The Beit Lameid is the new name for The Religion School of the Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue. The name consists of the Hebrew word Beit meaning House, and the word Lamed is constructed from three Hebrew letters, Lamed, Mem and Dalet. Each letter acts as an acronym. The Lamed giving us the Hebrew word Leiv meaning Heart, the letter Mem and the word M’vinah to understand and Dalet the Hebrew word Da’at meaning Knowledge.

The Sages believed that when the Heart is truly engaged with learning and study, only then can we truly understand the knowledge, and the skills that we learn through our involvement with our Jewish community.

The overall aim of the Beit Lamed is to provide our young members with access to an active and vibrant community of learners, each engaged in the pursuit for life long learning, and the commitment to being Liberal Jews in the twenty-first century.

Jewish Identity is expressed through the way the members of the community participate in the practices and rituals and teachings of Liberal Judaism as adopted, interpreted, and transmitted by the members of the Brighton and Hove Progressive Synagogue.

Below is the curriculum consisting of the aims and objectives for educating our young people in the ways of living a Liberal Jewish life. This curriculum will provide a framework for the teachers and students of the school to devise and construct their own lesson plans to meet these aims and objectives over the next two years. The curriculum framework should be flexible enough to enable the teachers and students to work creatively and imaginatively in the pursuit of agreed goals.

Andy C.

Advisory Teacher.

Hebrew is the traditional language of the Jewish people and their religion. Because the mother tongue of our students is English, there is very little opportunity for our young people to speak and use Hebrew except when engaged in the religious activities of the Community on a Shabbat morning, or through the use of ritual at home.

Our aim is to provide the young people of the Community with the opportunity to learn, use, and understand Hebrew within the context of the Religious community, and to enable them to actively participate in the prayers and rituals of Liberal Judaism.

By the end of the two year period, students will be able to:

A variety of teaching and learning methods will be used including the re-enactment of ritual in the classroom, group discussion, paired peer learning, mentoring using the classroom assistants, guided reading and writing, and art activity. Participation in communal events and the Monthly Services offer a practical experiential approach to learning.

The ongoing evaluation of the student’s progress will be monitored by the teacher and learning needs will be identified and a strategy for meeting these needs will be discussed by the teacher and the student. Observation of the learner in the practical experiences of communal activity will also provide a method of ongoing assessment.

Throughout the year Judaism marks the seasons and historical events through the observance of festivals within the home and the synagogue. These Festivals continue to be observed in the Liberal Jewish Community through a modern approach to traditional observance and ritual.

Our aim is to provide the students of the community with the opportunity to participate in the communal activities of observing the Religious Festivals, enacting the traditional rituals within a Liberal Jewish interpretation and ethical framework, and to develop an historical awareness of the origins of the Festivals and how Jews have observed them throughout history.

We also aim to encourage our students to participate in the home centred observance of the Festivals and seek to offer opportunities for family members to engage in the continuing study of the practice of Festival observance from a Liberal Jewish perspective.

Students will be able to:

Teaching and Learning Methods.

A variety of teaching and learning methods will be used including group activities using creative materials to recreate stories and symbols associated with Jewish Festivals, guided reading and writing, peer supported learning, and participation in the communal events which mark the observance of the Festivals.

Assessment Instruments.

Assessment will be conducted through the observations of the teacher with regard to how the students participate in the communal events, and the evaluation of their work in the classroom.

 

Jewish Life Cycle Events.

Traditionally Judaism has celebrated and commemorated the major events in the life of the individual. The traditional observance of Life Cycle events has however been challenged with the advent of egalitarianism in the Progressive Jewish Movements, encouraging equality for all members of the community in the observance of Life Cycle events.

Aim.

Our aim is to continue to promote the egalitarian approach to life cycle events, and to consider the introduction of new celebrations and commemorations where tradition has neglected to provide these.

 

Learning Outcomes.

The students of the Community will be able to:

Teaching and Learning Methods.

A variety of teaching and learning processes will be used including discussion/ debate, guided reading from traditional and modern sources, art activity, participation in Life Cycle Events where appropriate.

Assessment Instruments.

Assessment will be ongoing through the teacher’s observation and listening to the students and how they engage with the subject material. Observation of participation at Life Cycle Events and reflection upon the events afterwards could also provide a method of assessment.

The darkest period of Jewish History is often a difficult subject to cover when planning a curriculum, because of the painful emotions evoked and due to the events forming part of recent world history. Our own Liberal Jewish community has members who are themselves survivors of the terrible Nazi persecution, therefore our current generations of Liberal Jews can connect with living reminders of the Shoah. Shoah is the Hebrew word meaning calamity and is perhaps a more accurate word for describing this period than the more commonly used Holocaust. Not all survivors of the Shoah found in our synagogue are necessarily people. Kept within the Aron Ha Kodesh we have a Torah scroll from the lost communities of Frydek-Mistek, a community destroyed by the Nazis. The scroll is one of a number rescued after the Second World War, and given on loan to our community. As caretakers of this scroll we can connect with the lost community of Frydek-Mistek. The synagogue Chay Project was set up to formulate initiatives for the community to connect with the Torah Scroll through its use in specific religious services to commemorate the Shoah, and for the period between Pesah and Shavuot known as the Omer days, when we read the names of those members of the community of Frydek-Mistek who perished as a result of the Nazi persecutions. The Chay Project has also committed itself to researching and discovering the history of the community and recently exhibited photographs and information about Frydek-Mistek in the Synagogue hall.

