North Country Reform Temple ~ Ner Tamid

During college, our family educator, Rachel Grossman found a new, interesting world that peaked her interest -- Jewish education. Nearly 10 years later, she has shown tremendous dedication and passion for this topic and always finds a way to incorporate her love for arts and crafts. While earning her bachelor's degree at Hofstra University, Rachel, a Boston native, taught Hebrew school at Temple Judea of Massapequa and served as a youth director and camp counselor at several Jewish establishments. After college, she continued to teach Hebrew school, while working full-time for the Coalition for the Advancement of Jewish Education. In addition, Rachel expanded her knowledge of Judaism by participating in courses at the Jewish Theological Seminary. Rachel now works during the week as the Operations Manager at a midtown Manhattan recruiting firm.

The Religious School of North Country Reform Temple - Ner Tamid is a thirteen year program that begins with Kindergarten and continues through Twelfth Grade. This school offers a unique course of study designed to engage the students in new and interesting ways with each successive year. The integration of Jewish music, art, film, and food into the curriculum ensures that the students experience and learn through all of their senses. Family education and grade-based special programming offer exciting ways to bring their religious school learning into the greater synagogue community and even into the home.

The enduring vision for the Religious School of North Country Reform Temple includes the following:

* To nurture and develop a positive Jewish identity.
* To create a challenging, varied, and stimulating educational environment.
* To ensure that all students are able to participate comfortably and meaningfully in prayer.
* To learn to identify with Jews throughout the world.
* To be aware of and understand the importance of performing mitzvot.
* To provide students with basic Jewish literacy in Bible, history, Reform Jewish rituals, values, holidays, Hebrew, and prayer.
* To provide students with happy, interesting, and inspiring experiences in the practice of Judaism at home, at school, in the Synagogue, and in the community.
* To motivate students to make a commitment to a lifelong pursuit of Jewish learning.

Welcome to the 2007-2008 school year!

This promises to be an exceptional year in many ways. I have been working hard over the summer to develop new ideas and exciting programming! I hope that together, as a community, we will create special experiences for both our children and their families.

Last year I introduced an educational theme to link together all of the grades of NCRT's Religious School, focusing on the biblical command, "Love your neighbor as yourself (Leviticus 19:18)."

This religious call for social action served as a unifying educational force in the NCRT Religious School.
This year, we turn our attention within the Jewish community, embracing the theme L'dor Vador-From generation to generation. In 2007-2008 we will focus on Jewish integration; those ties that connect Jews across time and space. As every generation has helped renew and reimagine their Jewish identity and heritage, this theme reminds us of the central threads that have always linked one generation to the next. Together we will use this theme to help our children learn about their families' traditions and histories, and in turn, help bring new connections back into their own homes.
We hope that you will all be inspired by the Religious School theme for the year: לדור ודור-From generation to generation. You as parents will inspire your children to discover and explore their Judaism and make it their own. In turn, the children will inspire their families to reconnect with their own sense of heritage and religious identity, so that truly, in every generation, we each become both teachers and students.
Learning can inspire action. With this goal in mind, we must empower our children to discover their own Judaism, and learn how their own threads weave into the greater tapestry of Judaism. Parents, families, and the NCRT community will help connect learning in the Religious School to the home and broader community.

B'Shalom,

Cantor Micah Morgovsky
Director of Religious Education