Grades 8-12
Temple Israel's Tochnit Noar:
Monday Night High School Program
Temple Israel's Monday Night School meets on Monday evenings and is designed for our 8th to 12th grade students. The goal of Monday Night School is to create a thriving Jewish teen community at Temple Israel and help our teens engage in learning that creates opportunity for Jewish growth and continuity. Our 9th to 12th grade spends equal time in core learning classes and electives focused on their individual interests. The 8th grade is eased into the program over the course of the year. They begin in 8th grade only classes in the fall semester and advance through the year into more open elective choices.
The year is divided into a 10-week fall semester, a 10-week winter semester and a 4 to 5 week spring semester. The year often bookends with a teen community welcome session in the fall and a teen community end-of-the-year celebration in the spring.
A typical evening runs from 5:45p.m. to 8:30p.m. and is divided in the following way:
5:45 - 6:30 Weekly Dinner
6:30 -7:30 Core Classes (by grade: 8th, 9th, 10th, 11th/12th)
7:30 -7:40 Break/Snack
7:40 -8:30 Electives (fall courses open to 9th -12th graders, winter courses open to 8th -12th graders)
8th Grade
The 8th grade is designed to introduce the incoming students to the Monday Night School program. The curriculum is developmentally appropriate and focused to provide a wide range of interesting topics to the 8th graders as they transition into the program. Students will initially study together and then venture into the larger Monday Night School community as they become familiar with the structure and program over the course of their first year. In the fall semester, students will study together for both hours of learning. Beginning in the winter semester, students will study together the first hour and then choose electives that best fit their interest and learning style for the second hour of study. In the spring semester, students will choose a 2-hour seminar or workshop on a topic or idea that most intrigues them.
8th Grade Fall Semester Core Classes
A Tale of Two Cities: Immigration to the US and Israel
In preparation for their trip to New York in January, this class will look at the life of Jewish people in 18th and 19th century Europe, United States, and Israel. Students will learn about the birth of Reform Judaism, moving on to understand how assimilation, pogroms and other important factors led to the influx of European Jews to the United States, specifically in the cities of Boston, Ma and New York, Ny. Paralleling this immigration wave was the First Aliyah to Israel from Europe. Students will look at the different Zionist movements - Religious, Cultural, Labor, Political and Revisionist - to gain a better understand of why so many of our ancestors were compelled to move to Palestine and help create the dream of a Homeland for our people. (this curriculum is the background information preparing the 8th grade students for their trip to New York, NY in January)
Exodus: The Birth of a Nation
Students will study with the rabbis the first twelve chapters of the book of Exodus. Picking up where we left off at the end of seventh grade, we'll continue to explore the critical issues and questions provoked by the text of the Torah. We'll examine in new and provocative ways a mythic story that chronicles how a people became a nation; how a mixed multitude journeyed from slavery to liberation; and how the story of the Exodus serves as inspiration for so many experiences of liberation that continues unto this day.
8th Grade Winter Semester Core Class
Sacred Choices: Adolescent Relationships and Sexual Ethics
Teens live in a culture in which societal boundaries about what is sacred and what is to be "saved" for adulthood has changed. The pressure to conform and participate in activities or behaviors for which they may not be physically or emotionally ready is ever present. The Jewish tradition is rich in teachings that can guide them in safe, healthy and realistic directions. Together with trained facilitators, the students will explore the idea of sacred relationships and sexual ethics and figure out how to respond and address difficult moments and choices with a Jewish voice.
9th Grade
The 9th grade year is spent in deep study of history and ideas that will prepare the students to grapple with the topics introduced in the Confirmation year. The core curriculum will focus on two significant historical moments - one ancient, one modern - of change, challenge and calamity in the history of the Jewish people. During the fall and winter semesters, students study together for the first hour and then choose electives that best fit their interest and learning style of the second hour of study. In the spring semester, students will choose a 2-hour seminar or workshop on a topic or idea that most intrigues them.
9th Grade Fall Semester Core Class
Shoah: The Holocaust
Students will build on their knowledge and understanding of the Shoah by examining different angles of this difficult period in Jewish history. The class will explore the following themes: Jewish resistance and struggle, anti-Semitism, the arts and literature of the Holocaust, the Holocaust's implications on Jewish theology and philosophy and the Jewish responsibility today to injustice and genocide in light of our history.
