A Shule Grows on Long Island

The Long Island Shule is the longest continually operating Workmen’s Circle Shule and the largest, having grown to 110 students. We meet twice a week, and teach both Yiddish and Hebrew. Our remarkable success and growth, at a time when Hebrew Schools across the board are struggling and failing, were recently featured in a front page article in the Jewish Week. The Shule is built on a model that combines skilled volunteer activist leadership and faculty with accomplished, dynamic paid faculty.

Our educational approach is welcoming and child and family-friendly. We focus on building a strong and enduring Jewish identity, and a vibrant and progressive Jewish community. We celebrate all of the major Jewish holidays as a community. Our flourishing Bar/Bas Mitzvah and post-Bar/Bas Mitzvah teen programs have sparked the passions of our youngsters. Our innovative curriculum is rooted in progressive Jewish and Workmen’s Circle values and centers on the active engagement of our students. Please use these links to read much more about the core components of our program:

Parent Testimonials
װאָס די עלטערן זאָגן

From the father of a third-year student:

I would like to relate to you my complete satisfaction with the I.L. Peretz Jewish School in East Meadow.

I have a “living experiment” at home to relate to you our personal experience. My son attends Temple Hebrew School and is currently on his way through the Bar Mitzvah factory, while my daughter attends I.L. Peretz school for her studies. Both are of equal temperament and love to learn in public school. However – when it comes to Hebrew School – it is a constant struggle with my son.

In contrast, my daughter can’t wait for Sundays and Wednesdays to roll around so she can learn Yiddish and Jewish customs, see her friends, and especially her teachers. Whatever magic they’re working, she is very happy she is going to I. L. Peretz over my son’s stories of the instructors at the temple. I was shocked to see that the curriculum at temple Hebrew School hadn’t changed in over 25 years since when I went.

And then we found the Workmen’s Circle in East Meadow. As they say, it’s worth the trip. Our daughter and our family are thrilled that’s she’s learning another language. On weekends, when she sees her grandmother, she shares with her the recent Yiddish she has learned. At family gatherings, she is the most conversant in Jewish traditional stories which she was taught at school. She even has a love for Klezmer music.

From the mother of a third-year student:

The I.L. Peretz school is the best thing we ever found! The staff’s approach to the students and style of teaching is so full of enthusiasm and creativity. The students love to learn and participate! What’s more, we the parents want to participate! Every assembly at holiday time is a joyous, touching experience for us all. The effort and motivation that goes into them from the students and teachers is obvious. These assemblies enrich our lives with a heartfelt joy and feeling of what it means to be Jewish.

In sum, I would like to say what a wondrous experience it’s been to be involved with the Peretz shule. It has made being Jewish more meaningful than ever in my family’s life, even my own life. The staff and their more contemporary teaching strategies are terrific. Please, please, please keep doing whatever you’re doing. It’s working!

From the grandmother of a fourth-year student:

Each of my three grandchildren has attended the I.L. Peretz Jewish School of Long Island. Two of them have already graduated, and the third is well on her way. I find it hard to put into words what the school has meant to my grandchildren and our family. Our family was looking for a school that would connect my grandchildren to the Jewish community and build a strong Jewish identity. That is precisely what the Shule has accomplished. Each of my grandchildren has an incredibly strong Jewish identity. They are conscious of Jewish life, holidays and rituals, and of being a part of the Jewish community in the United States, Israel and around the world. Not only do they have this powerful consciousness of their Jewish identity, but they have been encouraged to be, and each of them is, an active participant in Jewish life.

I believe that the keys to the school’s success at instilling an active Jewish identity in children are the quality of the teachers, the relevance of the curriculum, and the philosophy of encouraging each child to connect to their Jewish heritage. While the education provided to the children is quite broad, each child is encouraged to connect to their heritage in the ways that are easiest for them. Whether it is through music, Yiddish and Hebrew language, Jewish history, Jewish values, Tsedukah. Jewish literature, etc., the school encourages each child to find and explore areas of Judaism that strike a responsive chord. Once the child has identified areas of interest, they are encouraged to run with them. The result of this approach has been an active, participatory sense of Jewish identity for each of my grandchildren. We could not have asked for more.