Staff Writer

You gotta think like a kid," exclaimed Marc Sickel, as he clutched a translucent scepter in one hand and a padded assault rod in the other.

By thinking -- and at times acting -- well below his age, Sickel, the 48-year-old founder of Fitness for Health, a Rockville-based facility that tutors children through exercise and movement, has laid the groundwork for a new Judaics enrichment and exercise program.

The program, which aims to get kids thinking Jewishly as they engage in a flurry of high-octane exercises, such as rock climbing and glow-in-the-dark Frisbee, will begin offering Hebrew language tutoring sessions in September.

It's a pedagogical concept that Sickel laughingly compares to "coating penicillin in root beer."

"You're trying to bring in, from the child's standpoint, something that's more stimulating" than sitting in a classroom with an open textbook, said Sickel, a certified athletic trainer. "For me, personally, going to Hebrew school was [like] pulling my teeth out."

Rather than make kids feel as though they're being subjected to a dental procedure, Sickel, working with Elana Divine, a Fitness for Health instructor who also teaches at Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School in Rockville, has developed a series of training regiments designed to boost Hebrew comprehension among both novices and those studying to become b'nai mitzvah.

How does it work?

"Let me show you," said Sickel, opening the door to a large room littered with Frisbees and small soccer nets. Hebrew letters are scrawled in chalk across the room's padded green walls.

Grinning, Sickel flipped a light switch on the wall, bathing the room in shadowy black light.

Then, picking up several of the glowing Frisbees, Sickel and Divine began to yell out, "dalet!" and "alef!" before launching the toys at the corresponding letter on the wall.

The basic theory, the pair explained, is that children of all strides -- from those with minor learning disabilities to those with severe physical and mental deficits -- can passively memorize the Hebrew alphabet as they dash about the room, identifying each of the black-lit Hebrew letters.

Other activities will have students rock-climbing their way to various pictures of famous rabbis and Israeli political figures, such as Yitzhak Rabin. As they work their way to the photographs, Divine, a fourth-grade general studies teacher a JDS, will discuss the particular figure's importance.

"It's very stimulating," Sickel said, as he walked through the Fitness for Health gymnasium, a large compound that houses a rock-climbing wall, several trampolines and a slew of interactive exercise machines. "The kids don't even realize they're learning."

Although the 20-year-old company has long been using similar techniques to teach a range of kids English grammar (the clientele runs the gamut, from those with learning disabilities to those seeking added help outside of school), it wasn't until June that Divine thought to add a Hebrew flare to the curriculum.

The concept, she said, was literally bouncing beside her.

"A couple of Jewish kids had come in to do their regular one-hour session," Divine explained, and "we got into conversations about Judaism, the rabbis and Torah. And this all took place while they were jumping on a trampoline or climbing [on the rock wall]. They didn't even realize they" were engaged in intellectual discourse.

One child in particular, Divine recalled, "was jumping on the trampoline and singing all of [the names of] the parshas in order. We sort of had this light bulb go off."

That leaping child was Ethan Rifkind, an 8-year-old student at the Jewish Primary Day School of the Nation's Capital. According to Ethan's mother, Andrea, her son "loves Judaics" and was simply "sharing" his knowledge "while jumping" on the trampoline.

"When kids are moving, their brains are working," said Rifkind, a Bethesda resident whose son has trained at the Fitness for Health facility for the past two years to improve his coordination and motor skills. The workouts, she said, have significantly increased Ethan's self-esteem.

Training regimens in the Judaics program are tailored by age, with the youngest children, those in pre-kindergarten to first grade, focusing on basic recognition of Hebrew letters and vowels.

Children in kindergarten to second grade will work on conversational Hebrew, while older students -- those in third to seventh grade -- will integrate their Hebrew school curricula into their workouts.

Programs for b'nai mitzvah students center around Torah portions and d'vrei Torah.

Mara Bier, director of early childhood services at the Partnership for Jewish Life and Learning, said Sickel's mix of education and exercise is simply "fabulous" for all kids, especially those with motor deficits and learning issues.

"Because [the environment] is appealing," kids feel more comfortable engaging in activities that "they might not be willing to do" in other settings, Bier said, noting that the PJLL has teamed up with Sickel in the past to run various physical education classes in local Jewish preschools.

As for the new Hebrew program, Bier said, "I think it's a great idea. It makes sense that if it's successful in English, it would successful in Hebrew as well."

With the Judaics program scheduled to begin next month, Sickel and Divine were still developing different activities as they wandered around the gym. (The 50-minute one-on-one sessions are available Sundays and three evenings a week, at $100 per session. The number of sessions recommended varies per child.)

As children bounced on foam padding behind Sickel, he and Divine displayed one such exercise machine that will be used to enhance Hebrew literacy.

After posting several Hebrew letters onto red lights that dotted three large metal polls circling around the user, Divine picked up an assault stick and began whacking the lights as they blinked on and off.

Turning from side to side to smack the Hebrew letters, Divine explained that students will sharpen their physical reflexes as they learn to identify a series of Hebrew letters quickly. After attacking all of the letters, students will then assemble the pieces into full words and sentences, she said.

After finishing the exericise, Divine summed up her goal: "The more open-minded we can get with the kids," the better.