Kesher Center for Jewish Learning

January 2021:

kesher konect Pre_k to 3rd grades tu b'shvat 2021

kesher konect 4th_8th grades tu b'shvat 2021

Pre-K through Third Grade
Fourth through Eighth Grade

December 2020:

Pre-K through Third Grade
Fourth through Eighth Grade

October/November 2020:

Pre-K through Third Grade
Fourth through Eighth Grade

Meets weekly on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

Holocaust Studies

In honor of Noemi Ban, who taught for decades in the Bellingham community about the love and strength she learned through her survival of the Holocaust, we teach the Holocaust from a perspective of individual stories of strength, endurance, and courage. Our 8th graders will deepen their own relationship to Judaism, while learning how people held onto their humanity and their Judaism in the face of chaos and terror.

Students will learn the history, starting well before the war, with the creation of the Weimar Republic through the Holocaust and it’s aftermath. They will also learn about the reactions from other countries, including America. It is just as critical to explore people’s lives before and after the war, in order to understand who these Jews were and how they rebuilt their lives. We will connect this history to our own lives today, learning how to recognize and deal with anti-semitism, and our own responsibilities to stand up against bullying, bigotry, and hate.

Students will learn about the various groups involved, including bystanders, collaborators, perpetrators, and rescuers, while applying these lessons to contemporary events.

Students will also spend time this year exploring what their own responsibilities are to themselves and to others, and how they want to go out in the world as individuals and as Jews. Students will explore their own ideas about God in the face of tragedy, enrich their Judaism in witnessing their ancestors’ strength and resiliency, and learn about what those ancestors held dear and fought for.

We are very pleased to offer this revamped, now for 8th grade curriculum, developed in combination with previously used curriculum, culling resources from many renowned educational organizations including: “Facing History and Ourselves”, “Teach the Shoah”, “Echoes and Reflections”, and in collaboration with many educators, including the Ray Wolpow Institute for the Study of the Holocaust, Genocide, and Crimes Against Humanity at Western Washington University. We are proud of the outcome of this work to be able to offer a curriculum that engages and challenges students to think critically, share ideas, and ask questions of themselves.

Meets weekly on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

This year, students will delve deeper into Jewish History, Israel, and prayer.  Overarching goals for this class are to gain deeper understanding and to critically examine these three incredibly complex topics. Students will be stretched to look harder, ask more questions, and apply each concept to their own lives.

The Prophets: Speaking Out For Justice

This curriculum explores the lives of seven prophets and the Jewish values they exemplify. Stories bring the prophets to life. Connections to modern day people and events help students discover the relevance of the ancient messages of our biblical ancestors. Students will learn the historical context, politics, and cultural challenges around each prophet’s life,  and they will connect them to biblical history. Students will be challenged to develop their own personal value systems and discover how they want to make a difference in the world.

Israel: It’s Complicated: Students will examine the Jewish homeland, a place of both conflict and peace. A place that is both ancient and modern. They will understand the meaning that Israel holds for the Jewish people and discover their own personal connections to the modern state. Students will explore how Israel is both a uniquely Jewish place, as well as home to a remarkable range of diverse people from all over the world. In every topic students tackle, we will celebrate the triumphs, but will not shy away from the struggles. Only as we attempt to see Israel from a wide range of perspectives, can we appreciate the intense complexity and challenge Israel faces and gain a deep understanding of the unique, multifaceted place that Israel is.

Prayer Connection: In preparation for being prayer leaders next year as they become b’nei mitzvah, students will not only continue their studies in Hebrew and how to sing the prayers, they will begin to explore what prayer means to them and why we pray. This will be an introduction into the structure, meanings, and purpose of prayer to prepare them for an even deeper study of this topic in their 7th grade year.

S’fatai Tiftach Hebrew Curriculum:

As we shift all 4th-6th grade students to our new robust Prayer / Hebrew curriculum through the S’fatai Tiftach series, students in this class will be doing selected chapters in each of the 3 volumes. This will allow us to fill in the students’ learning as needed and focus on the prayers they will lead as a bar /bat mitzvah.

Students will learn how to confidently lead several prayers, but they will also learn their themes and significant Hebrew vocabulary within them. In addition to reviewing prayers they have learned, students will master the reading and chanting of the V’ahavtah, Torah Blessings, and the Hatzi Kaddish.

