Thanks for another fantastic year!
Class Schedule:
Sundays
9 am -12 pm
grades K-12
Wednesdays
4:15 pm-6:15 pm
grades 2-7
School Directory 2017-18
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Youth Groups
What's New in Religious School This Year? Learn How to Animate Torah!
Welcome to Beth-El Religious School.
Nesiyah, our vibrant educational program means journey. What does it mean to take a journey? Several definitions include the words trip, passage, voyage, wandering, and the act of traveling from one place to another. This is an apt description of what it means to delve into a Jewish education. At Beth-El Religious School we wish to give your child a meaningful experience which will prepare and inspire Jewish living. Just as single cotton strands are woven together to become a beautiful and strong tallit, we will weave together the strands of Jewish life: prayer, Mitzvot, Hebrew, Peoplehood, Jewish ritual, and sacred Jewish text study, to become a strong and nurturing guide for a lifetime.
Here at Beth-El we welcome you and your child to take an amazing Jewish Journey and discover learning that begins in this building but will expand outward into your homes, our community and the world beyond. We will also journey within ourselves as we delve into the heart of what it means to center our lives around strong Jewish values.
Our Nesiyah program consists of several components.
- Religious School based education is the mainstay of the program featuring a new skill level Hebrew classes that can hone learning to individual student need. We are redesigning our Chugim program to integrate organically with our Judaics program. Center-based classrooms emphasize teachers as facilitators and ask students to take an active role in their educational exploration. Our high teacher-student ratio allows for in-depth learning and personalization. We will use music, art, Teva (nature) , cooking and sports to excite learning and provide hands-on exploration. Field trips will take our students and parents out of the building and provide opportunities for them to encounter Judaism in action in the world around us.
- The Nesiyah Family Learning Program will bring families to the Synagogue to experience and celebrate Jewish ritual together. Consecration, Confirmation, Shabbat, Purim and a Scholar in Residence program are all part of this year’s Nesiyah programming.
- Community is an important component of Jewish education. Collecting Tzedkah, performing Mitzvot and Tikkun Olam prepare our students to be good citizens of our world. Celebrating holidays and life cycle events together with our school, Beth-El and Richmond families brings us together in joy and sacred sharing.
This year, the school was awarded a second year grant to continue to build our Nature Center and to provide students with interdisciplinary that integrates our green spaces with the understanding of Jewish text and teachings. Additionally, our teen program continues to build in scope and strength! This year we will be collaborating with Congregation Or Atid in the creation of RVA Koach. Koach, meaning strength, will help to strengthen the bonds of Conservative Jewish youth to their local Jewish community.
I warmly welcome you to our 2018-2019 academic school year. One of our sages once said that "education without vision is like a present without a future". Our children are our future and it is our goal to guide them with vision as they learn and grow.
Ramona L. Brand, Director of Youth Learning
Email the Director at r.brand@bethelrichmond.org
601 N. Parham Road, Richmond, VA 23229
804-740-0820
2018-19 Tuition:
Pre-K (meets 2 Sundays per month 9 am - Noon)
$250 Members, $275 Non-Members
K- 2nd grade (meets every Sunday 9am - Noon)
$495 Members, $550 Non-Members
2nd Grade (meets every Wednesday 4:15 - 6:15pm & every Sunday 9am - noon)
$737 (members only)
Grades 3 - 7 (meets every Wednesday 4:15 - 6:15pm & every Sunday 9am - noon)
$737 (members only)
Beth-El Teens: Grades 8-10 (meets 2 Sundays per month)
$250 Members, $275 Non-members
We asked our students important questions about Judaism. This is what they said.