The GATEWAYS project has developed very positive working relationships with the Reform and Conservative sunagogues and other Jewish agencies in the area. Why? Because we communicate openly with one another and are respectful of one another's roles and each entity realizes that one of the goals of GATEWAYS is simply to connect our folks with their folks. There are enough people out there to keep all of us busy. There is no need for competition.

In order to be proactive in creating a positive atmosphere, one of the first things we did was to meet with all the rabbis and executives of Jewish agencies in town and with their presidents. We discussed the GATEWAYS project, elicited their views and suggestions and offered to work in partnership with them vis-a-vis interfaith families. These initial meetings were very productive and have been followed up by many phone calls, correspondence and copies of our newsletters. We have listened to one antoher and "territory" has never become an issue. GATEWAYS also invites representatives from each synagogue onto our Board, includes them on our mailing list and is often invited to have GATEWAY's families join synagogue families for services, programs, etc. I expected to make regular referrals to synagogues, JFS, and other Jewish agencies, but, to my great suprise, referrals also came to us.

I'm proud-but the pride and credit belong to all of us.

Another source of pride is the implementation of the Columbus version of the "Stepping Stones to a Jewish Me" program which was created to provide educational experience for unaffiliated, interfaith families. We borrowed and adapted this program which originated in Denver and is now under the UAHC auspices. We re-named it "Stepping Stones to Family Jewish Education" and changed the emphasis from the original program which primarily serves children and offers an optional parent component, to a program which serves the entire family each session.

At the moment we are enrolling families for the third year. "Stepping Stones" staff includes: parent educators (which includes community rabbis and guests); a music specialist, who is also the Community Family Jewish Educator; teachers for the 3-6 years, 7-10 year olds and 11-13 year olds; and, a baby sitter.

Is it working? There are many ways to measure success. One goal was to connect families to the Jewish community. Of the thirteenfamilies who completed Year 1, nine have affiliated with congregations at the end of teh year, three continued with Year 2, and two of those three families recently joined congregations. One spouse converted to Judaism and one family has joined the JCC. What will happen with those families from here is unknown, but GATEWAYS has been exactly that--a gateway to welcome the intermarried and their families into the Jewish community.

Jan Buchler
Commission on Jewish Education
Columbus, Ohio

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