Rabbi Colman A. Zwitman Religious School
The mission of the Temple Israel of Greater Miami Religious School is to provide a warm and nurturing environment where our congregation is an extension of our homes: a place to grow in all aspects of Jewish living, learning, and expression, and to feel connected to the Jewish community in Miami and throughout the world.
At the Temple Israel Religious School, our goal is to ensure that everyone learns and participates in a wide variety of age-appropriate programs and activities. Our program emphasizes small classes and warm relationships in which our students can develop a positive Jewish identity through a comprehensive exploration of Judaism. Our program is enriched with art, music, cooking, Hebrew and rikudim (Israeli Folk Dance).
General Information:
Sunday Religious School Hours:
- 9:15 AM – 12:00 Noon
- 9:15 AM – 9:30 AM. Light breakfast
- 9:30 AM – 10:00 AM. Intergenerational Tefillah.
- 10:00 AM – 12:00 Noon. Assigned classes.
Hebrew Program
Hebrew curriculum is offered each Sunday during Religious School hours. In addition, from 4th grade through B’nai Mitzvah students, Hebrew classes are offered every Wednesday in Miami Shores and on alternating weeks at the Temple.
Hebrew Program
Temple Israel offers a dynamic and engaging Hebrew curriculum. Our students are exposed to the sight and sound of Hebrew throughout their Religious School experience. Our program includes Hebrew for prayers and blessings as well as some modern Hebrew.
Our students learn Hebrew through a combination of study, music, worship and Hebrew-based activities. There is an emphasis on reading skills and vocabulary recognition as related to T'fillah (prayer) and celebrations. Beginning in in the fourth grade, students will have Hebrew instruction twice a week.
Kindergarten and First Grade: Children will receive 20 minutes of Hebrew instruction each week. They will become familiar with basic Shabbat words and Hebrew vowels.
Second and Third Grades: Students will become familiar with the Hebrew Alef-Bet letters and vowels. They will practice single-syllable letter-vowel combinations and systematically practice letter-to-sound and vowel-to-sound relationships. Students are introduced to the Hebrew letters as graphic elements, connecting them to sounds and visual associations and games. Tefilah includes: Shabbat blessings, Ma Nishtanah, Hanukah blessings and Hatikvah.
Fourth and Fifth Grades: Students begin decoding and developing reading skills. In addition, students are introduced to Hebrew print writing. During Tefilah they will review Shabbat and Hanukah blessings, Ma Nishtanah and Hatikvah, and will learn V’ahavta and Abahot B’ Imahot.
B’nai Mitzvah Program: Students will concentrate on pronouncing and understanding the Tefilot. Students will discuss the concepts and values central to each prayer. Tefilah includes: Torah and Haftarah blessings, along with a review of V’ahavta and Hatikvah. Students will learn common expressions and words of praise, while continuing to practice their reading and writing skills.
Ulpan Program: The Ulpan program will be offered on Wednesday evenings as well as each Sunday after Religious School. The goal of this program is to engage students by offering them a fun way to learn Hebrew while discussing a variety of familiar topics. This program will reinforce the students’ Hebrew reading skills.
The Ulpan program will include some Modern Hebrew words and phrases that will give the students an appreciation of Hebrew as a living language. This program will offer basic language skills such as greetings, food, family, school and simple sentences using singular verbs.
T'fillah: Within each grade level, a program is in place to teach specific prayers and blessings appropriate to the student's level of cognitive development. The prayers and blessings are reinforced on a yearly basis and new prayers are added each year with a goal of fluency and comprehension. Students will become familiar with the basic parts of a worship service.
Teens Program
We offer a wide range of learning and social opportunities for teens at Temple Israel.
Social action and field trips are an important part of the curriculum.
Teen Program
Students will learn how to question, analyze and interpret Jewish texts for themselves, in addition to looking at the world today with a critical Jewish eye. Students will discuss how they, as members of Temple Israel, fit into the Greater Miami Jewish community. They will explore how Judaism influences their role as citizens in the modern world.
Students will also have the opportunity to volunteer as teachers within the Religious School. They will learn valuable skills and may apply the “volunteer hours” towards their school community service requirements.
The teens study with Dr. Andrew Gottlieb during Sunday school hours.
