Holidays and traditions. The major days, their meanings, and how they are celebrated. This includes communal celebrations with great music as well as interactive explorations of the wisdom that each holiday has to offer us. 

History, ethics, and the different Jewish denominations (Conservative, Reform, Orthodox, etc). Of course, our history is still being written!

Hebrew through the study of Jewish texts. We have fluent speakers and absolute beginners; this is not a spoken language class. Beginners will learn the alphabet, structure of Hebrew words (prefixes and suffixes), and tools to continue developing the skills necessary for independent study of Hebrew texts. On the day of their B'nei mitzvah, if they go that route, they will understand the majority of what they are saying! This year in particular, our Hebrew work will be focused on Jewish prayer texts. In other years, we may ground our Hebrew work in the study or the Torah portion of the week or other sections of the Hebrew Bible. 

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Classical Jewish Text. Students will learn the overall structure of classical Jewish text and learn how to navigate sefaria.org in order to independently research Jewish texts. 

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Stories. Students will study stories and wisdom teachings of the Hebrew Bible and Talmud. Stories are always engaged creatively, through any art form that students are interested in, whether theatre, music, visual art, or anything else that students are passionate about. Wisdom teachings are always engaged through the lens of students' critical thinking and putting their own values in conversation with those of the text. 

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Real life relevance. All learning is geared towards real life relevance, independent skills, and encouraging students to think for themselves, while learning how to access traditional Jewish texts, practices, and ideas.