Temple Beth Israel, Pomona, CA

TBI’s Beit Sefer welcomes students from the San Gabriel Valley and Inland Empire. Our students represent the changing face of Jewish families and come to us from diverse backgrounds. In our Beit Sefer program, students discover a safe place in which to develop and express their Jewish identities. In addition to learning about Jewish culture and heritage, our students establish Jewish friendships and experience being a part of a Jewish community.

Downloadable Documents:

Registration Letter

2010-2011 Calendar

Registration Form

Emergency Info Card

Parent Participation Form

K-1 Our Kindergarten and first grade students come for two hours of class time on Sunday mornings. While singing, reading stories and doing crafts together, they learn about the Jewish holidays, Shabbat and Torah stories from the early chapters in the book of Genesis. We begin introducing Hebrew letters through games and hands on projects in the first grade

2 nd -3 rd

Our second and third graders come for three hours on Sunday mornings. They continue to learn about the Jewish holidays, with more emphasis on the symbols and rituals associated with each holiday. As they learn about the major figures in Genesis and Exodus, they are invited to express their own ideas and interpretations through art and drama. Additionally, they learn to phonetically read Hebrew using the Behrman House Alef Bet Quest book and Sara Rosen’s Phonetic Hebrew Decoding (PHD) packets.

4 th-7 th

Our fourth –seventh graders come two days a week. They come for three hours on Sunday mornings and two hours on Wednesday afternoons. A lot of their time is spent learning to read Hebrew phonetically, to chant the prayers and to understand the literal as well as the symbolic meaning of the prayers. In addition to their Hebrew and prayer studies, they have a Jewish studies class each week. In this class they explore issues of Jewish identity through projects around their family’s own traditions, history and practice of lifecycles. We use the students’ own family and life experience as an entranceway for talking about those issues in the larger Jewish context.

Specials All our students rotate through classes in Jewish music, Jewish literature (the library), and Jewish arts and crafts. We have specialists including our Cantor and volunteer librarian who bring Judaism to life for our students through our cultural media.
Holiday Events Our academic program is complimented by four major holiday events: Sukkot, Chanukah, Purim and Passover. For each event we have a day with an alternate schedule that gives our students an opportunity to explore and experience the holiday celebrations. Our parents and Beit Sefer committee are very active in making these special events happen.
Teens Our post B’nai Mitzvah program engages students in conversations about life from a Jewish perspective. In addition to discussions based on current events, contemporary Jewish issues and ethics, our students create and implement projects on Jewish topics that are meaningful to them.
	Our teen program is divided into three parts. Our confirmation class, the tenth grade, meets independently with the Rabbi to learn about Jewish topics and prepare for their confirmation ceremony. The eighth and ninth graders meet on Wednesday evenings in a combined class with three teachers for dinner, schmoozing and class. Our eleventh and twelfth graders meet as well on Wednesdays for dinner, schmoozing and class. The teen classes combine deep discussion about relevant Jewish topics, student learning and hands on projects. Some things that our teens do is plan a Jewish meal, prepare for the Purim spiel, and debate Jewish ethics.