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Hebrew School
Apply Online for Hebrew School The Synagogue for the Arts Hebrew School provides families with the opportunity to give their children a Jewish education in a warm and creative setting. Directed by Gail F. Nalven, the one-day-a-week school offers a thorough grounding in Jewish culture and knowledge, and fosters positive Jewish identification. Synagogue membership is welcomed but not required in order to attend Hebrew School. We are located conveniently in Tribeca in downtown Manhattan. The curriculum includes language skills in prayer-book Hebrew, and familiarization with major prayers and blessings, as well as Jewish culture, holidays and rituals. Our younger students learn through a family-oriented model, while the older students have a creative and challenging curriculum. Our program currently includes kindergarten through seventh grade. There has been interest expressed in adding a class for three and four year olds. We need two more children to begin the class. Classes are held on Mondays (see our School Calendar for a detailed schedule). We open at 3:30 with a shared Tefillah, building community across the age groups for kindergarteners through fifth graders. It's a natural setting in which students can both learn about prayers and holidays, and participate in the teaching of others. We sing Hebrew songs, learn prayer melodies, listen to stories and discuss ethical issues. After this the students divide into small classes by age group, meeting for an hour and a half. Each spends about half their time on Hebrew and the other half on Judaica--the younger children on Bible stories and on Shabbat, third and fourth graders on lifecycle events, and fifth graders on theology. For instance, our 5th graders will ponder how they see God and ask the questions, what is God like? What does God want from us? In our lifecycle curriculum, students might role play a wedding or a bris. We have a high ratio of teachers to students, and there is plenty of opportunity to address individual needs. Our calendar includes holiday celebrations like a Tu B'shvat Seder, special trips for Hanukah, and a model Passover Seder. Students might create special items to help celebrate holidays such as groggers before Purim or seder plates prior to Passover. Our sixth and seventh graders prepare for their bar and bat mitzvah through class from 4 to 5:30 P.M. They schedule additional privately with Rabbi Glass. Apply Online for Hebrew School
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