GARY CHATTMAN
BAR/BAT MITZVAH LESSONS HEBREW LESSONS
JEWISH CULTURE STUDIES*
GARY CHATTMAN 43 BRONX RIVER ROAD, YONKERS, NEW YORK 10704
HOME: (914) 237-2159 CELL: (914) 953-1072
E-MAIL: GARYCHATTY@AOL.COM
1-1½ HOURS WEEKLY
IN THE CONVENIENCE OF YOUR HOME
AT YOUR DIRECTION AND WITH YOUR GUIDANCE
READ MY BOOK: COMING OF AGE: BAR/BAT MITZVAH WITHOUT HEBREW SCHOOL!
*Jewish and Hebrew studies should be "fun" as well as learning. Auditory comprehension is most important; more important than "rote" memorization. Music plays an important part in learning as well. Memorization of Hebrew words and prayers just for the sake of "memorizing" is soon forgotten. Learning should also be linked to games, like "Shimone Omer" (Simon Says in Hebrew), "Hebrew Jeopardy", "Jewish Bingo" and "Who Wants to Be a Jewish Millionaire"; board games, matching--anything to add to the enjoyment of the language and culture.
*A Bar/Bat Mitzvah is a joyous occasion, a "becoming of age" for a person. This ceremony should be allowing a "snapshot" of the student at this age. The Bar/ Bat Mitzvah becomes the "rabbi", or leader, speaking to his/her "synagogue" or congregation. Family members should participate not only in the formulation of the service, but in the actual service itself!
*A family occasion such as this marks the importance of a person becoming a responsible Jew. It is not written that this must be in a formal "temple", it is only a tradition. All Hebrew prayers, thoughts, are learned three ways: written, meaning and what is meant by what is said. The Torah/Haftorah portion is read in Hebrew, then translated in English. The student then discusses the importance of why this particular portion is read this particular day!
* This occasion should center around the student--family should be participating. The Bar/Bat Mitzvah should know and understand the importance of this day. Hobbies, like writing skills and music, can be part of the service as well, marking a "snapshot" of the student becoming Bar/Bat Mitzvah.
*Lessons should be “fun” as well. I utilize board games; matching games; “Jewish Jeopardy”; “Who Wants to Be a Jewish Millionaire”, as well as plays that I write myself. These plays star Jewish dogs Yuki, Teddy, Casey, Ykcul (backwards Jewish dog), Dusty-the-Hebrew-Speaking Dog, and Marvin the Cat, and highlight Jewish holidays, customs and ceremonies, comparative religion and history. This is “live” learning—not passive.
*also piano lessons; S.A.T. preparation; school intervention for students; school tutoring
**FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE**
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What Does It Really Mean to Be A Jew?
YONKERS, N.Y. – Imagine today that you are studying for a bar mitzvah ceremony, when you are suddenly transported back in time. You arrive in 1939 Poland in the midst of the Holocaust. You are a Jew. As you come to terms with the experience, you realize your vivid and terrifying family history is now your reality. How can you survive in a society that sees you as sub-human? What does it really mean to be a Jew? And what part of the past is part of us always? It is important for all of us to REMEMBER!
In his eye-opening and declarative new novel, If I Should Die Before I Wake (published by AuthorHouse), Gary David Chattman provides a fresh link to the vital lessons of the past, questioning the raison-d’etre of Jewish identity in contrast to the myriad sufferings of the Jewish race in the past.
A companion book to Chattman’s non-fictional Coming of Age: Bar and Bat Mitzvah Without Hebrew School (also published by AuthorHouse), If I Should Die Before I Wake follows Reuben Maimon, as he studies for his upcoming bar mitzvah ceremony. While questioning who he is and the purpose of the tradition, he is transported back in time – with the same friends he lives with in 2007 – where he witnesses terror, death and anti-Semitism. Where is Reuben’s reality? Where is Reuben’s today?
Throughout these adventures, Reuben develops a better understanding for his heritage and the purpose of bar/bat mitzvahs and, with the help of his friends, becomes a knowledgeable Jew for the modern world. Set against a backdrop of Jewish persecution, If I Should Die Before I Wake outlines many crucial lessons for all of us, young and old, on what it really means to be Jewish. Our link to our ancestors of the past must solidify us for the present and give meaning to our lives today. We, as Jews, are the descendants of the family of Jews, past and present—and future. We must carry the Torah onward. We have been mandated by our history to do this! We have been commanded by those who came before us, and suffered for us.
A Yonkers, N.Y. native, Gary D. Chattman taught for the New York Department of Education for over 30 years before retiring in 1999. Currently a private bar and bat mitzvah tutor, Chattman has seen over 207 suburban kids through to their coming-of-age ceremonies. His unorthodox methods of teaching have been frequently praised for their ability to actually motivate and entice children to care about being Jewish. His first book, COMING OF AGE: JUDAIC RELIGIOUS STUDY FOR BAR/BAT MITZVAH—WITHOUT HEBREW SCHOOL! was published in 2007. For more information, please visit www.mrbarmitzvah.com or www.thesupertutors.com.
AuthorHouse is a premier book publisher for emerging authors. For more information, please visit: www.authorhouse.com.