9th Grade Winter Semester Core Class
Rabbinic Period: Jewish Conflict and Change through the Eyes of One Man
Students will take a look back at the misunderstood time period of the great rabbis using the famous book, As A Driven Leaf, as a guide. Travel back to the days of the Talmud and the Sanhedrin to explore the time of Elisha ben Abuyah and become part of his struggle to live in two diverging worlds. The class will work to understand themselves and their emerging Jewish identity in relation to the exploration and questions brought forth by Elisha’s experience.
10th Grade
The Confirmation year is designed to engage Confirmand students with challenging topics and difficult questions. As they grapple with ideas about God, community and religion, Confirmands will explore their Jewish identities and which core Jewish ideas and values they desire to confirm to themselves and to the larger Jewish community. During the fall and winter semesters, students study together for the first hour and then choose electives that best fit their interest and learning style for the second hour of study. In the spring semester, Confirmands will gather together to create the service they will lead for the wider Temple Israel community on Shavuot morning.
10th Grade Fall Semester Core Class
Jewish Theology
What is God? What does God want form us? How does God fit into my life? Is there a right way to perceive of God? These timeless questions and more will shape this course as students begin an exploration of significant Jewish thinkers and their approaches and ideas about God. Students will use biblical, classical, medieval and modern thought to guide various discussions around the multiplicity of ways Jewish people have wrestled with the idea of God throughout history. Class expectations include regular outside reading and homework questions.
10th Grade Winter Semester Core Class
Our Torah, Ourselves (10 weeks)
During the fall semester students will have the opportunity to wrestle with the age-old question: Who or what is God? For the winter semester the curriculum will shift focus and ask, "who are we?" At the end of their ninth grade year, this year's Confirmation Class had the opportunity to create a list of topics and issues that they found interesting, that they felt they would like to learn about before becoming confirmands, and that they wish to grapple with as Jews. They will be studying texts and discussing the issues they have brought to the table within the context of the idea of living their lives through the lens of Torah. They will explore what it means to live their lives as Jews, make decisions as Jews, and navigate their world as Jews. As the students move into this new stage of life, the winter semester will be an opportunity to take ownership of their practice, their beliefs, and their engagement with their Jewish community.
11th/12th Grade
The 11th and 12th grade courses are built upon the premise of the knowledge and self-awareness that the students have gathered during their years in the Temple Israel teen community. The 2-year rotating core curriculum ('09-'10 is year two of the cycle) is designed to take these students to the next level in their Jewish learning. Students are encouraged to explore what Judaism will mean to them over journey of their lives as well as prepared them Jewishly for their approaching move into a larger Jewish community. During the fall and winter semesters, students study together for the first hour and then choose electives that best fit their interest and learning style for the second hour of study. In the spring semester, students will have the opportunity to study text with the clergy and also work in a seminar or workshop on a topic or idea that most intrigues them.
11th and 12th Grade Fall Semester Core Class (Year 2)
The State of Israel: Why Should I Care?
Why is it important to care about the State of Israel? Why and how was the State of Israel created and more important, who were the people that made it happen? How did Israel survive all of these years, and why was it not always smooth sailing? What were the steps that brought Israel into the 21st Century? The focus of this core class will be the State of Israel today- it's culture, people, and its identity. We will look at (and listen to) Israeli rock and rap in depth, understanding the lyrics and hopefully through them catch a glimpse of the culture; We will explore the challenges of Israeli teens as they face the end of high school and the beginning of their military service. We will tackle questions related to minorities living in Israel as we challenge ourselves with the notion of being a Jewish State and a Democratic one. Ultimately, all of the above will better prepare us as we conclude our course with an introspective glance at the Peace Process in Israel and try and decide whether or not Israel can afford to have one.
11th and 12th Grade Winter Semester Core Class (Year 2)
Life After High School, Where Does Judaism Fit?
This course is to help the 11th and 12th graders of MNS look back at the information that they have learned and been faced with over their years of education, first in Religious school on Tuesdays and Sundays and then in Monday Night School. This course will give the 11th and 12th graders the opportunity to bring back concepts, traditions, ceremonies, and Jewish thoughts that they may have not understood the first time they were presented to them and to learn them as the young adults that they have become. The course will be based on a brainstorming session that the students will participate during the first class period and the teacher will build the lessons based on information that the students are interested in revisiting.