Welcome back to a new year and new programming in Jewish Studies in the middle school. This year, we welcome Michael Washerstein who will be teaching Jewish History, ethics, in addition to courses on Israel and Jewish current events. I will be returning to the classroom for grades 6,7,8 and will be teaching Torah text as well as contemporary issues in Jewish law in addition to the study of the tenets of our faith and practices.
It is important to note that a prime component of this newly revised Judaic Studies program is to encourage critical thinking development skills on the parts of the students. The days of frontal lecturing are gone, and we are encouraging our students to use their technological knowhow and G-d given intellect to expand their horizons in Judaic studies. Therefore, I am encouraging our students to examine different sites on the Internet dedicated to Judaic Studies and text.
Students will become familiar with www.sefaria.org which presents the entire gamut of Judaic texts ranging from Tanach to Talmud and beyond with English translation in addition to the Hebrew text. They will be looking at sites like www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org for perspectives on Jewish History and jpost.com on contemporary issues and Israel, for example.
Hebrew language instruction continuing with Morah Ruthie and Morah Noga will continue to emphasize
more Hebrew conversational proficiency. An exciting year is planned in Hebrew.
In addition, as Jon indicated extensively in his blog, we are introducing organized tefilla for grades 6-8, with the options of a traditional non-egalitarian and traditional egalitarian service provided. Part and parcel of the tefilla program will include discussions and dialogue about prayer.
We also welcome Inbar and Liam,our two new shinshinim, who will be providing Israel programming this year.
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