PRESS RELEASE
The book COMING OF AGE: JUDAIC RELIGIOUS STUDY FOR BAR AND
BAT MITZVAH WITHOUT HEBREW SCHOOL
BY GARY D. CHATTMAN
Has been published by Ingram/Authorhouse Publishing
ISBN #9781425983932 bkorders@authorhouse.com: 888 280-7715
Amazon.com; Borders.com; BarnesandNoble.com, libraries + bookstores country-wide
This unique book chronicles a new, special motivating way to teach children about their Jewish heritage, which culminates in the ceremony of “coming-of-age” or Bar/Bat Mitzvah. This service denotes a Jewish child’s assuming responsibility for continuing the faith, and reading from the Torah. Traditionally, this ceremony has taken place in a synagogue, presided over by a rabbi, or leader. Not commonly known is the fact that this is a TRADITION—not a law written into stone. This book tells a family how to prepare a child—to teach a child—without forcing him/her to attend Hebrew School. This book also shows how a religious service like this can be beneficial for children of mixed-marriages, as well as children who have learning disabilities. This highly-motivational program will be beneficial for the whole extended family—especially the Bar or Bat Mitzvah, who serves as “rabbi-cantor” at his/her own service!
The book tells specifically how a family might prepare a Bar or Bat Mitzvah at home, without the shackles and confines of a Hebrew School setting. The Bar/Bat Mitzvah service is chronicled within, as well as many unique ways to give a child a Jewish identity. This service is prepared with the guidance of this book, with my help.
A child learns everything there is to know about Judaism, from history to holidays to customs to Hebrew and prayer (not in transliteration). A child with learning problems is catered to. Hebrew Schools today in America are boring places, where teachers teach and students don’t learn. There is another way! Specifically covered is the involvement of a non-Jewish spouse, who is often left out of synagogue-oriented services. Prayers are given for a service, as well as unique additions created by Bar and Bat Mitzvah children, as they attain Coming-of-Age. The most important feature of this book is the fact that families and their children can learn Jewish ideas, religion, history, customs/ceremonies, holidays, in a motivated, fun way: identity which will enable children to grow into Jews who practice their religion.
This book will appeal to all who wish their children to stay in the Jewish faith, and appreciate their heritage. It appeals to all Jewish children and parents, who are seeking to give their children a Jewish identity: to families who are genuinely concerned with the religious education of their children. It will appeal to families who wish a Bar/Bat Mitzvah recognition ceremony that is catered to the interests of their children; to the prayers that are meaningful to their children; to the history, not only of the Jewish people, but of their own families. This book will appeal to all those who wish involve-ment in their children’s religious education, with grandparents and other family members.
There is a better way to promote our faith. At most services at most holidays, the congregation’s median age are 40+. Where are our children? They have been turned off to religion by many hours of Hebrew School that are neither instructive nor motivating.
***Chattman is a retired NYC teacher/administrator, and a current Bar and Bat Mitzvah, author, and piano teacher. He has taught many hundreds of children this special program, and has officiated at over 200 B’nai Mitzvot—outside of synagogue education. Chattman’s special plan, chronicled in the book, has allowed many families to enjoy the fruits of a special motivated religious education. TheSupertutors.com and MrBarMitzvah websites provides copies of newspaper articles about Gary Chattman.
Mr. Chattman has written several (unpublished) books to date. BELIEVE: THOSE WHO CAN, TEACH is a novel that chronicles his career as a NY City Administrator/ Teacher; two novels, THE TRIAL OF GOD and MOVIE IN MY MIND; numerous stories, and songs. He teaches, in addition to the above, piano; S.A.T./College Preparation and tutors school subjects.
For further information contact Chattman at GaryChatty@aol.com or (914) 237-2159.
For Immediate Release:
March 3, 2009
Contact: Gary Chattman, (914) 953-1072
Retired NYC Teacher Returns to Classroom in New Novel
Fiction Book Chronicles A Teacher’s Successes While Tilting at Educational Windmills
YONKERS, N.Y. –Gary D. Chattman, a retired NYC high school teacher and published author, offers a chronicle of a fictional teacher in the New York City Board of Education system in his new book Don’t Tell Me Not To Believe: One Teacher’s Odyssey. The book will be published by Authorhouse in late spring 2009.
Odyssey centers on Larry Rothstein and his years as a teacher and administrator for the New York City Board of Education, through the tremulous years of 1969 through 1999, in various secondary schools of the Bronx, New York. Rothstein’s career spanned the years of the Vietnam War (a deferment for teaching); the 1970’s, with its economic comparisons to today; the 1980’s and the 1990’s. This career of a successful, motivated, empathetic teacher showcases the many dramatic programs and presentations planned, executed, accompanied on the piano, against the enormous odds presented by sometimes-callous and uncaring higher-ups.
This book showcases the many reasons that New York City Teachers are some of the best in the country, for they have to fight unbearable odds to succeed in inculcating children with an identity and an education that will take them through life as successful, caring adults. It also centers on the reasons Rothstein became a
teacher, and what led him down this career path.
The book also tells of the many students Rothstein taught and inspired, and, tragically, saw buried before their time; how Rothstein got sick in his school because of callous construction (an illness that would continue long after his retirement), and how he became a whistle-blower (how he got punished for that).
Don’t Tell Me Not To Believe isn’t a sugar-coated version of Up the Down Staircase or ‘Tis. Though fiction, it could have actually happened.
About the author:
Chattman is a retired New York City teacher and administrator who currently spends his time teaching piano, tutoring school subjects, and teaching Judaica/Bar/Bat Mitzvah outside of mandatory unsuccessful Hebrew School. He has taught this program to hundreds of children and has officiated at more than 200 B’nai Mitzvot outside of synagogue education. Chattman’s Coming of Age took readers inside the Bar/Bat Mitzvah process when it was released by Authorhouse in 2006. His second book, If I Should Die Before I wake, a novel about Jewish identity, was released last year.
Chattman is represented by Josh Fountain, and AuthorHouse is the premier publishing house for emerging authors and new voices in literature. For more information, please visit MrBarMitzvah.com.
For review copies or interview requests, contact: Gary Chattman at garychatty@aol.com.