Religious Education Report

SUBMITTED BY: DR. ANNA SALOMON, RJE, DIRECTOR OF CONGREGATIONAL EDUCATION Religious School

The 2016-2017 school year began with two significant changes for our families. First, we completely replaced our 8th-10th grade post b’nai mitzvah confirmation program. Recognizing the change in maturity, interests, and schedules, we introduced Journey. For this program, students in 8th-10th grade have class twice monthly (one Sunday morning and one Tuesday evening), as well as planning an individualized course of study and activities. The students are assigned a Journey guide/advisor and all classes are taught by Dr. Salomon, Rabbi Miller, and Cantor Azu. The focus is on helping students identify their interests and ways to participate meaningfully in the “adult” Jewish community, while building/maintaining a strong community of peers. The Journey program has been well received by both students and families. We’re excited to celebrate with our newest confirmands, as our eight students in tenth grade lead our community in worship on May 19 at 7 PM. Mazel tov to Bryce Albert, Brooke Flegel, Dylan Flegel, Jacob Klein, Adam Mitrani, Samantha Roth, Marley Van Dam and Connor Willits! The second big change was with Hebrew School. This year we offered two options for Hebrew School – the traditional Wednesday offering, as well as offering one on Sunday afternoons. The Sunday afternoon Hebrew class has been exceedingly popular and appreciated by the families. We again celebrated many simchas this year – among them the bar and bat mitzvahs with the Baer family, Cole family, Albert family, Waltzer family, Goebel family and Deering family.

Our Religious School has the honor of being one of thirteen schools selected by the URJ to participate in a Community of Practice (CoP) exploring ideas around reimagining Religious School education for K-7. As part of our participation in the CoP we benefit from individual and group consulting, collaboration with the other schools, and a multitude of education, guidance and support.

Teacher training and education has been a priority this year. We held our first ever teacher retreat, welcoming guest speakers to enhance our work and offer important training to our Religious & Hebrew School teachers.

Our sixth grade students participated in a powerful program with local Holocaust survivors for our Yom HaShoah community commemoration. In partnership with the Federation and the Holocaust Museum, we paired students with survivors to conduct interviews and learn their stories. After a visit to the museum with the survivors, our students created video summaries and essays about the survivors. They ended with reflections on the experience and what they learned.

We would like to give extra special thanks to Sisterhood, Men’s Club, and the Jewish Federation for all of the support and love they give to the Religious School. We couldn’t do what we do without you!

Adult Education

This was the second year for our Florence Melton School ofAdult Jewish Learning. Our first ever Core Courses (the curriculum Melton is most famous for) began with a full house. The Core Courses will run for 15 weeks a year over a 3 year period. Next year we will offer year 2, as well as begin a new cohort of year 1 students. We also offered a Holocaust course using diaries and memoirs. This ten week course offered a unique perspective and experience that was enjoyed by the class. We have begun an Advisory Board for our Melton School and are excited to continue with year 3 of our programming.

Our Scholar in Residence, Dr. Stephen Berk, provided an engaging and meaningful weekend of learning. With a full slate of guest speakers throughout the year, we had a chance to hear about a diverse array of topics ranging from things like Jewish Pirates of the Caribbean, to Rabbi Abraham Lincoln, and Bobby Kennedy. Next year’s calendar is already filling up fast and we’re looking forward to a great year. 14