Education

CURRICULUM OVERVIEW FOR SIXTH AND SEVENTH GRADES
The Religious School curriculum is based around six key areas of Jewish belief and identity. They are: God, Torah (sacred texts and Jewish ethics), Israel, Avodah (worship and ritual), Kehilah (community), and Tikkun Olam (social justice).

Kitah Zayin (6th Grade)
Hineni (“I am here”): Responding to moral Issues facing contemporary Jews
The 6th grade curriculum provides students with the tools to identify and respond to moral issues facing the Jewish community today. Regular discussions of current events provide a lens through which students examine their values and beliefs. Students study the historical events that led to the Holocaust and the establishment of the modern state of Israel, formulating their own ideas about the role of God in the modern world.

As they begin to prepare to become b’nei mitzvah, students take turns leading grade-wide worship services from Gates of Prayer, the siddur (prayerbook) used at Central Synagogue. Students develop skills for the creation of a d’var Torah (sermon) using Rabbinical and modern commentaries as their guide. Study is transformed into action as students begin to create a personal mitzvah project that will enable them to enact the change they wish to see in the world.

7th Grade
Unity and Diversity
The seventh grade curriculum looks at Judaism through the lens of “Diversity and Unity”. Students learn what makes Jews around the world different and also the same, be it their culture or religious observance. The year begins with a study of different Jewish communities around the world, and then moves on to the differences in observance and practice between the denominations with a focus on the Reform movement. The program continues with a study of the unifying factor, Torah, and units on the Holocaust, the culture of Israel, and Tikkun Olam round out the year. Additionally, b’nei mitzvah is emphasized in T’fillah and Hebrew study in the 7th grade.