Elizabeth, NJ–Taking advantage of the day off for many working parents, over 500 mothers and daughters (and aunts, sisters, and grandmothers) gathered at the Jewish Educational Center’s Bruriah High School on December 25th for a special Mother-Daughter Learning program. Alongside a delicious breakfast buffet of pancakes, bagels, and coffee, the women and girls learned Torah together from a collection of texts compiled on a source sheet to help them prepare in advance for the lecture that would follow.

The featured speaker was Rabbi Zev Goldberg, rabbi in Fort Lee, NJ and faculty member at Bruriah. He spoke on the topic, “We Want Moshiach Now–But Then What?” With many entertaining and instructive anecdotes, Rabbi Goldberg led his captivated audience through the sources and explained the different Jewish perspectives on what the end of times in the Messianic era will be like. The program was a great bonding experience for participants as mothers got to hear from one of their daughters’ teachers and daughters got to share a learning experience with their mothers.

Bruriah’s Junior High had its own special program at the same time on the theme of “Connections” thanks to Junior High Coordinator Zehava Greenwald. Mothers heard from veteran Bruriah teacher Yael Kaisman about perspectives on parenting and “connecting effectively with our children,” while their daughters had a workshop with faculty member Hadassah Tirschwell on how technology affects our relationships. Students performed a skit and a dance for their mothers, and together they created mosaic mezuzah covers as an art project to take home.

By Leah Rothstein