Our aim is to provide the students of the Beit Lameid with opportunities to connect with the Shoah through the work of the Chay Project and through meeting with the survivors of the Shoah, who may welcome the opportunity to tell their personal stories and experiences.

The students of the Beit Lameid will be able to:

Teaching and Learning Methods.

A variety of teaching and learning methods will be available, and will include storytelling; participation in activities and projects negotiated with the Chay Project; participation in commemorative services; debate and discussion; and the provision of a variety of creative materials for the expression and exploration of thoughts and feelings evoked by the subject matter.

 

Assessment Instruments.

Assessment will be through the ongoing observations of the students through their participation in the activities of the community and their feedback in class discussion.

 

The Ethical Dimension to Liberal Judaism.

Although Judaism has traditionally maintained Religious Observance through prayer (T’Fillah) and study (Talmud Torah) the Rabbis also placed a considerable emphasis on the ethical dimension of the religious life, based upon the teachings contained in the TaNaCH and the later books of the Mishnah and the Talmud later codified in the Shulchan Arukh and the Responsa of rabbis after the sixteenth century C.E. Liberal Judaism has encouraged the ongoing development of Ethical practice through encouraging a contemporary approach to traditional values e.g Laws of Kashrut; and to challenging beliefs and attitudes which Tradition held at odds to modern thinking and belief e.g Equal rights for Women, and inclusiveness for members of the Gay Community.

 

Aim.

To introduce the Young People of the Beit Lameid to the Liberal Jewish approach to the Ethical Dimension of Modern Judaism.

To help foster a culture that is accepting of all its members, and to encourage dialogue and debate to enable the Young People to assertively challenge Discriminatory practice in the wider community.

To enable the Young people to explore traditional Jewish ethical values and to apply these to the modern world.

 

Learning Outcomes.

The Students will be able to:

Teaching and Learning Methods.

A variety of teaching and learning methods will be available including encouraging discussion and debate, actively encouraging the students to participate in fund raising activities for a cause of their choice; storytelling and narrative with members of the community and wider community, and through creative activities to enable expression and exploration of thoughts, feelings and ideas. Where appropriate teachers and students may identify a social action group which could provide the student with hands-on contact and experience of active participation in social action. Students will also be directed to the library and on-line sources for access to both modern Liberal Jewish literature, and traditional texts.


Assessment Instruments.

Assessment will be ongoing through teacher observation of the students in the social context of the Synagogue community and through the student participation in the activities devised to meet the aims and learning outcomes of this component of the curriculum.

 

Israel, People and Land.

Until 1948, there had not been an established homeland for the Jewish people for almost two thousand years. Today the State of Israel provides a focus for Jews of all countries and affiliations, for religious, spiritual, cultural, and political reasons.

The Land of Israel is also bound up in the history and religious beliefs of Christians and Muslims and provides a home to many practitioners of the Three Religions which trace their roots to Abraham, as well as secular citizens who are connected with the land through cultural, religious, and historical ties.

 

Aim.

To enable the students to identify the connections between the Land of Israel and its inhabitants, connecting the modern state of Israel with the mythological and historical origins of the people who live there today

To provide the students with an understanding of the historical and modern tensions which currently affect the daily lives of the inhabitants of the Land of Israel.

To enable the students to connect with the Land of Israel through family members who live there and to set up a pen pal/ correspondence with students of a Liberal/ Progressive community in Israel.

 

Learning Outcomes.

The students will be able to:

Teaching and Learning Methods.

A variety of teaching and learning methods will be provided for students to discover and learn about the Land of Israel, including discussion and debate, Drama/ Art workshops around Biblical and Modern Story themes, storytelling, suggested internet sites, access to email addresses for contacts in Israel, meeting and discussing with individuals who have participated in the modern historical events of the Land of Israel (1948-present) where available, video and documentary film.

Assessment Instruments.

Assessment of each student will be ongoing, and will be through the teacher’s observation of the student’s engagement with the planned and agreed activities in the Beit Lameid.

Endnote.

The curriculum is a piece of work in progress and designed to provide a framework for the teaching staff and the students to plan together a range of educative experiences to explore the content of the subjects in this document. Parents are welcome to participate in the activities of the Beit Lameid, and our intention is to also work towards Family Education Activities which will include some of the subject matter on the curriculum. Please feel free to discuss the curriculum with me and I would be more than grateful for any ideas from members of the community which will enhance the learning of our students from a Liberal Jewish perspective.

Andy C.

Advisory Teacher.

June 2006/ Sivan 5766.