Education
      Adult
      Youth
         Mission Statement
         Philosophy
         Hebrew Program
         Bar/Bat Mitzvah Program
         Sunday Youth Group

      Youth:

Sunday School

Areas of Focus: Ethic: The State of Israel Holidays: Shabbat, Purim, Yom Hazikaron, Yom Haastmaut (Israel Independence Day) Jewish Heroes: Esther; Mordechai; Vashti; Theodore Hertzl, Yitzchak Rabin, Golda Meir, and Shulamit Aloni Project: Building a Jewish State; The Purim Carnival Jewish Literature: The Israeli Declaration of Independence,

Songs from The Jewish State:
Jerusalem, The People of Israel, Israel’s Cities and Topography, & Peace in the Land of Israel

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                                      Preschool  |  Kindergarten  |  Grade One  |  Grade Two  |  Grade Three  |  Grade Four  |  Grade Five  |  Grade Six  |  Grade Seven

Our Mission Statement

“On three things the world stands   –   On wisdom, on service, and on kindness”    - Simon the Righteous

We teach and learn in a school where dignity guides our Judaism and our humanity. Our goal is for each child to emerge from our school with a great capacity for kindness, a strong love and understanding of Judaism, and a deep connection with humankind.

Our School's Philosophy

Our new curriculum draws upon the world of humanistic psychology, the work of Virginia Satir, and the belief that children thrive in an atmosphere of experiential learning, kindness, and community. You will see that each grade has a major theme and several focus areas. The child is always at the center of the learning experience, and therefore at the center of his or her wheel of life.

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Our School's Philosophy

Our new curriculum draws upon the world of humanistic psychology, the work of Virginia Satir, and the belief that children thrive in an atmosphere of experiential learning, kindness, and community. You will see that each grade has a major theme and several focus areas. The child is always at the center of the learning experience, and therefore at the center of his or her wheel of life. Each grade explores a major ethic, two major holidays, a yearlong project, bible stories or other Jewish literature, and several Jewish heroic figures. Throughout the year children will study Jewish life cycle events. They will come to understand their historical roots, rituals, music, and celebrations. These focus areas will work to deepen and enliven the learning experience. The child will be encouraged to ask questions like: “Who am I? What do I believe? How can I live a life of courage and dignity? How can I be loving and kind? What are my dreams and goals? Who is my family? Who are the Jewish people? How can the celebration of Judaism enrich my life and help me be the kind of person I want to be?”

At the core of our curriculum is the hope that children will ultimately choose to live a life of mitzvahs or good deeds. We hope that our school and Temple help create children who are responsible for their world and choose a path of love and kindness. We hope that they will identify and appreciate the unique contribution they can make to their families, friends, the Jewish people, and the world. We want each of them to choose to be a mensch, the Yiddish word for a decent and good human being.

We believe that children are valuable, resourceful and creative beings. Learning is hands-on, dynamic and play-based. While all the children celebrate and study all the major Jewish holidays, each grade will become “experts” in two Jewish holidays and lead the school in decoration, celebration, and explanation. You will also notice that the Bible and Jewish literature appear each year in order to continue to encourage Jewish literacy. Heroes are introduced in conjunction with the grade’s major theme so that by the time the children are ready to choose a mitzvah hero, they have in-depth knowledge about more than twenty Jewish figures.

Grades five and six bring a more intensive historical component to Jewish learning and intensify Hebrew language study. Seventh graders participate in advanced Hebrew language study and learn about the Holocaust. Our youth group program begins in grade eight and continues through high school. These classes are opportunities for specialized learning, molded to fit the needs of individual students. Each grade builds upon the previous, creating a choir of harmonious voices of learning and literacy, as we sing out the Jewish past, present and future.

Major Jewish Values or Mitzvot: Bikkur Cholim (Visiting the Sick)
Kavod Em V’Av (Respect for Elders)
Gmilut Chasidim (Acts of Lovingkindness)
Tsedaka (Charitable Giving)
Hachnasat Orechim (Hospitality)
Tikkun Olam (Healing the World)
Lechem L’Reyaveem (Feeding the Hungry)
Klal Yisrael (The Value of Community)
Baal Tashchit (The Mitzvah of Preserving Life)

Hebrew Program

Hebrew is a way to celebrate and affirm our Humanistic and Jewish identities. Children are exposed to modern Hebrew throughout their Sunday School experience. We teach words that are useful in understanding the Jewish holidays and life cycle events, and words that are useful in communicating today in Israel. Children learn to sing songs in Hebrew and read ancient and modern texts.

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Hebrew Program

Hebrew is a way to celebrate and affirm our Humanistic and Jewish identities. Children are exposed to modern Hebrew throughout their Sunday School experience. We teach words that are useful in understanding the Jewish holidays and life cycle events, and words that are useful in communicating today in Israel. Children learn to sing songs in Hebrew and read ancient and modern texts. They learn to read, write, and carry on basic conversations in Hebrew. Most importantly, we teach Hebrew to inspire children to appreciate what people can do when they are determined and work together. The Jewish people revived an entire language that is alive today.

Grade Five:
- Learn to Read and Write Hebrew Letters
- Basic Hebrew Vocabulary

Grade Six:
-Building Modern Hebrew Vocabulary
-Understanding Hebrew Songs

Grade Seven:
-Reading & Understanding Hebrew Poetry
-Hebrew in The Land of Israel

Bar & Bat Mitzvah Programs

For Humanistic Jews, becoming a Bar or Bat Mitzvah means that the child has begun a process of self-exploration and thoughtful participation in Jewish communal life. The Birmingham Temple Congregation involves and honors families from a variety of backgrounds and needs. Our Bar and Bat Mitzvahs are unique. They inspire children to become good people while embracing their roots and heritage.

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Bar & Bat Mitzvah Programs

For Humanistic Jews, becoming a Bar or Bat Mitzvah means that the child has begun a process of self-exploration and thoughtful participation in Jewish communal life. The Birmingham Temple Congregation involves and honors families from a variety of backgrounds and needs. Our Bar and Bat Mitzvahs are unique. They inspire children to become good people while embracing their roots and heritage. The purpose of the Mitzvah celebration, as well as all education for Humanistic Jews, is to educate rather then indoctrinate. We encourage the children attending our school to live lives of kindness, courage and dignity.

For Humanistic Jews, “mitzvah means not commandment” but rather “good deed." The humanistic B’nai Mitzvah encourages children to develop a sense of their own values, dreams and aspirations.

In a Humanistic Jewish community the child engages in a course of study with a mentor from the congregation. The student chooses a hero out of Jewish history that represents his or her values. The hero is a figure that inspires students to think about their lives and futures. Some examples of heroes that mitzvah students have chosen are: Albert Einstein, Sigmund Freud, Anne Frank, Simon Wisenthal, Beverly Sills, Ruth Bader-Ginsberg, and George Gershwin. The child researches this person’s life with the help of a mentor and creates a presentation that is delivered to the congregation on the day of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah. Our Humanistic congregation supports the child in this process and encourages self-esteem, personal responsibility and a sense of universal ethics.

Click here to view the Mitzvah Booklet

Sunday Youth Group

The Birmingham Temple Sunday Youth Group provides students with opportunities to attend national conclaves and participate in social action and community service.

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Our Mission Statement

“On three things the world stands   –    On wisdom, on service, and on kindness”
-Simon the Righteous

We teach and learn in a school where dignity guides our Judaism and our humanity. Our goal is for each child to emerge from our school with a great capacity for kindness, a strong love and understanding of Judaism, and a deep connection with humankind.