Eye to Eye

The small but upscale strip mall is still under construction the sounds of drilling vibrating through the air and the clatter of lumber echoing across the almost-empty lot. But some of the space in this expanse of brick a few miles south of Lakewoodis already occupied and a corner of the parking lot has been taken over by a small group of children and their morahs splashing in a sprinkler to slake the summer heat.

The kids it turns out have come from upstairs in the building where the Building Bridges New Jersey preschool is housed. As they shriek in the jets of water they look like a regular bunk from a day camp. But these kids are on a very different path. Every one of them has been diagnosed with some form of autism a condition characterized by challenges in both verbal and nonverbal communication repetitive behaviors and difficulties forming relationships. Building Bridges exists to help autistic Jewish kids grow and blossom as much as possible with the goal of mainstreaming them into regular yeshivos.

The Building Bridges space accessed by a side door and a flight of steps to an airy entry looks like a regular preschool. It has classrooms filled with toys and mats and climbing structures in bright primary colors. We’ve come here to meet Rabbi Shaya Benstein the school’s director who’s garnered a reputation as something like a miracle worker for children with disabilities. Building Bridges is a new enterprise for him; inLakewood he’s better known from his tenure at SCHI (School for Children with Hidden Intelligence) where he served as the beloved director for ten years.

Unlike the lively classrooms down the hall Rabbi Benstein’s office is a small minimal space with a single metal bookshelf stuffed with tomes about autism and childhood syndromes. The only adornment is a framed poem decorated with butterfly cutouts. Written by a grateful mother it describes how Rabbi Benstein helped bring her “butterfly” son out of his cocoon.