The lesson: You have in your hand a list of things found in the Garden of Eden. Before you are the High Priest and the cherubim, the tablets, a table with the shewbread, a menorah, a candlestick, a washstand and bowl, and the curtain from the Holy of Holies.
Assignment: Match items in the Garden of Eden to items found in the ancient Tabernacle.
There’s a reason the rabbis compare the Tabernacle to the Garden of Eden. But teachers at Temple Or Olam’s Religious School don’t just tell children why the rabbis thought this way – they ask them to do the sleuthing (and the matching) themselves. In the process, our students learn what Torah declares holy, and why. They learn to connect textual traditions with cultural symbols. They learn, in fact, by doing.
Don’t you wish your Hebrew School had included hands-on and creative activities for every lesson? That’s how we teach Torah, mitzvot, and tefillah (prayer). Even our Hebrew lessons include hands-on components: Our classrooms boast games, puzzles, and Montessori-inspired Hebrew manipulatives.
Everything has immediate application. Our students learn prayers and songs in Hebrew, English, Yiddish, and Ladino at Religious School. Then, they lead what they’ve learned at every single Torah Or Olam Friday night family service.
What do our children learn by the time they graduate to b’nai mitzvah training?
- The purpose and rhythm of the festivals of our liturgical year.
- Components, structures, and prayers of Shabbat services.
- Exploration and understanding of critical mitzvot.
- Hebrew vocabulary, grammar and fluid reading skills.
- The fundamental narratives and texts of Torah.
At Temple Or Olam, our Education Committee has a motto for planning each school session: We encourage underage thinking.
With joy, with fun, with dedication and depth. So may our children learn!
Temple Or Olam partners with the Goldring/Woldenberg Institute of Southern Jewish Life for our educational program. We utilize their comprehensive religious school curriculum for our students, and work with one of their Education Fellows throughout the year to assist us as we implement the curriculum. Three times a year, the Fellow visits our community and brings innovative, engaging programming that connect to subjects discussed in the curriculum.
