In a traditional Jewish cheder (school) there was an old custom for a child's very first lesson. The teacher would show the young student a page with a large letter "Aleph" that had honey dripped on it. When the student touched the sticky letter and then tasted it, the first lesson would be: "learning is sweet."
That is what we try to do with our Aleph Garten program. Instead of tasting honey, though, our pre-K and Kindergarten students learn the Hebrew letters with the sweetness of storytelling, crafts, and movement. The program meets for 30 minutes on Monday afternoons at the same time as the Aleph Bet class, so little ones can go to the synagogue at the same time as their older siblings to get their first taste of Hebrew.
