NYC Schools Chancellor Gets to Dance in Crown Heights

By COLlive reporter
Photos: Shalom Burkis/COLlive

What does a Jew look like? Why do religious Jews wear a Yarmulke? What kind of foods do the Jewish people eat? Do they play ball? Why do religious girls wear long skirts?

Those are some of the questions that young people ask when visiting the Jewish Children’s Museum in Crown Heights.

The most recent visitor was New York City’s Schools Chancellor David Banks, joined by his Deputy Commissioners Dr. Jawana Johnson, Chief of School Culture, Climate and Well-Being; Carolyn Quintana, Deputy Chancellor of Teaching and Learning; Lucius Young, Senior Executive Director Curriculum, Instruction, & Professional Learning and Dr. Kara Ahmed, Deputy Chancellor of Early Childhood Education.

The visit was a culmination of several meetings with Devorah Halberstam, co-founder of the Jewish Children’s Museum, and Chancellor Banks about bringing the one million Public School children to the Museum to learn about Jewish history and culture.

Children and youngsters who visit the museum have the opportunity to learn about who their neighbors are and gain an understanding of others who don’t look like themselves, she said.

Visitors learn to embrace and accept another culture through hands-on workshops and a live town-hall style meeting. Making a shofar before Rosh Hashana, baking Matzah before Passover, and participating in Olive Oil workshops before Chanukah, are some of the ways kids can learn about who the Jewish people are.

Chancellor Banks and his team seemed as engaged as young visitors are while touring the many interactive exhibits of the museum. He was even honored with opening the model Holy Ark (Aron Kodesh) and taking out play-Torah scrolls to dance with as is done on the holiday of Simchas Torah.

The visitors then sat for brunch in the conference room and were joined by museum directors Rabbi Yerachmiel Benjaminson, Rabbi Sholom Ber Baumgarten and staff.

“Educating our young is the mission of the Museum,” said Mrs. Halberstam. “As it is carved out around the dreidel that stands as the artifact in front of the Museum, ‘Teach a child while he is young, so when he grows old it will not leave him (Mishlei).'”