Tikun Jr. brings Shavuot learning and community to young families

Seeking to emulate the bedrock of Pittsburgh Jewish communal learning, an upcoming Shavuot-related program for children and parents is touting the chance to study together, eat dairy and learn from diverse teachers, all under one roof.

Tikun Jr., a two-hour-long program kicking off at 5 p.m. on May 21 at the Jewish Community Center in Squirrel Hill, “shamelessly rides the coattails of a fantastically successful” Shavuot program for adults, organizer Rabbi Larry Freedman said.

Pointing to the similarly named “Tikkun Leil Shavuot,” Freedman described Tikun Jr. as an opportunity to choose from multiple 40-minute educational sessions and enjoy access to story time, singing and a kosher dinner.

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Each of the program’s offerings reflects an aspect of the holiday. Whether it’s learning about controversies concerning the Ten Commandments, using art to explore the “land of milk and honey,” or eating cheese pizza, sessions and activities incorporate Shavuot and seek to foster understanding and growth, Freedman said.

“We’re very intentional in how we are structuring the program,” Rachael Speck, chief program and innovation officer at the Jewish Community Center of Greater Pittsburgh, said. “It allows families to show up and be together and learn together on the holiday, but also allows for parents to step away from their children and engage more meaningfully as adults.”

Shavuot marks the giving of the Torah at Mount Sinai. Long celebrated by staying up late, studying Jewish texts and eating dairy dishes, Pittsburghers have annually observed the holiday by gathering at the JCC in Squirrel Hill for the Jewish Federation of Greater Pittsburgh’s program, eating cheesecake and learning from teachers representing various streams of Jewish thought.

Freedman, who serves as director of the religious school at Beit Kulanu, told the Chronicle he wanted to emulate the decades-old communal activity and give younger Pittsburghers a means to enjoy its fruits.

While the late-night program for adults, which begins at 10 p.m. on May 21, enables community members to connect and learn, doing so isn’t always easy for those with younger children. Often, parents’ activities and schedules mirror their children’s. By designing a program predicated on bringing together younger Pittsburghers from various walks of Jewish life, Tikun Jr. strives to afford familiar social and educational benefits, Freedman explained.

“The holiday gives us a reason to gather, learn and be together, and the opportunity for parents, kids and community to all happen in one place is what makes it really special,” Speck said.

“We’re blessed with multiple organizations in Pittsburgh,” Freedman said. “We don’t all get to come together all the time, and that’s why the Tikkun Leil Shavuot has been such a hit — people that we might recognize or we’ve seen here and there, we can actually be in a program with and have a conversation and learn together. I think that’s similar to what we are doing with Tikun Jr.”

The program, which requires registration and is for children ages 1-8 and their parents, “takes people from different walks of life that maybe you saw at a school assembly, or maybe you saw here and there, or in the park, and it just gives us a chance to really sit and talk with each other,” he said.

Assembling in a Torah-centered setting reflects the holiday’s historic nature, according to Freedman.

“The Torah says that all of us were there at Sinai, including the children,” he said. “All of us received the Torah — from the highborn to the low, the old to the young. We were all at Sinai. And so we all should be at Sinai, even if it needs to be much earlier in the day.”

The structure of the academic year can make engagement with Shavuot somewhat challenging, Freedman said. Because Shavuot routinely comes in late May or June, many religious schools are closed. For numerous children, this means there’s an inability to “really study Shavuot.”

Tikun Jr. pushes back by giving Pittsburghers a way to approach the holiday in a “more experiential way.”

Freedman hopes the promise of pizza, study, crafting and congregating is enough to create another meaningful local tradition.

“The Pittsburgh Jewish community is creative and has opportunities that you don’t always see in other places,” he said. “We are small and mighty.”

By clinging to that communal quality and participating in Tikun Jr., Freedman continued, parents can “help bring their children a little closer to Torah and our heritage.” PJC

Adam Reinherz can be reached at areinherz@pittsburghjewishchronicle.org.