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8th - 12th Grade Beth El Teen Program

Our model for Monday night was developed with the following goals in mind:

  • Build community

  • Provide high quality curricular content in an informal, engaging environment
  • Afford students the ability to make choices in their own learning, increase the clergy’s role in post-B’nei mitzvah programs
  • Increase post B’nei mitzvah retention.  

Each student will have two classes—one core class taught by Rabbi Jaffe, Rabbi Linzer, or Cantor Sternlieb and a course of their choosing that will change throughout the year.  In addition to Monday nights there will be a travel component to the model.  Eighth and ninth graders will go on an overnight trip exploring Jewish life in New York.  The confirmation class will attend the Reform Action Center’s L’taken conference in Washington DC.  The eleventh and twelfth graders will travel to the either Jewish Los Angeles or on a Civil Rights tour of the South. 

Click here for a full schedule of dates and programs

8th Grade: Jewish Theology and Contemporary Jewish Issues
Monday nights every other week 6:15-7:00 PM

Our 8th grade curriculum is broken into two pieces.  First, we look at issues of Jewish theology from a more mature perspective.  How may we conceive of God?  Am I allowed to ask or to doubt?  What happens after we die?  Why do bad things happen to good people?

Second, we look at contemporary issues from a Jewish perspective: Gun control, abortion, climate change, homosexuality, etc; to show how Jewish tradition may serve as a frame for understanding such complex issues.

9th Grade: Israel and Comparative Religions
Monday nights every other week 6:15-7:00 PM

The curriculum covers contemporary Israel in the Fall and world religions in the Spring. We study Israel in its complexity, and learners are encouraged to explore their own relationship with the Jewish homeland.  During the Spring semester, we will compare Judaism to other major religions, as we welcome guest speakers from neighboring houses of worship to join us for meaningful and personal conversations.  

10th Grade: Judaism and Public Policy
Monday nights every other week 7:10-8:00 PM

How do our Jewish values inform our public policies and advocacy in the public arena?  We will discuss political issues from a Jewish perspective.  This process culminates in the L’Taken Social Justice Conference in Washington DC, in which our students examine current policies being debated in Congress, write their own position papers and deliver them as speeches to our representatives on Capitol Hill. 

11-12th Grade: Preparing Your Jewish Toolkit for College
Thursday nights every other week 7:10-8:00 PM

In a few short months, our students will find themselves living away from their home and synagogue.  And so our curriculum seeks to prepare our students to live independent Jewish lives.  We will look at how to observe Jewish holidays and explore one’s sense of Jewish identity on college campuses.  In addition, we will focus on anti-Israel rhetoric often found on campus and attempt to unpack the issues before they are encountered on the quad.  

 

Back to the Curriculum page

Thu, March 28 2024 18 Adar II 5784