On a recent trip to Hong Kong, I hopped into a little red taxi and headed up the hill from Central to the Midlevels – home to historic Ohel Leah Synagogue and the United Jewish Congregation of Hong Kong. ShalomLearning’s new Board member Rosanne Kurstedt was a member of this congregation when we were both living in Hong Kong with our families in the early 2000s.
There I met with the congregation’s education director, Cantor Yvon F. Shore and Erica Lyons, the congregation’s historian. From Cantor Shore, I learned about the growth of the UJC’s Shorashim school in recent years and her engagement across the Asia-Pacific region and with the World Jewish Congress. From Erica Lyons, I received a tour of the 125-year-old synagogue, learning about the history of the building and of Jews in Hong Kong, and about how her involvement with PJ Library brings joyful Judaism to families with small children, and about her involvement with Global Jewry. With both, I explored ways that ShalomLearning might support some of the Asia-Pacific region’s smaller congregations and those with declining memberships.
Our Partner in Hong Kong
The United Jewish Congregation of Hong Kong is a long-time partner of ShalomLearning. For six years, our Jewish values program has been utilized in their 3rd-5th grade classrooms on Sunday mornings. We provide the lesson plans, activities, slides, videos, discussion questions, other teaching materials, a learning management system, and teacher training and support. Utilizing what we provide enables the teachers to focus on delivering lessons, engaging students, and fostering Jewish identity.
Our Global Reach
ShalomLearning’s Jewish values and Hebrew programs are used by some 200 congregations in the U.S. and 10 other countries, including Hong Kong, China.
In expat communities, ShalomLearning provides continuity to their children’s Jewish education while living abroad – and lessons are typically taught in English. Living in another culture often presents an extra challenge to Jewish expat families who work to maintain both their Jewish identity and their home-country cultural connection while living abroad.
In some countries where ShalomLearning is utilized in local communities, our teaching materials are translated into the local language – into German in Zurich and into Italian in Rome, for example.
Our Reach Is Growing
This year, ShalomLearning expanded into four new countries — Barbados, Ecuador, Italy, and Kenya — bringing Jewish learning to families and communities in very different ways, but with one shared goal: helping children stay connected to Jewish life, learning, and identity.
What makes this growth so meaningful is that it reflects the many ways Jewish families live today:
- In Nairobi, Kenya, a family enrolled their two children in our online program, where they join weekly live Zoom classes led by a ShalomLearning teacher.
- In Barbados, a family that moved from the U.S. is using a ShalomLearning curriculum to homeschool their children and continue their Jewish education with consistency and confidence.
- In Rome, Italy, a synagogue is using our Jewish values curriculum in its congregational school classrooms, teaching 40 children.
- In Ecuador, one family began using our materials at home while a small group of local mothers works to build more Jewish learning opportunities for their children in a community with limited formal Jewish schooling options.
This is exactly why ShalomLearning exists: to make high-quality Jewish learning possible wherever families are — in established congregations, in growing communities, and in places where Jewish education needs to be built from the ground up.
ShalomLearning now supports Jewish learning across communities in the United States and internationally, including partners in Hong Kong, China; Singapore; Zurich, Switzerland; Auckland, New Zealand; Vancouver, Canada; Rome, Italy; Nairobi, Kenya; Bridgetown, Barbados; and Quito, Ecuador with additional conversations underway in Toronto, Canada.
As we continue to support families across the Jewish diaspora, introductions matter.
Can You Help us Grow this Work?
- Do you know a Jewish expat or military family whose children are not currently enrolled in a congregational school program?
- Do you know a synagogue — in the U.S. or abroad — that is struggling to provide a strong K–7 Jewish education program?
If so, we’d love to connect. Reply to this newsletter or reach out to Lillian directly ([email protected] or 412-992-1006) and help us reach one more family, one more classroom, and one more community.
We look forward to new collaborations as ShalomLearning seeks to provide Jewish values and Hebrew education to congregations and unaffiliated family around the globe.
