What We Learn

What overarching understandings are desired?

What are the "essential" questions?

What will children/parents understand as a result of participating?

Shabbat Katan

• Shabbat community is vital
• Gathering together is one way we celebrate Shabbat
• Learning together enhances Shabbat

• Why do we celebrate Shabbat together?
• How do we make Shabbat memorable and meaningful to us?
• What are things we do that make Shabbat different from the rest of the week?

• Jewish identity continues to evolve.
• Spending Shabbat with others builds Jewish community
• Shabbat happens at the synagogue and home

What overarching understandings are desired?

What are the "essential" questions?

What will students understand as a result of studying this unit?

How will we assess learning?

Hebrew

Lower Grades

• Letter/Vowel recognition and Decoding
• Kiddush
• Motzi
• Shema/V'Ahavta
• Torah blessings

Upper Grades

• Torah Service
• Ashrei
• Torah blessings
• Haftarah blessings

• Every tefillah connects in a thematic way
• Jews connect to tefillah in different ways; exploration of prayer is constructive
• Tefillah connects us to the Jewish community

• Can I recognize letter/vowel sounds and combine them into words?
• How can I identify the theme of a prayer?
• Why is this tefillah important?

• How to read the tefillah
• Keywords from each tefillah
• The theme of each tefillah

• 1-on-1 reading with a teacher at regular intervals
• Worksheets to identify keywords and themes
• Observations of small group work

What overarching understandings are desired?

What are the "essential" questions?

What will students understand as a result of studying this unit?

Jewish Identity

(Year 1)

• Jews are connected to Jewish people everywhere
• Family and community are important values
• Jewish identity is important as a religious minority

• Who am I as a Jewish person?
• What is my family's Jewish identity?
• How do I share my Judaism with others?

• Jewish identity is growing and changing all the time
• My personal story begins with the story of my family

Israel

(Year 2)

• Israel is a country with a rich culture and tradition
• Israel is the Jewish homeland
• The modern State of Israel is a complex place and presents Jews with challenges

• What is it like in modern Israel?
• How do I connect to Israel?
•  Can I love Israel and not agree with some of Israel's actions?

• Israel has produced a deep history in its short life
• What is it like for the people that live in Israel
• Israel brings together many different cultures and observances

Values: Friendship and Visiting the Sick

(Year 3)

• Jewish tradition is multifaceted and complex
• Feelings that they are struggling with can lead to embraceing of Judaism

• Why is friendship and visiting the sick so important?
• What can rabbinic tradition teach me about the way I interact with other people?
• How can my relationships help define my self view?

• Close friendships help us navigate personal issues
• Visiting the sick helps to make lives richer for all people
• Jewish law and rabbinics can help us understand the world around us 

God/Spirituality

(Year 4)

• Judaism allows us to cultivate a personal relationship with God
• The spiritual side of Judaism can provide a greater connection

• How do I understand God?
• What is spirituality?
• Where can I find God/Spirituality in holidays/tefillah/etc.?

• God is everywhere
• There is room for various ideas about God in Judaism
• Spirituality means different things to different people

What overarching understandings are desired?

What are the "essential" questions?

What will students understand as a result of studying this unit?

Junior Congregation

• Shabbat community is vital
• Being a prayer leader is an important responsibility

• Is there an opportunity to lead our community?
• How can I identify the theme of a prayer?
• Am I able to read/chant/sing individual prayers?

• Basic ability to lead a community in prayer
• Celebrating Shabbat together is important
• Become more familiar with individual prayers and their themes

Parshat HaShavua

• Torah has lessons we can apply to our everyday lives
• Each parsha offers something unique

• What can stories from so long ago teach me about my life?
• Why do we tell the same stories year after year?

• Stories in the Torah relate to each person
• Torah stories are the history of the Jewish people
• We tell the same stories every year but take away new ideas

Holidays

• The Jewish people are connected by holidays
• We celebrate holidays at home and the synagogue

• How do holidays connect the Jewish people?
• How do we celebrate at home?
• How do we celebrate at the synagogue?

• Basic customs and rituals associated with each holiday
• Why each holiday is important
• How to find personal connections to each holiday

Middot

• Jewish values inspire us to ethical behavior and enrich our personal lives, families, friendships, and communities.
• They also help us find answers to problems large and small that we face every day.

• What do Jewish values teach me that apply to my everyday life?
• Can Jewish values help guide decisions I make outside of the Jewish community?

• Understand the value concepts
• Identify core sacred texts associated with each value
• Recognize the relevance of these values to society
• Develop a plan to adopt each value in their personal lives

Stories of the Prophets

• Books of Prophets is an integral part of Judaism
• We must speak out for Justice in the world
• Anyone can initiate or create change

• How do the Prophets relate to our understanding of the Torah?
• Why do we take the time to study the Prophets?

• Who the prophets were
• What the prophets did for the Jewish people
• How stories of the prophets connect to us today

What overarching understandings are desired?

What are the "essential" questions?

What will students understand as a result of studying this unit?

Hebrew High

Year One

• Taking care of the world around us is an essential Jewish value
• Personal theology changes over time. We think of God differently as we grow and evolve

• How does philanthropy look in the Jewish community?
• Are Jews only responsible for taking care of the Jewish community?
• What do you believe about God?
• How does my personal Judaism connect to God?

•  The Jewish community must take care of Jews and non-Jews
• Philanthropy can be on a large scale or a small scale; both make a difference to people
• Understanding God is different in my teen years than before my Bar/Bat Mitzvah; it will be different in my next decade as well

Hebrew High

Year Two

• Israel is an important and central part of Jewish identity, with deep connections to the Jewish people
• Central ideas and concepts in Jewish holidays have different meanings as adults

• How do Israeli kids like me: look/feel/live?
• In what ways do I connect to Israel?
• How can Jewish holiday celebrations foster a sense of community and belonging for teens?
• How do my celebrations and commemorations of Jewish holidays change as I get older?

• Living outside of Israel makes it harder to build connections to the land and the people, but it is still important to try
• We become more personally involved in celebrating holidays
• The ideas of 'family' and 'communal' celebrations become more distinctive 

Hebrew High

Year Three

• Understanding of Judaism changes during the teenage years
• Leadership in the Jewish community

• How can I make informed Jewish decisions about my life?
• Why is it important to be a leader?
• In what ways can I improve my leadership skills?

• Mitzvot (commandments) and halacha (Jewish law) can help us make difficult decisions in our lives
• Leadership ensures Jewish continuity.
• Anyone can be a leader, and leadership can look different

Confirmation

Year One

• We are constantly refining our Jewish identity

• How do we connect to spiritual, ethical, and cultural ideas in Judaism?
• Where do my different identities intersect with Judaism?

• In today's world, we have many different identities. Our job is to find a way to weave them together that works for each person
• Judaism can help us navigate our identities

Confirmation

Year Two

• Israel is critical to the Jewish people, even if it's challenging to connect to the land/people
• Leaving my parents' Jewish home is difficult/navigating the world as a Jewish adult can be intimidating

• How do we navigate the issue of Israel on a college campus?
• Is it alright to be conflicted in my own beliefs about Israel?
• What does it mean to be Jewish after I leave my parents' house?
• How do I create my own Jewish community post-high school?

• It isn't any individual person's responsibility to defend all of Judaism or the state of Israel
• We have many people around us supporting our Jewish journey
• It is alright to question where we are on our Jewish journey