Judaic Studies

At the Day School Judaic Studies is characterized by an integrated approach in the primary years. While specific time is set aside for Judaic Studies, the curriculum is designed and supported by activities in all subject areas. The core components of the pluralistic approach to Judaic Studies combine key activities that teach both the keva’ (fixed portion of ritual and prayer) and the kavanah (a personal connection to the meaning of the action) of Jewish practice.

In Kindergarten the students participate in a fully integrated curriculum. The planning and execution of the curriculum revolve around a team-centered approach that balances skills from all areas of the curriculum with Judaic content. The main content centers on:

  • Core values
  • Parshat Hashavua’ – the weekly Torah readings
  • Hagim – Jewish holidays
  • T’filah – prayer

“Our students naturally integrate their thinking and learning. Once, a student of mine even pointed out that the Hebrew word for horse (soos) was a palindrome, something she had studied in her English Language Arts class earlier in the day.” – HMJDS Faculty Member

The first and second grade curriculum continues an integrated approach to core values, but directly includes Judaic Studies content in a unified block of Judaic Studies and Hebrew. Many of the holiday units are taught as part of the Tal Am curriculum and help cement the link between Judaic Studies content and the Hebrew language. Teachers expand the repertoire of prayers and students write their own personal reflections on new t’filot introduced during these years. This year marks the beginning of the introduction of the Jewish Theological Seminary’s Standards and Benchmarks project into the Kindergarten through second grade Judaic Studies program. The weekly Torah portions will be grouped by themes that begin to see the Torah as an integrated whole.

In third and fourth grade Judaic Studies, text study expands to a deeper level as students learn the stories of B’reishit in greater depth with new grammatical structures. New initiatives introduced are.

  • The use of a Humash (book containing one of the five books of the Torah) in all Hebrew is introduced
  • Thematic units centering on the Book of B’reishit (Genesis) become the core curriculum
  • Biblical Hebrew language skills and the independent reading of texts by students are emphasized