Wendy Schlosser of Bedminster was cautious before enrolling her son at a local Chabad Hebrew school.

Although she had little enthusiasm for his experience in a nearby Conservative synagogue religious school, Chabad Lubavitch, the Brooklyn-based hasidic movement perhaps best known for outreach to non-Orthodox Jews, seemed an extreme alternative.

"I was cautious. There were the pictures on the walls from Crown Heights, and we're definitely not part of that," she said. "I was concerned about the traditional splitting of men and women. I was not familiar with the Orthodox lifestyle, and we certainly do not live that way. I didn't know if we would be getting into something way too intense for our lifestyle."

After meeting with the school's director, Malkie Herson, and her husband, Rabbi Mendy Herson, she decided to give the Breitman Family Hebrew School at the Chabad Jewish Center of Basking Ridge a try.

Since then, many of her concerns have faded.

"It's really spiritual, and that connects with what's important in Jewish identity. My son is getting a strong Jewish identity, a foundation on which to build. I feel happy that he has a sense of pride and an understanding of the customs and spirituality of Judaism. It's my obligation to give that to him, and this is a great place to do it," she said.

Schlosser represents a growing segment of non-Orthodox Jews choosing Chabad Hebrew schools for their children. Often unaffiliated with synagogues themselves, or put off by the institutional environment of other religious schools, they comment on the welcoming approach at Chabad. They say they like the flexibility and individual attention offered.

The Chabad-run schools are responding in kind, experiencing tremendous growth nationally and locally. And they are challenging Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist synagogues on their own suburban turf. While some of their leaders welcome the expansion of Jewish options, others worry that Chabad is instilling a reactionary Judaism under the guise of "openness."

Although there are few statistics available, experts are noting the trend.

Jack Wertheimer, provost and professor of American-Jewish history at the Jewish Theological Seminary in New York City, is currently working on a study of synagogue schools that is funded by the Avi Chai Foundation. Calling it a "growing phenomenon," Wertheimer estimated there are 375 Chabad Hebrew schools across North America and noted that the schools earned barely a mention in a 10-year-old book about Chabad by journalist Sue Fishkoff.

"It's a phenomenon I want to examine more carefully," said Steven Kraus, education consultant at the Jewish Education Service of North America. "We have a lot of anecdotal information that this is happening."

In a survey JESNA conducted a year ago of the heads of bureaus of Jewish education, he said, "18 out of 27 people who responded said yes, they had seen the rise of Chabad, Aish, and unaffiliated schools." Aish HaTorah is another Orthodox outreach group.

Meanwhile, inside Chabad, there has been a move to manage the growth, with the creation of the position of central coordinator for the Chabad Hebrew School network, held by Devorah Krasniansky. She is charged with providing resources and support for school directors; in the future, she said, she will be involved with finding teachers.

Krasniansky knows from experience that the numbers are rising.

"I have a sense that things are growing, that many more Chabad centers are opening, and that many that exist are opening Hebrew schools," she told NJJN in a phone interview. She added that the centers and their schools are maturing. "Our growing number of Chabad centers are becoming more involved in different activities, and the Hebrew schools are growing. The schools used to be mixed in age but now they have eight grades, and that requires more preparation."

Students at Chabad schools come from "the full spectrum," she said, from unaffiliated to those affiliated with other synagogues. Tuition varies, but hovers around $700 per year. Unlike most synagogues, Chabad "houses" do not have memberships, often required of families wishing to enroll their children in supplementary synagogue schools.

The goal, Krasniansky said, "is not only to reach children, but their parents and extended families. We have a desire to bring Judaism to as many people as possible — that means teaching how Torah is central to our lives and how it is relevant today."

While she chalks up the growth to maturity and more Chabad houses, Wertheimer posits another theory: Hebrew schools as a recruitment tool. Chabad dispatches emissaries, known as shluchim, around the country to develop Chabad houses. The goal is not necessarily to expand the ranks of Chabad, but every emissary hopes to attract funders to keep the independent centers afloat.

"It's clear to me that quite a number of Chabad shluchim have realized that Hebrew school is a very important recruiting device," he said. "Opening Hebrew schools is a way of attracting people. They are acting no differently than have synagogues across the country for the last 60 years since supplementary education has largely been absorbed by synagogues."

Meanwhile, locally, there has been an explosion of Chabad Hebrew schools, most of them opened in the last 10 years. There are at least seven in Essex and Morris counties and two in Union County. And while elsewhere in the country hours are somewhat flexible, which appeals to parents, locally they generally run two days per week.

Many rabbis, particularly from the Conservative movement, express concern.

"There are lots and lots of unaffiliated Jews out there. If their goal is to reach out to them, I wish them luck and kol hakavod," said Rabbi Avi Friedman of the Conservative Summit Jewish Community Center. "But if they are using the Hebrew school as a tool to reach out to a population otherwise affiliated and siphon funds from Reform and Conservative congregations, that would sadden me and reflect a departure from Jewish thought," he said, referring to the talmudic principle of not establishing conflicting businesses.

While few if any families from Friedman's synagogue have enrolled their children in a Chabad school, 10 families at B'nai Israel in Millburn have children enrolled at the Chai Center-Shul Hebrew school in Short Hills.

Rabbi Steven Bayar said his synagogue's policy is not to allow these children to have their bar or bat mitzva at B'nai Israel on a Shabbat morning.

