MEF Stepped Up for Our Children’s Emotional Health

One afternoon, when Morah Malkie Gurkow, third grade teacher at the Shluchim online school, was about to dismiss her students for recess, one student, let’s call her Chaya, asked Morah to stay on her computer for an extra few minutes.

“What happened to Rivka? She looks so down and upset,” Chaya told Gurkow once the rest of the girls stepped away from their screens. “She didn’t seem like herself today, Morah. Would it be possible to figure out if everything is ok?” Chaya asked worriedly.

At the same time, there was a group of third grade students at Cheder Lubavitch in Arizona who were gearing up for their annual Brachos Bee. “I suddenly noticed my students huddled in a corner whispering something,” Chaya Marasow, their teacher, shared. “I walked over to hear what they were saying, and they were using their breathing techniques they learned in Project TOMiM to stay focused and calm before the competition.”

Down in Houston, TX, one student at Torah Day School was found writing in her assignment: “I know that I have an actual part of Hashem inside of me, I know that Hashem is with me, protecting and guiding me…Hashem is counting on me to spread His light, and I have a unique mission in life to make this world a better place.”

These three scenarios were shared by teachers who are teaching Project TOMiM, an all-encompassing social-emotional learning curriculum based on teachings in Torah and Chassidus, created by the Menachem Education Foundation, who rose to the necessary task of giving our children real tools for connection to Hashem, Torah, resilience and emotional awareness.

In 2021, after extensive talks with leading Mechanchim across a range of Chabad Moisdos, who highlighted the need for today’s students to learn these skills, MEF engaged veteran educator, Mrs. Henny Bartfield, Ms.Ed., to build Project TOMiM.

“TOMiM stands for ‘Transforming Our Minds and Middos,’” Henny Bartfield explains. “The curriculum brings about students’ emotional awareness, by helping them understand and recognize who they are. It builds their positive self concept based on their real values and spiritual worth, rather than external achievements.”

Since its successful pilot year in 2022, 337 students in 14 schools around the country have benefited from the Project TOMiM curriculum. Geared for the third through sixth grades, it includes hands-on activities, engaging discussion prompts, games, videos and slideshow presentations. Teachers who use the curriculum share their gratitude for how seamless it is to implement, and the powerful changes it brings to their classrooms.

“I see an overall increase in positivity in my classroom,” shares Mrs. Malkie Gurkow, in addition to their increased skills of social-emotional awareness. “Since my students learned about how their attitudes are in their control, and that if they think positively then they will act positively, I have seen a noticeable change.”

In Florida, multiple classrooms have added Project TOMiM to their schedules. Rabbi Dovber Engel, LMFT, Director of Counseling and Wellness at Lubavitch Hebrew Academy of Margate, says that “as both Rabbi and therapist, I’ve had the privilege of guiding students through emotional and spiritual challenges. What sets Project TOMiM apart is its seamless blend of Chassidic wisdom and proven emotional mastery techniques.”

In fact, each lesson in Project TOMiM is carefully approved by its Rabbinical advisory board, which includes Rabbi Yossi Marlow, Rabbi Yosef Shusterman and Rabbi Baruch Hertz. Mashpiim who are consulted throughout the development of the curriculum are Rabbi Shmuel Lew and Rabbi Shlomo Sternberg. The lessons themselves are carefully reviewed by Rabbi Naftali Lowenthal, Rabbi Yossi Hodakov and Rabbi Yaakov Gershon, as well as classroom teachers and frum psychologists for engagement and age appropriateness. The ideas from Torah and Chassidus that the curriculum is based on, are culled by expert researcher, Rabbi Yaakov Gershon, and are often sourced in Der Rebbe Red Tzu Kinder, where the Rebbe shares fundamental messages for children.

“Raising well-balanced, self regulated and emotionally healthy children is our greatest responsibility,” states Dini Gordon, 4th and 5th grade teacher at Maimonides Hebrew Day School in Albany, NY. “The TOMiM curriculum breaks down these big ideas into smaller, relatable pieces, which resonate with the students. I saw clear improvements in their self-regulation.”

The project has seen exponential growth over the past few years, and many schools who used it in a few classrooms, are expanding to add the curriculum to many more. As additional units are added, and activities are created, the Menachem Education Foundation requests that the community partner with them to rise to the challenge of raising emotionally healthy children in today’s generation. This approach of building these deep connections and skillset for resilience, bitachon and awareness has brought tremendous results, and it is our responsibility as our community to continue to advance this.

As MEF dreams bigger for Chinuch this year, aiming to include many more parents and educators in this program and many others, partner with MEF to make this dream for many come true.

Schools and teachers interested in implementing this curriculum can find out more and download a sample lesson by visiting mymef.org/projecttomim, to bring these tools to their classrooms.

Donate to grow the impact of Project TOMiM today at charidy.com/mef.