Hebrew School Project
Welcome to the JCP Hebrew School Project!
Join our community of learners. The Hebrew School Project is committed to nurturing spirituality, competence and a deep relationship to Jewish heritage.
Hebrew School Project Goals:
• Students will develop a lifelong love for Jewish learning, history, traditions, Israel and peoplehood
• Students and their families will develop a connection to the HSP and JCP community
• Students and families will be engaged in the B’nai Mitzvah process. At the time of Bar or Bat Mitzvah students will be prepared to read from the Torah, speak about their parsha and lead many of the Shabbat prayers
• Students will be familiar and comfortable with Shabbat blessings, Havdallah, and blessings particular to Jewish holidays
• Students will be exposed to basic conversational Hebrew skills, and have the ability to read appropriate for their grade level
• Students will reach a high level of Jewish literacy that will foster Jewish involvement in adulthood
Hebrew School Project Curriculum Overview:
Judaics (Yahadut):
• The Chai curriculum, which we piloted this year, will be appropriately adapted to HSP based on the pedagogical philosophy of JCP. It provides the content for learning Torah stories, understanding the Jewish perspective of God and prayer, and learning about how we help others and act as members of a larger global community.
Hebrew (Ivrit):
• Our Hebrew program, drawing from various existing Hebrew curricula, will give children access to the special written and spoken language of our tradition. While teaching the aleph-bet, decoding skills, and basic modern Hebrew, our Hebrew instruction will also transmit Jewish values and beliefs through vocabulary and concepts. It is also inextricably linked to our focus on synagogue skills and the shirah/tefillah portion of the afternoon.
Synagogue Skills:
• The focus of the Avodah part of the Yahadut curriculum is the work we do to find sacred connections to God, community, and self.
• Students will:
-engage in the work of avodah, bringing sanctity, beauty, meaning and insight into their own lives and their community through prayer and Jewish rituals
-learn synagogue skills that will enable them to understand the beauty and order of sacred time, help them express their personal relationships with God, empower them to bring personal intention to prayer and define them as members of the Jewish community
-gain a competence with synagogue skills that will allow students to feel comfortable in multiple different houses of Jewish worship. These will include skills such as dressing the Torah, singing Sh’ma, knowing the “choreography” of the Amidah, having a general sense of the siddur, and recognizing a Ner Tamid.
Singing/Prayer (Shirah/Tefillah):
• Shirah and Tefillah add the joy of music to our Jewish learning
• Through a combination of the Yahadut curriculum and Shirah/Tefillah, students will:
-learn common Jewish songs including those specific to holidays and celebrating Israel
-learn to sing, read, and eventually lead key prayers in a Shabbat service and for holidays (such as Sh’ma, Barechu, Mi Chamocha, L’cha Dodi, Shechecheyanu, Modeh Ani, Mah Tovu, Oseh Shalom, and Kiddush)
- learn songs and prayers with their class through a specific curriculum designed for each grade level as well as through ongoing opportunities for periodic whole group prayer experiences
Center for Jewish Life (CJL) and Family Connections:
• In order to strengthen student acquisition of Jewish concepts and practice, and connect families to what our children are learning, students, families and classes will participate together in CJL events such as Friday Night Lights and direct community service activities.
To view examples of the Hebrew School Project’s Methodology please click here.
For a weekly schedule of the 2012-2013 program please click here.
If you are new to the program and would like to download Enrollment Forms please click here for Kindergarten – 4th Grade and click here for 5th Grade.
For more information about the 2012-2013 Hebrew School Project please call or email Sarah Beraha in the Hebrew School Project office – 212-334-3522/sarah@jcpdowntown.org.
Sharon Shorofsky Mack, JCP Director of Education and Early Childhood/Associate Director, JCP
Emily Cook, Associate Director, Hebrew School Project
Sarah Beraha, Assistant Director, Hebrew School Project