The Education and Youth Department at Beth El actively engages all types of learners utilizing a variety of materials and approaches inside and outside the classroom.
The Talmud Torah and Youth Groups provide students with opportunities to learn, pray and socialize with other Jewish students. Beth El youth are encouraged through these activities to create a synagogue-based community of their own outside the classroom. At Beth El we recognize that informal learning and socializing outside of class-time is as important as the formal structured classroom and the Beth El youth and education experience presents many such opportunities. We follow the guidelines of United Synagogue of Conservative Judaism in our Talmud Torah curriculum and Youth Group programs.
The curriculum at Beth El’s Talmud Torah Religious School integrates Hebrew and Judaic subjects. Talmud Torah students study both Hebrew and Judaica during each of their class days as well as joining together for Tefilla. Our Hebrew curriculum focuses on Shabbat morning and Friday evening prayer services but introduces Modern Hebrew vocabulary for simple conversation and as part of general classroom direction. There are many components that comprise our study of Jewish history, holidays, Israel, God, mitzvot, ritual, values, Torah, Hebrew and prayer. None of these subjects can be studied alone. They all overlap and are enmeshed!
Beth El teachers bring a wide variety of teaching styles and skills into their classrooms. Art, music, stories, videos, texts, map study and field trips as well as traditional texts bring our subjects to life. Families are brought together through family education programs, special events and activities. Parents are invited to join their children for Tefilla on Wednesdays and Sundays. Students have opportunities to lead prayers during Shabbat and holiday services as wella s during school Tefilla. Monthly Family Kabbalat Shabbat services and dinners encourage full family participation in celebrating Shabbat. Grading and assessment of students’ skills include annotated report cards and Hebrew diagnostic assessment tests.
Why you might ask, do we, a school at a synagogue in the desert, have green grass at the top of our page? Is it envy or something else? If you answered “something else” you are absolutely correct. The green grass is a reminder to all of us to be as “green” as possible and to make the smallest carbon footprint each of us can! Ba’al Taschit is the prohibition in the Torah against wasteful or pointless destruction of resources.
