We are partners with you in raising conscious well-rounded Jewish children.
In late June 2020, everything changed during a conversation between Heather and the temple’s Executive Director, Steve Kaufman which opened the door to endless possibilities. “I wanted Heather to feel free to create a new curriculum, abandon benchmarks and focus on the most critical areas; all the while keeping everyone part of our community and, most importantly, removing a financial burden for our families,” he said."Previously, every teacher did this work for their own grade – for RS180 it’s just me and the clergy and one native Israeli teacher to help."
The native Israeli speaker was brought in to teach “Hebrew Through Movement” online, which is modern Hebrew. Students are having a great time, as it is conversational and they have begun speaking with one another about the things they like, they can count, they know what grade they are in and quite a bit more!
"Before Hebrew Through Movement, I only knew Hebrew words from prayers, and now I’m learning how to actually speak Hebrew!"
“As a family we enjoyed how religious school was once a week and an hour. As an educator, I have found there is so much more deep down inside these kids that they are holding onto and a lot of it is not obvious to us and it takes a lot for kids to open up. These activities allow them to open up and realize in a time of crisis they do have comfort around them."
Heather explains, “In Judaism when we discuss our holidays, we always talk about how Jews have had to dig deep to make it through whatever we were dealing with. Hopefully soon we will be going through our own exodus and coming out of this. But right now my focus is to help parents and kids work through these issues and empower them.”
As we look toward the future and welcoming everyone back in-person, we have many more exciting and enriching plans in store. Thanks to the strong foundation we built during RS180, we learned that we can overcome any obstacles in our path and develop innovative programming for our children that will be impactful no matter the circumstances. As just a small sampling of the many things in store for our children of all grade levels, we are extremely pleased to share how we continue to evolve and give you a sneak peek at some highlights from Religious School 2021-2022 to look forward to.
It’s almost impossible to remember back to our celebration of Passover last year. So much has happened in our lives, in the Jewish world, in Israel, and around the world that has impacted who we are as we prepare for this year’s Seder. We provide these resources to assist you with your Seder, and hope they help you create a truly meaningful Seder experience for you and those with whom you will gather this year.
In a place like Boca Raton, it is easy to forget about seasons. I seldom check the weather before getting dressed in the morning because it is usually either hot […]
As if there wasn’t enough already, more tragedy befell the Gaza Strip this week. Seven brave souls, inspired to confront one of the most pressing humanitarian crises in a generation, […]
Temple Beth El is a reform synagogue seeking to inspire a passionate commitment to Jewish life, learning, community and spiritual growth.
View a schedule of regular
services here >
