The Religious School curriculum includes Sunday morning classes for primary grade students in K-2, twice-weekly classes for grades 3-6 and once a week for grade 7.
The B'nai Mitzvah program complements the Religious School curriculum. Beth Israel's High School offers a comprehensive educational program for students in grades 8-12, with Confirmation taking place in the 10th grade.
The Religious School's emphasis is on Jewish values, Hebrew and Tefillah. Exploration of Jewish values and how to act on them shapes the way in which students approach content material in each grade. Learning activities encourage students to practice Mitzvot, especially those associated with class themes. Class activities and projects foster students' love of Judaism.
All students have monthly opportunities to visit our synagogue library for Jewish literature experiences and for the opportunity to check out books.
Kindergarten: Introduces the rhythms of the Jewish year; holidays, observances and celebration. Israel and its importance to Jews is introduced. Jewish music is a regular experience. Students enjoy monthly prayer services appropriate to their age.
1st Grade: Focuses on the synagogue and rituals. The highlight of the year is Consecration. Students are introduced to the Hebrew letters. They also discuss the Hebrew Bible and stories of our tradition. Jewish music is a regular experience. Students enjoy monthly prayer services appropriate to their age.
2nd Grade: Focuses on Jewish values and mitzvot, holiday cycle and continues with stories of the Bible. A special unit on tzedakah is highlighted. Building knowledge of the Hebrew letters is continued. Jewish music is a regular experience. Students enjoy monthly prayer services appropriate to their age.
3rd Grade: Focuses on core Jewish values, the Ten Commandments and mitzvot. Biblical texts, including Prophets, are explored. This is the year that Hebrew instruction intensifies. Students move beyond letters to build sound blends and whole word vocabulary identification. Students move at their own rate. Basic prayers are introduced (Bar'chu, Sh'ma, Mi-Kamocha).
4th Grade: Hebrew instruction builds with emphasis on identifying word roots found in the Siddur. Students build on their previous learning and skills. Selected prayers are practiced and mastered (V'Ahavtah, Birkat Hamazon - grace after meals). The modern State of Israel, geography and highlights of its history is a focus in Judaic Studies. The weekly Torah portion is studied. Students explore the simple meaning and personalize aspects of the biblical narrative.
5th Grade: Hebrew instruction continues building on acquired skills and learning new prayers and key vocabulary (V'Ahavtah, Avot v'Eemahot, G'vurot). Judaic studies focuses on the Jewish life cycle, holidays and Torah study. Students study the weekly portion, acting out various portions and discussing the ideas of selected commentators.
6th Grade: The Hebrew Tefillah (prayer) program continues developing key word vocabulary and increasing reading fluency. Judaic studies includes Torah study with commentaries and a curriculum focused on Tikkun Olam (repairing the world). Students study core values of Jewish life and participate in tzedakah projects.
7th Grade: Seventh grade includes a series of modules that focus on American Jewish history, the creation of a Jewish state in Israel, Hebrew and the study of the values in our core Jewish texts.
Hebrew Camp: An integral part of our Hebrew curriculum are our camp weekends. Camp fees are included in the tuition.
Bar/Bat Mitzvah Preparation: A program to prepare for a child's becoming Bar/Bat Mitzvah is offered in each semester on four Shabbat mornings. Students with B'nai Mitzvah between January and June attend classes in the fall. Students with B'nai Mitzvah between July and December will attend class in the winter. The schedule and syllabus are provided by the clergy's office. For additional information, read the B'nai Mitzvah pages.
Tefillah Program Our Tefillah program will help students understand the meaning of our prayers and develop their own spirituality.
Hebrew Curriculum
For our Hebrew students, learning to read Hebrew fluently and accurately is only the beginning. Our program focuses on liturgical Hebrew, enabling students to participate in ritual and prayers in the temple and at home with confidence and key word understanding. Students' emotional and spiritual connections to Judaism are developed as students explore the meaning of prayers, discuss their beliefs, and participate in services.
Hebrew learning begins in primary grades with songs, games, and reading readiness activities. Our third through sixth graders study Hebrew, and their progress is carefully monitored. Our tutoring program, incorporating our computer lab, supports students with special needs. Our klitah integration program is designed for late entering students without Hebrew background. Students experience the insights and power of Hebrew words.
Kindergarten: Children get 10 minutes of Hebrew each week. They are getting familiar with basic Shabbat words and the vowels.
First Grade: Children are introduced to the Hebrew letters as graphic elements, connecting them to sounds and visual associations. This occurs during the regular Judaic class.
Second Grade: Children received a Hebrew Primer textbook that presents the letters, sound and vowels through games and images. Teachers incorporate this into their regular Judaic class.
Third Grade: Students begin decoding and reading words. The textbook: Derech Binah teaches reading through prayers and explains some grammatical skills that will help them remember and apply their new knowledge. They have some Tefilot that are a requirement to know at the end of the year. In addition, students are introduced to Hebrew script writing.
Fourth Grade: The Hebrew textbook is Hineni, Part One - Students review previous knowledge through a Hebrew booklet Lehamshich. Students learn some common expressions, words of praise, they practice reading prayers to get some fluency, and write some letters to reinforce their learning. Students have a workbook to reinforce the lessons.
Fifth Grade: Students start by reviewing the letters, vowels, sounds and reading fluency. Their textbook, the second book of the series, Time To Prayer Shema, gives them many reading exercises, and insights into the different prayers of the Shema and blessings for both evening and morning services, the Ein Keheloheinu, Adon Olam and the Hatikvah, additional phonics review and practice reading and recitation to expand existing skills. This grade level includes work on prefixes.
Sixth Grade: Students work harder on mastering the Tefilot, and practice reading. Their book is also part of the Time to Prayer series, book 3: Amida. They focus on the Shabbat amida, paying special attention to reading skills. It also includes phonics review. Each prayer's concepts and values are introduced to assist with the proper pronunciation and comprehension. The text is gender inclusive and provides translations to assure understanding of meaning, and to personalize the prayer experience. Students also learn about sentence structures that reflect the themes of each chapter. They also work on suffixes.
Klita: This class is an absorption class that introduces the letters, vowels, decoding and beginning reading to students that have no previous Hebrew, are struggling, or are new to our program. It is a combined class of children in 4th through 6th Grades. Students stay for one semester and then go back to their regular class.
Mitkadmim: Advanced Hebrew class for the highly motivated whose reading is fluent. Students work on modern language as well as script writing and common expressions.
Join us every Friday evening to welcome Shabbat with song, prayers and blessings. These services often feature notable speakers and the beautiful music of our Youth and Teen Choir, Adult Choir and Chai Band.
Most Saturdays Congregation Beth Israel holds Shabbat services in the mornings at 10:00 a.m. and afternoons at 4:00 p.m. in our beautiful Glickman-Galinson sanctuary. These services celebrate the Bar/Bat Mitzvahs of our members and are open to the entire community. Please join us and celebrate Shabbat!
Schools 
Clergy-Led Friday Evening Services
Clergy-Led Shabbat Morning and Afternoon Services
