Hebrew School

Students will learn the Friday night service, with additions of Saturday morning prayers that differ from those on Friday night. The focus will be on improving Hebrew reading skills and overall comprehension and understanding of the prayer vocabulary, its meaning, and its place in the structure of the service. Students will also be studying the significance of the entire B'nai Mitzvah experience, and how it marks the beginning of a lifetime of Jewish responsibility. In addition, students will be introduced to Trope, (melodies) that will help them to chant their Torah and Haftarah (if they choose to do so).

During the year, reading skills and prayers are reinforced. The 4th grade students will receive formal Hebrew instruction to identify Hebrew consonants and vowels and how to blend whole Hebrew words to read basic conversational Hebrew. The students in 5th grade will be introduced to Siddur, important words, and ideas.

Wednesday Hebrew School Program goals and objectives (4th -7th grades)

1. Know the Hebrew Alphabet and vowels-orally and in script writing.

2. The main goal is prayer mastery, which means that a child can read a prayer fluently, error free, understand key words and concepts, and understand the general meaning of the prayer and where it fits in the service.

3. The students will understand the structure of the Friday night and Saturday morning services.

4. We will strive to strengthen students’ Hebrew reading fluency by learning decoding skills and associating the words of prayers with stories and pictures.

Hebrew School goals and objectives (K-6th grades)

1. Know Shabbat and Holiday blessings.

2. Know their Hebrew names.

3. Use simple conversational Hebrew (reading and writing) using the books:”time to read”(Zman Leekro)one and two(4^th -6^th ) ”Kriah v’od” (1^st -3^rd )

4. Students will be engaged in discussion: Why do we pray? And hopefully will learn to pray with “Kavanah” (intention).

5. Students will learn to identify root words found in the Siddur to help them comprehend the meaning of the words. (prayers and conversational Hebrew).

We are very excited about our new Hebrew School curriculum, "Mitkadem," this year.

Mission

Hebrew is an ancient and sacred language spoken by Jews around the world and through the ages.Learning Hebrew is one way to connect with our heritage and understand what being a Jew means.Hebrew links Jews of all places and generations.

At Beth-El our main goals for our Hebrew program are:

1) Fostering love and appreciation of Hebrew as a living language as well as the classic language of prayer and Torah.

2) Preparing students for Bar/Bat Mitzvah and lifelong participation in Jewish worship.

To implement the two goals we have two tracks in our program.

Sundays all students–even the minority not planning Bar/Bat Mitzvah–should gain an appreciation of Hebrew as a living language and a key to Jewish self-understanding.Students should know that concepts like Shalom, Torah, and Tzedakah can never be fully expressed in translation (“hello/goodbye/peace, Pentateuch, charity”).Furthermore, part of the miracle of the state of Israel reborn is the renaissance of the Hebrew language as a spoken tongue, and something which binds Jews wherever they may live.

For a Printable Calendar click here.