For the past decade that the Temple De Hirsch Sinai has resided at its Eastgate location, they’ve leased out their top floor to the Emerald Heights Academy. The two organizations — one a Reform synagogue, the other a Catholic K-8 school — were always good neighbors, but rarely socialized on a day-to-day basis.

When Pierre “Nic” Antoine came on as the Academy’s principal at the end of 2012, he decided he wanted to walk over to the fence and start a conversation. At the beginning of 2013, Antoine approached Rabbi Daniel Septimus and Laurel Abrams, the director of the temple’s Jennifer Rosen Meade preschool, about having his eighth-grade students read to the temple’s preschoolers.

“I wanted to work with Ms. Abrams and Rabbi Septimus with the goal to build and strengthen our relationship with our Jewish brothers and sisters,” he said.

A first “reading buddies” day was held in spring, and plans were soon made to do another in the fall – held Oct. 24 – and in spring 2014. The temple will share the traditions of Tat Shabbat with Emerald students in January, and the two organizations will have an interfaith picnic at the end of the school year.

“As a synagogue, we work together and for the past 10 years we’ve been having a good working relationship,” Abrams said. “I think (reading buddies) has multiple benefits to all of us.

“Reading benefits the child being read to and the person doing the reading. It’s something we all value.”

The older preschoolers – 3 to 5 years old – participating in the program were excited about having the “big kids” come read to them, Abrams said.

Eighth grader and student council president Helen Haley was one of the Emerald students who participated as a reading buddy. She read “The Spider and the Fly” and “Miss Mouse’s Day” to multiple small groups of preschoolers.

“I had a different voice for each of the characters,” Haley said. “As far as I could tell, (the preschoolers) liked it a lot. They were so into the book.

“Some of them would get up really close. ‘Oh, I can’t see it!’ They were really into it.”

Preschool instructor Tammy Bargas said her students seemed excited to have the reading day.

“I think they really liked it,” she said. “They seemed to be very attentive.

“I saw kids asking questions, and point things out if they wanted to know more.”

The most gratifying part of the day, Antoine said, was seeing the two groups slowly become more friendly. Preschoolers and middle school students alike were wary of each other at first but, as more and more books were read, the two would sit closer and closer together. The older students learned as much as the younger, he said.

“(I want our students) to understand the power they have … as mentors to the other students,” he said. “Reading buddies is a fun way to do that. Learning without knowing you’re learning: that’s the best.”