The Netivot Curriculum

Beginning in 2016, we renamed our Congregation B’nai B’rith Religious School Netivot, meaning “Pathways.” As our name suggests, our learning program makes no effort to “cover” the entire vast territory of Jewish tradition, but rather offers our young people a variety of rich, meaningful, and enjoyable Jewish explorations to set them up for a life of Jewish learning. The Netivot curriculum emphasizes depth rather than breadth, experiential learning and lifelong relationships.

1.    Depth

One deep encounter with Jewish wisdom and tradition leaves a more lasting impression than a series of superficial encounters.  Learning one single story well, with time to explore and discover the hidden depths of the story and the characters, will bring students into an intimate relationship with that story and those characters.  Similarly with a single mitzvah, or a single Jewish tradition.  We want our students to take a few strong first steps, laying a foundation for an entire life of Jewish learning and living.

2.    Experiential Learning

A human being is an entire world, comprised of bones and muscle and blood, skin and eyes, nerves and brain, thoughts and feelings, memories, desires, fears and hopes. Effective education, we believe, engages the entire person: mind and heart and body.  Therefore in Netivot, students will be learning with their entire self: bodies moving, voices singing, hands working, noses smelling, minds thinking, hearts awakening to memory, to love, and to hope.

3. Lifelong Relationships

In meaningful Jewish education, we become connected to and committed to each other. Every classroom is a community, and a child who attends our learning programs will enter adulthood with dozens of lifelong relationships with classmates, teachers, clergy and family friends.