Over the decades, they have continued to house immigrants and children from disadvantaged home environments. In meetings with her students, Serok aims to instill a sense of pride in being a Jewish woman and to familiarize them with ceremonies and customs. Many of the students in the youth villages come from cultural settings where women's status is particularly low. We're building self-esteem and inculcating Judaism without coercion. Serok's approach is egalitarian, and girls learn to make the ceremonial blessings.
Early classes deal with the Jewish calendar and each girl's Hebrew birthday.
Symbols like the letters on the spinning tops used for Chanukah are explained. One of the teachers brings a guitar and sets each lesson to Jewish music and song. Another, a gifted storyteller, turns coursework into enchanting tales. Serok feels it is not necessary for her students to commit to becoming religious to acquire a knowledge and love of Jewish sources and ceremony. The students investigate Jewish women in the Bible and learn to create a family Sabbath table with all its elements, and to blow a shofar, the ram's horn sounded on the Jewish New Year.