TIFTY
TIFTY Group
Our TIFTY group (9-12 grade students) is part of the North American Federation of Temple Youth. Students participate in a wide variety of educational, social and community service activities.
Deborah Sherman works as the TIFTY advisor and our teens meet with her at least twice a month.
NFTY's Thirteen Principles:
TORAH - תורה: A commitment to God and Torah as a means of inter- and intra-personal fulfillment;
THE JEWISH PEOPLE – AM YISRAEL - עם ישראל: The unity of the Jewish People;
THE STATE OF ISRAEL – MEDINAT YISRAEL - מדינת ישראל: The centrality of the State of Israel to the strength and survival of the Jewish People;
HEBREW – IVRIT - עברית: The importance of the Hebrew language as a vital component to the strength of the Jewish People;
HISTORY – MIDOR L’DOR - מדור לדור: The recognition that in order to fully appreciate our present and ensure our future we must strive to understand our past;
CHOICE THROUGH KNOWLEDGE – NILMAD V’NA’ASEH - נלמד ונעשה: The necessity of lifelong Jewish learning and teaching as a foundation for our observance through a life of continual discovery of Jewish tradition, law and ethics;
PLURALISM – KOL YEHUDIM - כל יהודים: The acceptance and encouragement of alternate modes of Jewish experience;
SELF – TIKKUN MIDDOT - תיקון מידות: The understanding that we are to be a light unto the nations by fostering an environment where every individual can meet and exceed their potential as Jews and citizens of the world;
JUSTICE – TZEDEK - צדק: The obligation to work for justice for all;
COMMUNITY – KEHILAH - קהילה: The need for community to provide an outlet for the individual needs of all Jews;
REPAIRING THE WORLD - TIKKUN OLAM - תיקון עולם: The obligation to repair the world;
PARTNERSHIP – SHUTAFUT - שותפות: The need and desire to work together to foster each individual’s connection and commitment to ensuring the vibrancy of our movement;
FUN AND SPIRIT – KEF v’RUACH - כיף ורוח: The importance of fun and spirit as foundations of our movement; do hereby ordain and establish the Constitution of the North.
Deborah Sherman works as the TIFTY advisor and our teens meet with her at least twice a month.
Goals of Reform Jewish Education:
The goal of Jewish education within the Reform Movement is the deepening of Jewish experience and knowledge for all Jews, in order to strengthen faith in God, love of Torah, and identification with the Jewish people through involvement in the synagogue and participation in Jewish life. We believe that Judaism contains answers to the challenges and questions confronting the human spirit, and that only a knowledgeable Jew can successfully discover these answers.
Our curriculum is entitled “Make the study of Torah your primary pursuit.” It is based upon ten goals established by the Commission on Jewish Education of the Union for Reform Judaism.
We are charged with the responsibility to provide a program of Jewish education which will enable children, youth and adults to become:
- Jews who affirm their Jewish identity and bind themselves inseparably to their people by word and deed.
- Jews who bear witness to the brit (the covenant between God and the Jewish People) through the practice of mitzvot (commandments) as studied in Torah and the classic Jewish literature it has generated, interpreted in light of historic development and contemporary liberal thought.
- Jews who affirm their historic bond to Eretz Yisrael, the Land of Israel.
- Jews who cherish and study Hebrew, the language of the Jewish people.
- Jews who value and practice T’fillah (prayer).
- Jews who further the causes of justice, freedom and peace by pursuing tzedakah (righteousness), mishpat (justice), and chesed (loving deeds).
- Jews who celebrate Shabbat and the festivals and observe the Jewish ceremonies marking the significant occasions in their lives.
- Jews who esteem their own person and the person of others; their own family and the family of others; their own community and the community of others.
- Jews who express kinship with K'lal Yisrael by actively seeking the welfare of Jews throughout the world.
- Jews who support and participate in the life of the synagogue.
Using these ten goals as a framework, the curriculum lays out a number of age-appropriate learning objectives to be covered during the course of the year and suggests appropriate learning activities that could be a part of each weekly lesson.
Each goal describes the ideal behavior that an adult Reform Jew will achieve throughout a lifetime of Jewish exploration. These goals cannot be completely fulfilled in one year, or even ten years of study. Rather, they are ongoing images for Jews to strive for. The Jewish student will achieve the many aspects of each goal at growing levels of sophistication as he or she matures and develops.
