The Hebrew language has a beautiful way of saying “school”: Beit Sefer, which literally translates to House of Books. CBJ’s Beit Sefer offers a balance of Hebrew and Jewish learning, with immersive cultural activities and events that engage children of all ages and broaden their understanding of Jewish tradition and heritage.
We offer weekly Hebrew classes currently taught via Zoom, with 6th and 7th graders preparing for their Bar or Bat Mitzvot with Rabbi Mills. Sunday cultural enrichment classes will be held at CBJ and sometimes off site, led by Rabbi Mills. Activities will include community volunteering, as well as artistic, culinary, and musical components that promote learning and understanding of holiday observances as well as both modern and traditional Jewish customs.
For more information contact Devon Fernald at beitsefer@cbjplymouth.org.
We are gearing up for a great 2023-2024 year at Beit Sefer. Here is the updated school calendar.
Here’s a recap of our Sunday school lessons on Jewish Values, which was our curriculum focus for this past year.
Below is a recap of some of our classes:
Sukkot at Back Acre Farms
Who says you have to learn in the classroom? Yesterday, our Beit Sefer students had their first class outside at Back Acre Farms in Middleboro. Rabbi Mills took the kids on a hayride to explain the holiday of Sukkot. She talked about the symbolism of the Luluv and Etrog, the kids ran through the corn maze looking at the crops, participated in several Sukkot games, followed by a fun scavenger hunt. Thank you to everyone that attended yesterday. A big shout out to Back Acre Farms for having us.
Tzedakah
Learning Tzedakah at an early age is so important. Here’s a photo from our kids Yom Kippur service learning about giving and creating a box for us to donate money to a worthy cause at the end our school year.
Tzedakah and Gimilut Hasadim
This week we started to learn Jewish Values, our curriculum focus for the year. This past Sunday the kids learned about two important values of Judaism: giving to charity and volunteering your time – or tzedakah and gimilut hasadim. They learned different ways of giving and joining together to support causes in the community.
G-d
This week in Beit Sefer we tackled a tough subject: G-d. What does G-d mean to us, what do we think G-d’s connections are to the world around us, and how do we relate to G-d? To better understand concepts like faith and spiritual guidance, Rabbi Mills had the kids pair up for trust exercises, by walking the path along Plymouth Town Brook with one partner blindfolded. Then we engaged the kids in activities that show us how we might understand G-d a little better. No question was off limits – we even stumped Siri – and Rabbi Mills made sure the students knew that every opinion was valid. And then we had some hot chocolate because hot chocolate is delicious.
Shem Tov, or a Good Name
This week we took the opportunity to embrace the spookiness of Halloween and held class at the CBJ Cemetery. We learned about Shem Tov, or a Good Name. We don’t know whether there’s a heaven (or hell), so all we can do is be a good person on this earth while we’re here, and leave a good name behind. The kids shared who they are named after, and some special qualities about that person, or a person close to them. With a great visit from Rabbi Silverman, who gave the kids a quick history lesson about the cemetery, we explored the area and found some of our own Hebrew names on the name plaques, identified members of our congregation who were veterans, and found grandparents and relatives from some of our member families. We learned about some wonderful legacies, true examples of Shem Tov. To end class and keep the theme of the day, Rabbi Mills taught the kids about good and evil spirits in Judaism – like the gollum and the dybbuk – and we acted them out for each other. A fun day with lots of learning!
