Teacher: Rachael Lane
May our learning guide us toward responsibility, courage, and compassion.
In 6th–7th grade, students deepen their Jewish learning as they prepare to take on greater responsibility within Jewish life and community. Through prayer, Torah study, ethics, Israel, Holocaust education, and the B’nai Mitzvah journey, students are encouraged to ask big questions, explore meaning, and develop their own Jewish voices within a supportive community.
Each Sunday begins with shared ritual, including Havdalah and selected morning prayers, grounding students in Jewish time and communal connection.
Havdalah and Morning Prayers: 9:30–10:00 AM
T’filah (Prayer)
Text: Making T’fillah meaningful, Pirkei T’fillah
Finding voice, meaning, and leadership in prayer.
Students deepen their understanding of Jewish prayer as both an inherited tradition and a personal practice. Through a Reconstructionist lens, they explore how prayer has evolved, how it expresses values such as gratitude, justice, peace, and holiness, and how individuals bring meaning to ancient words.
Students strengthen Hebrew fluency, explore prayer structure, and practice leading parts of services in preparation for B’nai Mitzvah. Prayer is experienced through music, discussion, reflection, and leadership.
Prayers explored include:
Torah-Exodus: Freedom, Leadership, and Responsibility
Text: Jewish Values in Exodus
Students explore the Book of Exodus (Shemot) as a foundational Jewish story of liberation, covenant, and community. Through Reconstructionist interpretation, students examine how these ancient narratives continue to guide Jewish values and ethical choices today.
Stories include the courageous midwives, Moses and the Burning Bush, the Exodus from Egypt, the crossing of the Sea, manna in the desert, Sinai and the giving of Torah, the Golden Calf, and building the Mishkan. Students explore themes of freedom (cherut), justice (tzedek), leadership, faith and doubt, sacred space, and community (kehillah).
Learning includes text study, creative expression, ethical reflection, helping students see Torah as a living source of meaning.
Ethics, Mitzvot and Jewish Identity
Text: Living Jewish Values
Living Jewish values in the real world.
Students explore mitzvot as pathways for living Jewish values rather than rules alone. Using texts, discussion, and real-life scenarios, students engage with values such as respect (kavod), kindness (chesed), justice (tzedakah), caring for the body and the earth, truth (emet), hospitality, responsibility (achrayut), and tikkun olam (repairing the world).
In partnership with the congregation’s Social Action Committee, students put values into action through age-appropriate service and reflection, discovering Jewish identity as both inherited and chosen.
Holocaust Education – Memory, Resilience, and Responsibility
Students are introduced to Holocaust history and memory in a thoughtful, age-appropriate way. The focus is on honoring Jewish life before the war, learning stories of courage and resilience, and understanding the responsibility to remember and stand against hatred and injustice today.
Through stories, literature, reflection, and discussion, students explore themes of human dignity (kavod habriyot), memory (zachor), responsibility, and hope (tikvah). Holocaust remembrance is framed as part of the ongoing Jewish story of resilience and renewal. A trip to the Holocaust memorial in Boston is planned for the last session in May.
This unit includes 3-4 learning sessions led by Rav Sara.
B’nai Mitzvah Journey
Becoming responsible Jewish adults.
The B’nai Mitzvah journey is approached as a meaningful process of growth, learning, and connection. Students and parents explore together what becoming B’nai Mitzvah means in Reconstructionist Judaism.
4 workshop sessions guided by Rav Sara.
Israel – Our Living Connection
Students explore Israel as a real and vibrant place, ancient and modern, complex and diverse. Through stories, music, art, food, and discussion, students learn about Israel’s land, history, people, culture, and challenges.
Topics include Israel’s geography and symbols, modern Israeli life, diverse voices and communities, innovation, and hopes for peace and justice. Students are encouraged to ask thoughtful questions and reflect on how Israel connects to Jewish identity and global Jewish peoplehood. 3-4 meetings led by Hagit.
