Top: Cantor Rochelle Helzner explains to the students the job of a cantor Bottom: Rabbi Shull explains the significance of the Torah scroll
Congregant Mary Wagner teaches a comparative religion course at Blake High School in Silver Spring. She has been teaching the class for more than 15 years, and each semester, when she reaches the Judaism unit, she brings her students on a field trip to Tikvat Israel.
When they arrive, the students meet with Cantor Rochelle Helzner, who explains to them the job of a cantor. She teaches them to sing Hinei Ma Tov and demonstrates the way the Hatzi Kaddish sounds using different tunes for different holidays. The students have told Wagner that this really helps them understand why the cantor’s job is so important because of its complex nature.
“I didn’t realize that there was more than one way to chant a prayer,” said Kristen, one of Wagner’s students.
Before she finishes her part, Cantor Helzner teaches the students the refrain from Sim Shalom, and she demonstrates how the congregation might alternate verses with her during a service.
After meeting with the cantor, the students meet with Rabbi Benjamin Shull and congregant Jeff Smith. They explain more about the rabbi’s role and give a tour of the sanctuary.
This semester, Rabbi Shull showed students how to “think like a rabbi” as they looked at the beginning of that week’s parasha. Wagner and Smith then joined the rabbi in showing the students the Torah and they explained how it is written and how it is read during a religious service. They also explained what else happens during the Shabbat service.
After their time in the sanctuary, the students eat a kosher meal from Max’s – always including falafel, which many of them have never tasted previously. Of course, the food is the teenagers’ favorite part of the field trip. When they depart Tikvat Israel, they leave with a richer understanding of Judaism and its beliefs and practices.
