Religious School
Dear Friends,
The overall goal of the Temple Shir Shalom Religious School is to introduce students and their families to the deep spiritual insights that underlie Jewish customs and traditions. During the 2024-25 academic year, our curriculum will focus on the Five Books of Moses: the cycle and chronology of its narratives, its main characters, its moral and legal lessons. Session by session, we will learn together about the “parashat ha-shavuah” (weekly Torah reading portion) and delve into its spiritual themes. We have scheduled nineteen Sunday sessions for the academic year, plus six special, family-oriented Saturday Shabbat services that students and parents will help lead, along with Rabbi Joseph and our faculty members. All of these, we hope, will be wonderful learning and celebratory experiences for our students, their families, and our entire congregation. We pursue our primary goal at Temple Shir Shalom by aiming high; we believe that healthy challenge—intellectual, moral, ethical—is what teaches best. Therefore we talk about real things, even with our younger students; we provide real experience of Jewish insights in action; and we hope to merit real, deep engagement from our students and families. We will endeavor to present the Torah narratives in their full complexity of theme and language rather than using simple “Torah stories” that mask the true depth and importance of sacred scripture.
What about Hebrew?
We are members of a people that has always expressed its deepest truths in Hebrew. Therefore, at Temple Shir Shalom we believe that a significant familiarity with Hebrew is necessary to live an engaged Jewish life. At Temple Shir Shalom, we focus on teaching our students and families an extensive Hebrew spiritual "vocabulary of concepts" along with the ability to recognize these key words written in the Hebrew alphabet.
What about B-Mitzvah?
One of the blessings of a small congregation is the ability to work with families on deeply customized life cycle ceremonies, including B-Mitzvah. Rabbi Joseph handles the great majority of B-Mitzvah preparation at Temple Shir Shalom, and he promises that every student will have the opportunity to stretch and grow as a Hebrew reader, as a Torah interpreter, and as a young Jewish person during their months of study together.
A Typical Sunday Morning Session
9:30-10:00am Short service and introduction to the day’s themes with Rabbi Joseph in the Sanctuary
10:00-10:40am Students meet with their teachers by grade to continue working with themes introduced by Rabbi Joseph
10:40-11:05am Recess—an important opportunity for Jewish kids of different ages and going to different secular schools to socialize together.
11:05-11:30am Students and teachers will continue with the theme’s of the day, with special focus on learning Hebrew key words from the weekly parashah