Lifelong Learning provides our members with a broad range of opportunities designed to bring Jews and Judaism closer together. We learn with our hands, our hearts and our minds and engage together as a community. Everyone who attends our synagogue's learning programs participates as both a learner and a leader. We foster leadership through Jewish values and Jewish living as a way to repair the world through Tikkun Olam. Our programs are always evolving to meet the needs of a changing community in northwestern Connecticut and the Jewish world at large. The goal of Lifelong Learning at Temple Sholom is the acquisition and transmission of positive Jewish identity from generation to generation, L'dor Vador.

 

Kehillah (Jewish community) covers everything from Jewish Holiday celebrations to community building festivities. As a community, we observe Sukkot, Simchat Torah, Hanukkah, Tu B'Shevat, Purim and Yom Hashoah. Families participate in Shabbat morning services when students become B'nai Mitzvah.

 

Jewish Journeys... is an inclusive community education program that engages members in interactive, multi-sensory, experiential learning. Through family participation is at the core of the program, participants range from preschoolers to empty nesters and beyond. It's not just for children anymore! On Sundays, we all learn together in a one-room schoolhouse-type model. The two-hour morning session is a combination of readings, text study, arts and crafts, games, activities and discussion. The Cantor plays an active role in engaging our members with our Jewish learning. For our children, adult participation models commitment to Judaism. Everyone, particularly adults, receives an entree into Judaism at their own level of experience and understanding. Our philosophy is simple: information is a tool, not a goal. Now rapidly approaching its third decade, our style of learning and teaching together has become community culture.

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SHAGGY, our Youth Group. Our young adults staff our Tuesday Hebrew program and plan their own social activities, often reaching out to seventh and eighth graders. Through NFTY-NE (North American Federation of Temple Youth) and RAC (Religious Action Center), we travel beyond our community to live Jewish values, learn leadership and meet Jewish youth from other communities.

 

Tuesday Hebrew is not only an integral part of B'nai Mitzvah preparation but also serves to prepare our young people for Jewish communal life. Students usually enter the program in second grade. The afternoon includes Snack Time, an educational session with the Cantor and small groups sessions that use a variety of materials and teaching techniques to create positive learning experiences for all types of learners. Students develop the skills to read Hebrew in the Siddur and the Torah.

 

Jewish Journeys...Klal Yisrael connects Temple Sholom with like-minded congregations and communities that share our goals and values for broader engagement in the Jewish world. We share in the development of collaborative events and attend off campus day outings and weekend retreats where we meet members of local organizations and become a part of a larger Jewish community.

Limud creates opportunities for adults to learn with the Cantor and other scholars on subjects ranging from the traditional to the contemporary. Torah Study is a lively discussion of the parashah of the week based on scholarly and contemporary interpretations of the text. Evening and afternoon classes are designed to show the relevance of our traditions in this day and age.

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