Crown Heights School Blends Moses with Montessori

Except for a simple banner hanging loosely over the entrance, nothing stands out about the modest brownstone on Eastern Parkway. But inside, the converted early-20th century home, is a bevy of activity.

Though it’s early August, unlike many New Yorkers who take advantage of the school break by retreating to Upstate New York, Rivkah Schack and her team are busy preparing for the upcoming school year which starts on September 8 at Lamplighters Yeshivah, the school which she runs together with husband Moshe Schack.

Though it sits in the heart of Crown Heights, home to the largest Chabad community in the Diaspora, Lamplighters Yeshivah is moving away from the traditional Jewish education model, a first for the community. For starters, it uses the Montessori method, a pedagogy developed in Rome by Dr. Maria Montessori in 1897 that places emphasis on learning through play, with individualized and fluid learning environments. Montessori’s theories on human development took root in the US in 1911, but only flourished during the 1960s.

In a typical Montessori classroom it is not unusual to see the teacher seated on the floor with the children, using “manipulatives” (Montessori tools) to teach everything from reading to mathematics. At Lamplighters, these tools are an integral part of the classroom – modified for a strictly Orthodox Jewish environment, of course.

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