Judaics Curriculum
Kitah Gan
The Kitah Gan Judaics curriculum is built around exploring the synagogue and finding a home at BJ. Students will have the opportunity to explore the BJ sanctuary, to visit the BJ office and learn what goes on there, and to meet with one of the BJ rabbis. Students will learn about the different objects that belong in a synagogue and their Hebrew and English names. Kitah Gan will explore the holidays through the creation of ritual objects, such as a seder plate for Passover and a menorah for Hanukkah. Students will learn the purpose of these objects and how they are used to celebrate the holiday.
Kitah Aleph
The Kitah Aleph Judaics curriculum is based around Shabbat. Students will explore the many rituals associated with Shabbat, create Shabbat ritual objects, learn about how families in the class celebrate Shabbat and will have the opportunity to take home a Shabbat box to celebrate with their families. Kitah Aleph will learn about the Jewish holidays by learning about the stories associated with each holiday and do creative projects that help reinforce their understanding of those stories.
Kitah Bet
The focus of the Kitah Bet Judaics curriculum is gimmiluit hasadim, acts of loving kindness. Students will use Torah Aura’s BJL Mitzvot packets to learn about the Jewish roots of concepts such as visiting the sick and taking care of the earth and have the opportunity to put their learning into action through field trips associated with various actions. Kitah Bet will learn about the holidays through an exploration of the blessings that are special for each holiday. They will learn to read and sing these blessings, as well as about the objects associated with each blessing.
Kitah Gimmel
In Kitah Gimmel, students will begin their first in-depth study of the Torah as they delve into the book of Genesis. With the help of Behrman House’s book A Child’s Bible Part 1, they will explore the stories of Genesis through the Ten Plagues in Exodus.
They will also be introduced to the first three levels of Torah scholarship articulated in the Pardes methodology: Peshat, the simple story, Remez, the hint that something deeper is happening, and Drash, the inquiry into the deeper meaning of the text. Kitah Gimmel students will gain a strong foundation in Torah stories, which will enable them to explore the ideas of Midrash in Kitah Dalet.
Kitah Dalet
Kitah Dalet will spend the year deepening their understanding of the stories of Genesis and Exodus that they learned in Kitah Gimmel. Commentary is, after all, a combination of art, drama, and creative writing, all of which are wonderful ways to engage students in the classroom.
Using Torah Aura’s book Make a Midrash Out of Me, Kitah Dalet students will have the opportunity both to create their own midrashim on the stories of Genesis and Exodus and to learn about both classic and modern midrash. Kitah Dalet students will gain a strong foundation in the basics of Torah commentary, which they will place in context of the larger Jewish canon in Kitah Hey.
Kitah Hey
Kitah Hey will explore Jewish texts using Behrman House’s book Meet our Sages, which will focus on rabbinic literature. Students will encounter major Jewish thinkers and also learn about the structure and content of books like the Mishnah and the Talmud. Kitah Hey will also spend timelearning about modern forms of Rabbinic interpretation.
Kitah Hey will also be studying current events. Each student will be asked to bring in three articles a year about Judaism or relevant Jewish issues. Teachers will explain to their students how they will determine when each individual needs to bring in an article. This section of the curriculum is designed to help students see and understand the relevance of Judaism in their lives and in the world around them.
Kitah Vav
Kitah Vav’s Judaic curriculum is built around the Jewish lifecycle, understanding that all of the students are approaching one milestone in their Jewish lives, bar or bat mitzvah. The curriculum will help them contextualize that moment within the larger framework of Jewish life. Using Behrman House’s book The Time of Our Lives: A Teen Guide to the Jewish Life Cycle, students will learn the step-by-step basics of each lifecycle event and also explore the reasoning and relevancy of each event. The book helps students relate to different lifecycle events, answers questions they might have about practices or language associated with the event and offers a brief history and textual sources which explain the origins of each milestone.
Kitah Zayin
Kitah Zayin will be using the Facing History and Ourselves (FHAO): Holocaust and Human Behavior curriculum this year. FHAO offers students an opportunity to explore the connection between Jewish history, identity, and the moral questions inherent in everyday life. Through this program, learners experience an integrated course in history and identity that is grounded in Jewish ethics and values. Through an exploration of rich content and innovative pedagogy, teachers and students are immersed in a methodology that encourages interactive learning in history, literature, Jewish studies and the arts.