and educational entity with its own administration and board of directors.    

In 1999, in recognition that the school’s bylaws still reflected a joint operation between multiple synagogues, an effort was made to clarify the relationship between the school and Columbia Jewish Congregation, its sole remaining participating synagogue. The Community School and CJC entered into a formal agreement, the essence of which was that the school, while remaining a legally and financially independent entity, became a "wholly owned subsidiary of the congregation." The following year, the name of the school was legally changed from the "Howard County Jewish Community School" to the "Columbia Jewish Community School" (CJCS), which better captured the school’s actual affiliation. The new name also reflected the strong desire to retain the word "community" and enabled all to easily make the connection between "CJC" and "CJCS." When people occasionally assumed that "CJCS" was short for "Columbia Jewish Congregation School,” administrators overlooked the inaccuracy. 

The school continued to operate semi-autonomously under its new name until 2021, when the Columbia Jewish Community School officially and legally filed with the state of Maryland to cease its operation. At that point, CJC took full ownership over the operation of its own religious school. In the fall of 2022, Columbia Jewish Congregation and Kol Nefesh entered into an agreement to jointly operate a new religious school named "B'yachad Oakland Mills Jewish School."

Many thanks to Jerry Kiewe, HCJCS education director and then CJCS education director, 1995-2022, for contributing this history of a vital community organization.

Teachers

  • Arie Eisner
  • Lee Lilienfeld
  • Judy Maimon
  • Ruth Pessin
  • Norma Rose
  • Ruben Stollman

Substitutes

  • Bobbi Fagan
  • Dottie Goldmeier
  • John (Shep) Jeffreys
  • Helen Ruther
  • Jackie Shulik

The Community School grew exponentially in its first decade. By the mid-1980s, with some 7,000 Jews living in the county, the school boasted around 500 students from across the Jewish spectrum. But from the start, its mandate to serve all of Howard County’s Jewish children ran up against the evolving needs of a diverse population. The school was challenged as early as 1973 with the founding of the Jewish Family School [see sidebar].  Later, the Community School faced repeated challenges until it could no longer serve as the primary unifying institution for Howard County’s Jewish community.

In the 1980s, Beth Shalom Congregation began studying the feasibility of starting its own school. Its members increasingly felt that the Community School “wasn’t meeting our Conservative needs,” as Marty and Harriet Chaitovitz put it. Jewish Council leaders worried about the possible repercussions. In a 1985 newsletter, then-president Jean Friedberg lamented the “uncertainties surrounding our future as a community. Our most important community institution--the Howard County Jewish Community School--may not continue as a community institution if one or more of the congregations set up their own schools.” 

But despite the implications for community cohesion, when Beth Shalom formed its own religious school in 1985 it took away only 55 students. The Community School continued on with the participation of Temple Isaiah and Columbia Jewish Congregation. However, in 1992, Temple Isaiah also opened its own religious school, causing a majority of the students (whose families were Temple Isaiah members) to pull out. The Community School’s director became the Temple Isaiah religious school director.  

At that point, the Community School was serving primarily students from the Columbia Jewish Congregation along with some unaffiliated students and a few former Jewish Family School parent-led classes. Nevertheless, it maintained its status as the "Howard County Jewish Community School"—an independent legal, financial, and educational entity with its own administration and board of directors.    

In 1999, in recognition that the school’s bylaws still reflected a joint operation between multiple synagogues, an effort was made to clarify the relationship between the school and Columbia Jewish Congregation, its sole remaining participating synagogue. The Community School and CJC entered into a formal agreement, the essence of which was that the school, while remaining a legally and financially independent entity, became a "wholly owned subsidiary of the congregation." The following year, the name of the school was legally changed from the "Howard County Jewish Community School" to the "Columbia Jewish Community School" (CJCS), which better captured the school’s actual affiliation. The new name also reflected the strong desire to retain the word "community" and enabled all to easily make the connection between "CJC" and "CJCS." When people occasionally assumed that "CJCS" was short for "Columbia Jewish Congregation School,” administrators overlooked the inaccuracy. 

The school continued to operate semi-autonomously under its new name until 2021, when the Columbia Jewish Community School officially and legally filed with the state of Maryland to cease its operation. At that point, CJC took full ownership over the operation of its own religious school. In the fall of 2022, Columbia Jewish Congregation and Kol Nefesh entered into an agreement to jointly operate a new religious school named "B'yachad Oakland Mills Jewish School."

Many thanks to Jerry Kiewe, HCJCS education director and then CJCS education director, 1995-2022, for contributing this history of a vital community organization.