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Rabbi's puppets spread the word

Congregation Kol Ami's Bim Bam Shabbat opens young eyes to Judaism.

By SHERYL KAY, Times Correspondent
Published December 14, 2007

CARROLLWOOD 

It's Saturday morning at Congregation Kol Ami as laughter, clapping and even the occasional foot-stomping noises envelop one of the smaller sanctuaries.

Once a month, while regular services are conducted in the main hall, Rabbi Aaron Lever hosts Bim Bam Shabbat for preschoolers through second-graders. And he's not leading services alone.

Lever shares the pulpit with a monkey named Bongo and a turtle named Morris, both plush hand puppets.

"These puppets create an energy in the room that I myself could not do," Lever said. "They're their own people. It's like three people leading the service."

Lever was introduced to the art as a very young boy when a relative gave him two handmade puppets, but it wasn't until years later, at the Jewish Theological Seminary, when a lecturing rabbi spoke on the power of puppetry, that Lever became hooked.

Recognizing that children often relate better to fun activities rather than traditional structured prayer sessions, Lever, 35, designed a one-hour, age-appropriate service that incorporates very real traditional prayers that he leads with his puppets.

In his high voice, Bongo is the louder, joke-telling and slightly more obnoxious of the two, while Morris is more gentle and polite.

Lever said both characters have elements of his own personality, but that using the puppets as an educational tool has far more effect than he alone would have.

"Today with all the computer games and TV, kids just don't see puppets that often," he said. "With this age group, the kids are still a blank slate, so we can make a strong impact on what it means to be Jewish and that Judaism is fun."

Word has been so positive about the program that adults who don't even have children are popping their heads in to see what all the excitement is about, said Rita Schonwetter, vice president of education and youth programs at the synagogue.

"It is a real service with all the elements of a real service," she said. "The kids are dancing, they're singing, their laughing, they're having fun, and they're praying at the same time."

An audience of 30 kindergarten-age children might intimidate some rabbis, but not Lever.

In order to keep the kids coming back, he keeps the act fresh by incorporating different hand motions, storytelling and sometimes introducing guest character puppets, including a chicken and a snail.

When he's not entertaining the children of Kol Ami, Lever serves as a full-time chaplain at the H. Lee Moffitt Cancer Center. Trained in clinical pastoral education, he provides spiritual guidance and healing to patients of all faiths, their families and doctors who face their own burnout in dealing with cancer on a daily basis.

It's not entirely different from his work with the children.

"At Moffitt you often walk away feeling drained," Lever said. "But there is an energy that's generated from within knowing you may have made a difference, just as there's an energy generated in working with the puppets and the kids. In both, I step into a role, and in both, I need to be fully present."

Religion writer Sheryl Kay can be reached at skreporter@hotmail.com or (813) 230-8788.

Fast facts

To learn more

For more information on the Bim Bam Shabbat program, call Congregation Kol Ami at (813) 962-6339.

[Last modified December 13, 2007, 07:52:28]