Beth Tfiloh Congregation’s Pop-Up Beit Midrash is engaging congregants in a new way. The program, which first launched in September, is an accessible way for congregants to study Torah.
“Whether you’ve been studying Torah your whole life or you’ve never done it before, it’s an accessible program,” said Jesse Cleveland, the director of programs and events at Beth Tfiloh. “You could come have a great meal and find something that’s fun for you to learn and makes you feel tied in.”
The program “pops up” for three weeks at a time, with each series having its own overarching theme. Once a week, congregants are welcome to schmooze and eat catered food free of charge while they learn from the shul’s clergy.
For 45 minutes, congregants split into different groups to learn from four to six clergy members and a few of the shul’s educators. Then, everyone is brought back into a big group, and final thoughts are shared by Rabbi Chai Posner, Beth Tfiloh’s senior rabbi.
The topic of the first Pop-Up Beit Midrash was the High Holidays and intention in shul. “Our members would have committed to having their seats and coming to [High Holiday] services far before the [Pop-Up Beit Midrash]. But what we did find — and we got a lot of unsolicited feedback on this — was people told us how much more plugged in they felt to services,” said Cleveland.
The program is supported by the Jewish Education Enhancement Projects grant through Jewish Educational Services, an agency of The Associated: Jewish Federation of Baltimore.
According to Cleveland, the shul just wrapped up its second session of the Pop-Up Beit Midrash program, focusing on the topic of mitzvot. In March, Beth Tfiloh will have its third session of the program, focusing on preparing for Passover. “We think it’ll really help people kind of get into the mood and get into an intentional place for the holiday,” said Cleveland.
“It’s a unique program,” she added. “We have a lot of programming that’s very targeted, like programs for preschool and lower school moms, programs for teen and young adult moms, programs for men, programs for older men, so this one stands out as something that everybody can participate in.”
Cleveland added that the program is not only educational but also supports local kosher restaurants in the area by having catering for the event. “I really love that we’re catering and supporting kosher restaurants in the community by having this program.”
“We thought this would be a really fun way to get people … to think about davening while learning Torah, [and] make it fun and easy, without making it a huge time commitment,” Cleveland said.
Cleveland said the program’s intentionally low-pressure format helped draw in participants, with attendance far exceeding expectations.
“In the fall, we had about 90 people for each of the three weeks, which was our first time doing it,” she said. “So we were blown away. We were really expecting maybe 30. We’ve been really happily surprised, and we’re hoping it will keep growing from there.”