Meets weekly on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

This year’s focus is for students to continue to deepen their Jewish identity through the discovery of ourselves as the People of the Book, and our Jewish History. This class will take a deep dive into the sea of texts that make up our heritage and wisdom, as we strive to make the stories and lessons of the Torah, Tanach, Talmud, and Siddur come alive.

Students will explore their personal Jewish history and connect their own family stories to the larger story of Jewish modern history. They will also gain a more brief and broad overview of the full course of Jewish history, to begin to see how our stories reach back, influenced by our past, all while our ancient texts and historical figures reach forward to teach and connect us all to our past and future.

The overarching goals of learning about our texts and history together in this way is that students will learn how the values and traditions that have defined our people for countless generations help us to understand our world today.

“Turn it, and turn it again, for everything is contained in the Torah” – Rabbi Ben Bag Bag.

Students will be challenged to look at their life experiences through the looking glass of our Jewish wisdom and discover why the Jewish people are called the “people of the book.” Which Jewish characters through history do I connect with and why? Which stories have the most impact in how I act and the choices I make?

How can the prayer liturgy found in the siddur inspire me to act and be a better person, whether I believe in God or not?

These are some of the questions students will examine as they navigate the texts that make up the building blocks of Jewish life, while learning about the actions of people and events that came before them. Students will develop their own commentary, putting themselves into these texts for modern times.

Hebrew and Prayers:

Students will use the S’fatal Tiftach Prayer Hebrew text book Volume 1.

Students’ focus in 4th and 5th grade will be to learn and gain confidence with their decoding skills while learning how to chant the prayers listed below. Students will also learn to connect personally to these prayers through their origin stories, learning the context and events that may have inspired the authors to write them. Students will deepen their learning of and mastery of the opening prayers: Modeh Ani, Elohai Neshamah, Mah Tovu, Bar’chu, and spend a significant part of the year learning to read accurately and sing the Shema/V’ahavtah.

Students will also continue Hebrew through Movement, which will incorporate and reinforce their prayer learning, as well as other Hebrew vocabulary.

Meets weekly on Sundays from 10 a.m. to 12:30 p.m.

In 3rd grade, our Jewish world expands even farther, as we learn about Israel, other types of Jews, and Jewish practice all around the world. Overarching questions we will examine all year are how we each fit into this larger Jewish community – Am Yisrael (the whole nation of Israel) and what is our place in the chain of tradition?

Students will get their first introduction to history. Through stories and activities, they will discover how our community brings us together, providing a lifelong connection to our heritage, culture, and values. Students will learn concepts such as the diaspora, while exploring what connects us all through time and space.

Now that our students are becoming strong readers, we will be using the following texts to help us dive into these topics.

Welcome to Israel: Students will meet Israelis their own age in the pages of this text, as they are introduced to the geography, history, and cultural life. Israel’s struggle to coexist peacefully with its neighbors is presented in a thoughtful and age-appropriate way. This curriculum will also enhance their Hebrew learning, as well as offer more enrichment to their values and mitzvot curriculum.

Hebrew and Jewish Values from Alef to Tav:

Students will continue learning Hebrew with our Hebrew Through Movement program and will also learn how to recognize and write each letter of the alef bet. This program teaches a value each week while learning a new Hebrew letter, along with other vocabulary words that start with the same letter. Students will retain their knowledge of the letters through this practical, active, and engaging curriculum that connects each letter to important stories, lessons, and art projects.

Through this values curriculum, students will also gain an introduction to the myriad Jewish texts, learning a little of where these sources come from as they hear stories from midrash, Torah, Talmud, Hassidic tales, and folk tales.

Each week you will be receiving enrichment materials to look at and do together at home. These will include probing questions and creative reinforcement activities from the Israel curriculum and the Hebrew letter of the week with its value story and accompanying questions and connection activities to enjoy as a family.

Prayers:

Students will master prayers the following “prayers of awe”:

Mi Chamocha

Elohai Neshamah

Ashrei (The first line of text we will learn to sing, and students will also learn the first word of each line after that, which is an alef bet acrostic, further reinforcing their alef bet learning)