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.