Temple Beth Rishon

Following a year of study with Rabbi Emert, ten tenth grade students were confirmed at Shavu'ot services on May 18th. The students each gave a speech relating to an ethics topic, read torah and sang Shavu'ot songs.

Congratulations to:

Sarah Cahn, Peter Eiseman, Michelle Greenbaum, Emily Greenberg, Rachel Kaplan, Joshua Leifer, Alison Nolte, Danielle Perl, Brandi Prell and Lauren Scheff.

Dear Friends,
            By the time you read this we’ll be nearing the halfway point of our school year.  We’ve implemented many programs to enrich your children's Jewish education.  In some cases these are new programs, in other cases we've added to or enhanced programs from past years and in some cases we're simply repeating programs which worked well. 
 
Torah-based Plays for Alef and Bet -  Last year we started having our Alef (3^rd Grade) and Bet (4^th Grade) students act out original Torah-based plays in Junior Congregation.  This year, at Rabbi Emert’s suggestion, we’ve started repeating these plays on the following Sunday morning, just before dismissal.  Our first play taught an important lesson about idol worship from a midrash (a rabbinic story) and led to a discussion about modern forms of idolatry.
 
Individualized Instruction in Bet - Many Bet (4^th grade) students have been meeting in small groups with two of our most experienced teachers, Sandy Dermon and Orit Zezon, for more individualized Hebrew reading instruction. Bet teachers Galia Baruch and Sherry Glassman have identified students in need of extra attention.  We want all of our Bet students to participate fully in March when they receive their bar or bat mitzvah prayer books.
 
God Cast Contest: Gimel, Dalet, Hey -  God Cast is a series of 4-minute online cartoons about the weekly Torah portions which we're using to help our Gimel (5^th grade), Dalet (6^th grade) and Hey (7^th grade) students become more familiar with the Torah overall, especially with the portions that they will be reading and speaking about at their bar/bat mitzvah services.
            Students have been asked to go to the website each week, view the cartoon about the Torah portion for the coming Shabbat and send me one paragraph by e-mail explaining the main idea of the Torah portion in their own words.  We’ve been awarding weekly prizes to the students who write the best paragraphs in each of the three grades. 

Hebrew and Prayers:  Gimel and Dalet -  We’ve been doing Hebrew and prayer enrichment and remediation with our Gimel (5^th Grade) and Dalet (6^th Grade) students.  Teachers Orit Zezon and Tsipi Borovsky are helping more advanced students understand the meaning of the prayers.  Teachers Linda Kates and Hagit Barnir are working with other students in small groups to bring their Hebrew proficiency up to the level needed for bar/bat mitzvah.

Rabbi Emert's Jewish Values Lessons -  As in past years, Rabbi Emert has been meeting monthly with each grade to discuss important life issues in terms of our Jewish traditions.  For example, he spoke with our Gimel (5^th grade) and Dalet (6^th grade) students about how the "golden rule," first stated in the Hebrew Bible, applies to a real-life situation they might encounter in public school.  Rabbi Emert led a lively discussion, in which many students participated, about Hillel's formulation of the rule: "Don't do to your fellow that which is hateful to you." 

Hey Jewish Values Lessons -  Our Hey (7^th grade) students have been working on self-contained lessons about Jewish values with teacher Tsipi Borovsky. Students receive copies to discuss at home. These are similar to the excellent lessons on the Holocaust and Modern Israel, which teacher Sandy Dermon continues to use with our Dalet (6^th grade) students.    

Jewish Culture through Music -   In addition to Cantor Mamber’s weekly music lessons in Alef (3^rd grade) and Bet (4^th grade) and preparation of students for their class services, Cantor Ben has been meeting with grades K-6 twice a month, on Sunday mornings. Our students have connected with him and enjoy joining him in songs from the new songbook he created. 
 
New Sunday Dismissal Procedure -  In October, we implemented a new dismissal procedure in order to make the process smoother and more efficient.  As of this writing it has been going well.  On the first three Sundays, the last child was in his/her parent’s car by 12:10, 12:11 and 12:07.  Our Vice-President of Hebrew School, Dr. Laura Eisdorfer, gets the credit for recommending this.
 
I welcome your questions, comments and suggestions in person, by phone or by e-mail.
 
Rabbi Sandy Olshansky
Rabbinic Intern & Hebrew School Director

TBR Opens campus for Bergen County High School for Jewish Studies!
Click here to see article in the Jewish Standard from October 9, 2009.