Lifelong Learning

Adult Learning 

Part of Congregation Beth Or's  Take Out Judaism series

She Did What? The Bad (But Kinda Good) Girls of the Bible

Explore some of the fascinating, seemingly subversive women in our Biblical narrative and the roles they played in shaping the Israelite nation. We’ll uncover how the rabbinic commentators understood this “bad behavior” as they created the fundamentals of Judaism we practice today.

The Art of Midrash: Drawing New Meanings Out Of Our Ancient Words

From the time the Torah was canonized, Jews have engaged in the art of midrash, a practice of interpreting and reinterpreting our sacred writings. In the last several decades, Jews have been creating what they understand as "contemporary midrash" in the form of art, film, music and poetry. This work responds to and builds on the meanings of traditional commentary. In this class we will explore some of Judaism’s most familiar Biblical narratives and how the Jewish ideas of today (re)create meaning in our oldest texts. 

Will the Real King David Please Stand Up?

Our biblical narrative spins amazing stories about the first kings of Israel: Saul, David and Solomon. These larger than life characters helped to shape an ideal world for the Biblical authors intent on promoting the power of their one, elite God. Modern biblical scholarship and contemporary archeologists wrestle with this portrait as they work to reconcile historical realities, extra-biblical literature, and the powerful meaning of myth. This course examines the foundations of the biblical stories that recount the beginnings of the Israelite nation alongside contemporary ‘evidence’ that sometimes challenges the historicity of Judaism’s most sacred texts.

 

Young Adult Learning

Ezra-Nehemiah: Texts for Teaching Community Organizing

In this class, high-school students learn the key principles of community organizing using the books of Ezra and Nehemiah as foundational texts.  The biblical narrative of Ezra-Nehemiah tells a powerful story of community organizing.  It narrates the process of community rebuilding and how the people come together using three important principles of community organizing:

• The identification of self-interests (either individual and communal) allow people to become effective participants and change agents in the communities they inhabit

• The power to make social change comes from being in relationship with others in our individual communities as well as with others who hold power in our larger communities

• The role of organizers can help build stronger, self-determining communities that operate under shared leadership and participate in social conversation as a respected voice

In the experiential component of this learning, Congregation Beth Or 8th-12th grade students are working in our local community as part of the Teen Tzedek Team. This new program meets twice a month and is part of our approach to keeping teens engaged after their bar or bat miztvah. 

 

Parent Learning

Making a Mensch: A Jewish Parent's Guide to Parenting Teens

I designed a curriculum for parents of adolescents entitled Making a Mensch: A Jewish Parent's Guide to Parenting Teens. The guide includes 12 lessons that engage parents in conversations about parenting with Jewish eyes and Jewish hearts. The curriculum blends an introduction to Jewish teachings with insights and wisdom that that have sustained the Jewish people throughout generations of parenting. The combined activities and contemporary information support parents as they work to raise Jewish children whose moral compass is guided by Jewish ethics. Some of the lessons include:

• Unit 1, Lesson 2: Jewish Parenting: A Values Clarification Exercise
• Unit 2, Lesson 1: Difficult Conversations (The Jewish Way of Effective Communication and Conflict Resolution)
• Lesson 2: That Completely Unfair (Consistent Jewish Rule Making).
• Lesson 3: Secrets of a Generation (Jewishly Navigating a Teen’s Electronic Obsession)
• Unit 2, Lesson 4: Sex and the Text (The Jewish View of Relationships, Sexuality and Sex)
• Unit 2, Lesson 7:What a Smart, Jewish Kid (Supporting Intellectual Inquiry and Jewish Learning)
• Unit 3, Lesson 2: My Jewish Parenting Philosophy (Part 2)

Passover Seder Your Way: Creating A Customized & Creative Family Seder

The holiday of Passover offers a powerful opportunity to create a customized family experience that expresses your family’s particular spiritual, political and personal values and sentiments. In three interactive, hands-on sessions, parents will deepen their understanding of the ideas found in the Haggadah and develop new ways of engaging in the themes and rituals of Pesach. Each session will introduce fresh perspectives and practical ways to create a personalized family Seder filled with warmth, laughter, creativity and meaning.  

Informal Education: The Gift of Jewish Summer Camp

Bulletin article published in Beth Or News

I had just turned 12 the year my parents decided to introduce me to Jewish summer camp. Somewhere in their late-night parenting discussions, they decided I did not have enough Jewish friends. The solution was a summer at the URJ’s (Union for Reform Judaism) Greene Family Camp in Bruceville, Texas. My family’s retelling of the summer I fell in love with camp includes my dramatic, angst-filled adolescent whining during the four hour car ride up to the hill country of central Texas. Apparently, I complained so much about “having my summer ruined by all those Jewish kids” that my mom was convinced she would be making the trip back to Bruceville to pick me up well before the session concluded. A phone call from the camp director did indeed come a few days later. I asked not to leave early but if I could stay for second session.

Those ten, glorious summers, as a camper, CIT and eventual staff member, changed my life. I know for certain that the experiences shaped my identity in a profound way. I found community, a passion for justice, meaningful Jewish practice and true friendships that I’ve carried ever since. Camp gave me Jewish living along with an amazing foundation of Jewish learning. It forever changed my perception of Judaism.

Jewish camping is without a doubt one of the greatest success stories of the progressive Jewish community.  As a report from the Foundation for Jewish Camp summarizes, “A summer at [Jewish] overnight camp can be many things, but above all it is an experience in living as part of a [Jewish] community.” The analysis of camp’s impact indicates that Jewish children bring home from camp an appreciation for the practice of Jewish behaviors and a desire to participate in Jewish community. As adults, Jewish campers are more likely to belong, to behave and believe as Jews in the Jewish world.

Many in the field of Jewish education are hard at work bringing the successes of Jewish camping into Jewish life outside of the world of cabins, daily cleanup and communal meals. In coming years we hope to showcase some of these educational successes here at Beth Or. In the meantime, what are your children doing this summer? Might they benefit from an amazing experience at Jewish overnight camp? Beth Or proudly partners with the URJ’s Camp Harlam in Kunkletown, PA where many of our families are longtime campers and alumni. If your kids are not quite ready for overnight camp, consider day camp at the URJ’s first day camp located right here in the Philadelphia area, Harlam Day Camp. And, if it’s a specialty camp your child desperately wants, look no further than the newest camps from the URJ: Six Points Sports Academy in Greensboro, NC or Six Points Sci-Tech Academy just outside of Boston, MA.

To find out more about Jewish camping or for help in finding the right summer experience for your children, check out the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s website (www.jewishcamp.org). Be sure to see if your family qualifies for one of their One Happy Camper $1000 grants designed for first-time campers.

See you this summer at camp!