December 2008 Sunday School News
from Education Director Dawn Friedman

Last month I filled you in on what our Sunday School classes have been doing this fall. This month, you get an update on Rabbi Adam’s 7th grade B’nai Mitzvah class. In addition to Sunday School and private tutoring in preparation for their Bar/Bat Mitzvah services, these students meet every Monday evening with Rabbi Adam to
increase their Hebrew proficiency, study traditional and modern texts, learn about the origins of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah, and explore the philosophy of Humanistic Judaism.

So far this year, the class has learned some basic vocabulary for conversational Hebrew as well as the meaning behind the Hebrew words we sing as a congregation. They’ve read chapters in Genesis, in Hebrew and English, and discussed the passages they’ve selected for their B’nai Mitzvah presentations. And they’ve explored
what Humanistic Judaism means to them as they’ve discussed why religions exist and how they develop.

It makes you want to take that class, doesn’t it? Well, if you don’t have a 7th grader whose brain you can pick in the car ride home from class, the next best thing is joining the Rabbi’s ongoing Adult Education classes that follows the kids’ class on Monday evenings. You can drop in for a single topic, or take the whole course in
preparation for an Adult Bar/Bat Mitzvah. I can tell you from personal experience that it is a great journey.