Often the Chabad students don't learn what they need to in terms of Hebrew language or synagogue skills to take part in the service at a Conservative synagogue, he said. And they aren't schooled in the philosophy of the Conservative movement. "The child turns 12 or 13 and [parents] want their child to have a bar or bat mitzva, or the family realizes it wants an egalitarian service, but the child has been educated in a certain setting with a certain skill set," he said. "That family finds out it wants something it can't get."

Still, Bayar acknowledged, Chabad fills a niche.

"Some people who are ambivalent about movement Judaism find a tremendous amount of freedom in independent schools," Bayar said. "Others may be Orthodox Jews in their hearts and not comfortable in a liberal movement. I think it's win-win in these cases. It allows the schools to flourish and allows parents to send kids to a school where they feel comfortable."

Rabbi Francine Roston of Conservative Congregation Beth El in South Orange worries that non-Orthodox families in Chabad settings aren't fully aware of what their children are learning. "It's not egalitarian," she said. "Boys and girls are not given the same treatment. I'm not sure they realize that non-Orthodox Judaism is not viewed as a fully legitimate expression of Judaism."

What Chabad schools do emphasize, their educators say, are joy, consistency, and hands-on creativity.

"We teach Torah-true Judaism with love and enthusiasm," said Devorah Klar of the Lubavitch Center of Essex County Shul, School, and Learning Center in West Orange.

"The main thing is that they love Judaism and want to pursue more knowledge and practice. We want them to come away saying, 'I loved Hebrew school,'" said Sarah Herson of the Chabad Center of Northwest NJ in Rockaway.

"If you don't spend these years thinking Judaism is yummy, then the day you turn 13, you'll be out of here," said Malkie Herson.

The curriculum varies from Chabad to Chabad, although Krasniansky is beginning to mold a national curriculum with the help, at least in part, of Malkie Herson. In general, it involves hands-on methods; walk into any Chabad school and you are almost guaranteed to see children engaged in a craft. At the Chai Center-Shul school one Sunday just before Sukkot, students were making their own model sukkot out of wafers, marshmallow fluff or chocolate spread, and fruit roll-ups. In Basking Ridge, they were making photo frames to use in their Hebrew reading classes. At both schools children played memory games to help them learn Hebrew.

Teachers uniformly come from Orthodox backgrounds, so they are teaching the same Judaism they are living.

One recent October Sunday, Malkie Herson headed into a classroom for prayers. She explained to a visitor, first, that the focus is on what it means to pray. "It's the feminine talent of introspection, to step back from the noise of the world into yourself, looking at your sense of right and wrong, balancing your ladder against the right wall," she said. "And also, saying the right words."

She entered the fourth-grade classroom and drew the children into a circle. She asked, "Do any of you have something special?" Students offered their cell phones and Xbox 360s. She acknowledged sweetly how special these items are.

"Do you have anything else in your lives that's special that you sometimes maybe take for granted?"

A student raised her hand and talked about her family. Herson continued, "Do you sometimes think about the fact that you are alive, and how amazing that is?" That, she explained, is the point of Modeh Ani, the first prayer observant Jews say in the morning. She showed the children an empty notebook that will contain their prayers, some they will write themselves, she suggested, and then passed out a copy of Modeh Ani in Hebrew letters, transliteration, and translation. They read together.

But she wasn't finished. The teacher reminded the students what it's like at home when they wake up in the morning. "Before you worry about if the bus is late, or you have to finish some homework, do you think you can take a moment to think about how amazing it is to be alive?"

Herson is loving, patient, nurturing, and that experience constituted the entirety of the prayer curriculum for the day.

Students also learn at their own pace, particularly with regard to Hebrew language. Many Chabad schools use the Alef-Champ method, developed by a California Chabad school, in which students self-motivate to achieve levels of Hebrew represented by colors, similar to the system of awarding belts in karate.

The curriculum focuses on the basics. "Torah Judaism" is taught, but the schools say they maintain a nonjudgmental stance regarding observance. In some cases, they take students who were turned away from other schools, including youngsters who are not Jewish according to Jewish law.

"If someone comes pure of heart and wants their child to get an education, there are cases where I know the mother is not Jewish, but the positive energy results in giving her kids Torah-true Judaism," Klar said. "We never ask the kids this question or how is it done in your home. If it comes from a good place, creating a good association with Torah and mitzva, the kids will stay on. We teach classical Judaism in a positive way."

Parents are also picking up on lessons beyond the classroom.

In Basking Ridge, where other options are more limited, families are joining Chabad and creating communities. When Schlossberg left Temple Sholom in Bridgewater, she joined Chabad with two other local families. She attends a class led by Rabbi Herson while her children are in Hebrew school.

"This is becoming more of my everyday life," she said. "I've learned more here, and I enjoy the rabbi's class."

But even where there are other options, Chabad can attract Jews from Reform and Conservative congregations.

"I have encountered a number of liberal Jews who left their Reform temples to join Chabad, much to their own amazement," said Wertheimer of JTS.

He added that while some are dropping their memberships in Reform and Conservative synagogues, "in other cases, people maintain ties to their existing synagogues but also participate in Chabad activities."

Still, Wertheimer said, "it's really hard to know what the impact is. But I think school and Chabad centers are getting under the skin of rabbis. They feel Chabad is encroaching on their memberships."