Years ago, Geryl Baer walked into a religious school classroom at Bethesda Jewish Congregation and saw engaged students learning about teshuvah, the repentance typically observed throughout Elul.

Instead of sitting at desks with paper and pencil, the kids were turning handfuls of tortilla chips into nachos, each layer symbolic of an aspect of Jewish tradition.

“Who would think [of] nachos from Rosh Hashanah?” asked Baer, BJC’s synagogue director. “But it worked, and the kids loved it because it was so different and because it sparked joy.”

“At the heart of everything we do is Jewish joy, which sounds cliche, but it’s not separate from the values-based curriculum we teach,” said Becky Leavey, BJC’s religious school coordinator. “It’s how we live the values and the foundation of the program. So, we laugh, we celebrate, we sing, we eat, we ask questions and we show the kids how to show up for one another.”

Activities include Mitzvah Day in March, an outdoor bonfire for Lag B’Omer and regular cooking sessions. Many of the students genuinely enjoy religious school, Leavey found through her annual parent survey.

Often, a child chooses to attend a Saturday morning class instead of their soccer game. Or they may declare, “No, I can’t leave yet,” if a parent comes to pick them up early for an extracurricular, Leavey noted.

“They’re coming in, they’re laughing, they’re enjoying being in the building,” she said. “The activities, games, experiments, philosophy discussions, art and cooking, all the things they’re doing in the building is making that foundation of Jewish joy through the values.”

This joyful, hands-on approach to Jewish learning is perhaps why BJC’s religious school has expanded significantly.

“To go from 10 kids in the religious school when I started four years ago to over 60 kids now, [that] is a pretty significant marker of our growth,” BJC’s Rabbi Eric Abbott said.

The school also meets students and families where they are. Rolling admission allows parents to visit with their child midyear to “test out” one class. “We have a 100% track record,” Baer said. “Every child that has tested us has joined us.”

The religious school offers exclusively one-on-one Hebrew tutoring, understanding that kids and teens are often busy.

“We don’t have to worry about [conflicting with] the scheduling of soccer and lacrosse and swimming and all that,” Baer said.

Instead, families can choose their own schedules, thanks to Leavey’s logistical planning.

“There was a need, and we were able to fulfill it, and it has really helped our growth,” Baer said.

The next step involves the entire shul community. “Now, we are working on taking these families and really making sure that they feel that they are part of our community,” Baer said.

The BJC staff and clergy teams aim to amp up their intergenerational programming, merging newer families with members who have been involved for up to 60 years.

“Especially in the most recent years, seeing them work together feels really good,” Baer said. “We see the difference in the community that we’re making, and it feels really good.”

BJC is currently home to 175 member families, a number that the shul community hopes to see increase even more.

One unique aspect of BJC is its commitment to interfaith efforts. While many synagogues may host the occasional interfaith event or initiative, those relationships are built into life at BJC.

“Being housed with a church and a mosque, we do specific events that incorporate all three religions and also the religious school,” said Jessica Lieberson, BJC’s communications and engagement director.

Some of those events include an interfaith Thanksgiving service and a “Come As You Are” Shabbat in honor of Juneteenth and LGBTQ+ Pride.

Abbott considers “interfaith” to be one of the synagogue’s four pillars, along with music, education and social action.

The staff team also prides itself on BJC’s inclusive model.

“One of the things that makes us really unique is that not only are the non-Jewish partners [of congregants] full members of our congregation, but they are welcome to join the board — we have multiple non-Jewish spouses on the board,” Baer said.

“They’re just members of the BJC community and they are helping us make BJC a really beautiful community.”

Abbott connected this inclusivity to a biblical figure and Jewish heroine.

“I always think back to Ruth,” the rabbi said. “Our ancestor Ruth never went through a formal conversion process. She said, ‘Your God will be my God. Your people will be my people.’ That’s what these families are doing — your family is my family. We’re all together.”

While the community isn’t concerned with “who is a Jew; who’s not a Jew,” BJC maintains its status as a growing synagogue.

“We are still a Jewish organization that is fully embracing of our interfaith community,” Abbott said.

zbell@midatlanticmedia.com