Temple Beth-El strives to provide each student with a comprehensive Jewish education in a warm, positive environment. It is our goal to inspire each student to become a vital part of our Temple community and to build, throughout his or her years in the school, a sense of Reform Jewish identity and the foundation for a lifelong commitment to Jewish living, learning and the practice of mitzvot.

We strive to provide an environment where students can engage in cognitive and experiential educational activities that deepen their understanding of God, Torah, and Israel.  Our program encourages students to explore and question their relationship to Judaism while instilling a sense of love for Jewish traditions, practices, history, texts and values.

To enable our students to affirm their Jewish identity and take pride in being Reform JewsTo instill a positive Jewish image

To relate Judaism to everyday life.

To provide a climate where the importance of Jewish community & the value of individuality are both encouraged

To enable our students to develop a spiritual awareness of the relationship of God with the Jewish people
 To enable students to affirm and act upon a personal perspective of God and spirituality 

To foster understanding of the Torah

To enable students to identify the central themes and ethical messages within Torah and integrate them into their lives.

To expose students to the foundational literature of Judaism including the Prophets, Writings, Talmud and Midrash

To learn & discuss the parashat hashavuah (weekly Torah portion)

To encourage students to bear witness to the brit (the covenant between God and the Jewish people) by embracing Torah through the study and observance of mitzvot (commandments) as studied in the Torah and the classic Jewish literature it has

To encourage our students to further the causes of justice, freedom, and peace by pursuing tzedek (righteousness), mishpat (Justice), and chesed (loving deeds).

To build an understanding of the ­important values and mitzvot that have guided our people throughout history, and to encourage students to make choices and decisions based on these values and ethics.

To encourage the doing mitzvot with emphasis on Tikkun Olam

To encourage social concern through Jewish values.

To help teach strategies for conflict resolution
 

HEBREW
To enable students to cherish and study Hebrew, and to value it as the language that binds the Jewish people together through generations.

To build prayer skills and develop vocabulary in liturgical Hebrew for participation in worship services and home observances.

To increase competence in reading and writing Hebrew.

To encourage the appreciation of Hebrew as a used, living language through the integration of conversational vocabulary.

To instill in our students a love and understanding of Jewish history

To teach the historical highlights of the Jewish people

To teach about contemporary Jewish heroes, newsmakers, & current Jewish events

To teach about the Holocaust

To encourage an understanding of, and an appreciation for, Jewish music.

To encourage an understanding and appreciation of the Jewish calendar by studying and observing Shabbat, Holy Days and Festivals.

To familiarize students with the rituals, customs, origins and practices associated with the holidays and Shabbat,

To encourage participation in Shabbat services, holiday celebrations and High Holidays services

To encourage the observation of the Jewish ceremonies marking the significant occasions in their lives.

To teach the meanings of ritual symbols and ritual objects
 

To encourage our families to support and participate in the life of the synagogue and become a vital part of the community.

To encourage participation in activities that reinforce the families’ connection to the local, national, and worldwide Jewish community, fulfilling the principle of K’lal Yisrael – the unity of the Jewish people

To teach about home observances and encourage families to practice Judaism actively in the home

To encourage participation in all Family Education programs

To encourage positive reinforcement of their Jewish education at home.

To explain worship rituals & allow students to experience and be comfortable in a worship service
To teach the rituals of the life cycles in Jewish practice
To increase comfort with and participation in Shabbat observance

To increase comfort with the structure and contents of the prayer book
To enable students to value and practice tefillah (prayer)

To promote competence in prayer-reading and worship-leading.
 

To instill a love of, interest in, and connection to Israel as a historical place and as the current homeland of the Jews

To acquaint students with the basic geography, history and culture of Israel, and expose them to Israeli ways of life. 

To instill a sense of identification with the worldwide Jewish community.