Religious School Curriculum
Our Religious School classes meet on Thursdays and Sundays. Kindergarten through
Grade 2 and Grade 7 meet on only Sundays from 10:00 AM - 12:00 PM. In addition to
attending Sunday morning classes, students in Grades 3 through 6 meet Thursday afternoons
from 3:30 PM- 5:30 PM.
The curriculum contains the study of Jewish holidays, Biblical stories, mitzvot,
Jewish history, Israel and Hebrew reading and conversation. The ethics curriculum
reaches an inspiring height in Grade 7 as students become B’nai Mitzvot, sons and
daughters of the commandments.
The Pre-Confirmation program encompasses grades 8 and 9. It examines the impact of
Judaic culture on the individual, addressing a variety of issues, including ethnicity,
race, gender, family, and cognition. Students are exposed to current theory and research,
as well as to effective strategies that promote learning, intercultural relationships,
and self-esteem.
Our Confirmation and Post-Confirmation programs provide an extraordinary opportunity
for 10th, 11th, and 12th graders to work closely with our Rabbi. The curriculum
guides students through a process that encourages them to wrestle with core questions
of Jewish living and Jewish identity. It seeks to help them integrate these learnings
into their own lives.
On May 2, Temple Beth Shalom’s (of Peabody) Pre-confirmation class, which boasts
23 students, decided to try something new. Rather than end with a typical end of
the year celebration, they invited their friends, all of whom were of different faiths,
to learn about Judaism while they learned about their friend’s traditions. “The result
was fantastic,” said Andrew Allen,Temple Beth Shalom’s Pre-confirmation director.
“The children engaged in question and answer sessions that ranged from “What was
an apostle?’ To ‘why in the world can’t Jews eat a cheeseburger?’ ” According to
Allen, “While these questions may seem simple to some they acted as a wonderful connection
to the bigger picture – that is we have a lot more similarities among each other
than differences.” The students overwhelmingly decided this is something they would
love to do again.
