Gesher is the name of our 6th & 7th grade educational program at Temple Chayai Shalom.

Gesher is the Hebrew word for “Bridge.”  We chose this word as a name for our middle school program since we have designed this program to serve as a bridge from childhood into the teen years— the topics are carefully selected to prepare students for becoming Jewish young adults.

At Gesher, we continue to provide students with creative and meaningful experiences as they also develop leadership skills, liturgical mastery and awareness of our communal responsibility at TCS and beyond.

Grade 6 – My Personal Jewishness

Wednesdays 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm and some weekends

Our 6th graders study Shabbat morning prayers during the Hebrew portion of the class. The focus is on accurate decoding and reading skills, as well as the meaning and context of each prayer.

Students learn the following prayers:

In the Judaic’s portion of the class, 6^th graders learn to:

• Navigate the Chumash (the book form of Torah, sometimes called the 5 Books of Moses) and understand the difference between Torah and TaNa”Ch (i.e. Bible, which includes not only the Torah, but also N’vi-im – prophets and K’tuvim – writings).
• Jewish values such as gratitude, bravery, kindness, responsibility and more.
• Explore Jewish spirituality through personal prayer, mindfulness and discovering personal Jewish identity.
• Traditions: Jewish holidays and Shabbat are explored in depth and experienced with the SULAM community during monthly whole school gatherings.

Grade 7 – Becoming a Jewish Adult

Wednesdays 5:30 pm – 7:30 pm

Students in 7^th grade focus on two main areas of study: Jewish Life Cycle and Mitzvot.
Students explore what it means to be Jewish through examining the various rites of passage in the Jewish life cycle. In addition, through the B’nai TELEM curriculum, a variety of social justice issues and how Jewish values address these important topics are studied.
Throughout the year, students participate in field trips and welcome visitors who share wisdom relating to the topics studied.
Life cycle and social action topics explored and the corresponding activity/trip include:

  Additional topics of study include Jewish holidays and Jewish values.

Note: Hebrew and prayer are learned individually by each students with his/her B’nai mitzvah tutor in their one-on-one meetings and not in class.