Gesher - Bridge (6th Grade)

Jewish Life Cycle Rituals

The over-arching focus of this year is the concept of rituals: What are rituals? Why are rituals important? How do rituals come into being? Who creates them? Do they change over time? Why? Why not? 

Students explore Jewish life cycle rituals around birth and naming, transitional moments such as Bar and Bat Mitzvah, marriage, divorce, death and mourning. The curriculum introduces traditional practices from the broad spectrum of Jewish life. As a class, students are invited to create new rituals for our community including a ritual for changing the Torah covers at the High Holy Days, and an annual Hebrew naming ritual  for families with children in Kindergarten and First Grade. As part of learning about ritual objects, students design their own yad to be used when they read Torah at their Bar or Bat Mitzvah. 

Shabbat Morning Service and Torah Reading

Students learn the liturgy of the Saturday morning service and lead the service as a class twice during the year. In the second part of the year, students are introduced to the basic concepts of Torah trope and chanting . Each student prepares to chant at least one verse of Torah at a class service. 

Gesher (6th grade) bridges our Sunday morning and Wednesday evening programs.

Sunday sessions are from 9:30-noon together with our program for Kindergarten- 5th grade.

Wednesday sessions are from 6:15 - 8:30 pm together with Hineini,  our program for 7th and 8th grade. Wednesdays include dinner and socializing.

Eating dinner together is part of the program.  Parent involvement in dinners is minimal. Families rotate responsibility for ensuring that a vegetable side dish and dessert are provided each time. Parents are also responsible for making sure that the kitchen is cleaned up after the dinner they have "sponsored." This responsibility is shared among our 6th grade Gesher families and our 7th and 8th grade Hineini families. We bill parents separately from tuition for the amount of pizza needed to feed the number of students in the combined classes.

Tuition:

$1500, families must be members of Etz Chayim