Note: Kahal-Braira is currently studying and revising its curriculum. This document represents a summary of our revised curriculum for grades K — 5. Additional material will be added as it is completed.
The education of children at Kahal B’raira emphasizes four aspects of Humanistic Judaism:

• IDENTITY: Children learn about their Jewish background through a range of classroom experiences, so they can create for themselves an identity as humanistic Jews.

COMMUNITY: Through integrated experiences in Sunday School and the larger KB community, the children develop a sense of community and shared goals, helping each other work together to strengthen their classroom and the KB community.
• CARING: Children learn about and act upon the Jewish tradition of caring and concern for others through cooperation, respect for others, and active social service. 
• ACCEPTANCE OF DIVERSITY: Children learn to create a positive Jewish identity in a multi-cultural world, an identity that respects the diversity within the Jewish tradition and those of other cultures; this prepares them to cooperate and resolve conflicts with others in a world where we all accept each other. 

The goal of a humanistic Jewish education is to strengthen individual judgment by enhancing self-respect and by making decisions responsible to personal observation. Authoritarian attitudes to truth and value are inconsistent with the reality of the autonomous personality. Each person must view himself/herself as an integral whole, conscious of his/her unique identity and capable of independent judgments.

It is the purpose of the KB Sunday School to use whatever is meaningful in Jewish literature and historical memory to promote the self-esteem and rational competence of each of our students. Out of this encounter, our children may begin to develop a philosophy of life that will harmonize their need for personal autonomy, their moral obligation to the welfare of others, and the reality of their Jewish identity.

The colorful expression of the Jewish holidays enable our children to experience their identity in a positive way. Both seasonal changes and historical memory combine to provide the aesthetics of the annual calendar. Poetry, music and legend are the artistic vehicles for associating the regular changes of nature with events in the Jewish past. The repeated cycle of the seasons also highlights the religious experience of those aspects of life that never seem to alter. Emphasis is on Jewish symbols which provide concrete visual expression and are intended to enable the children to feel a sense of group identity. A beginning vocabulary of Hebrew and Yiddish words are introduced.

ALEPH: GRADE ONE

JEWISH LEADERS IN EARLY BIBLICAL TIMES

The ethical example of famous Jewish teachers and leaders in ancient times helps our children find worthy heroes with whom they can identify. Personalities like Abraham, Moses, Jacob and Joseph present through their biographies, the moral virtues of courage, loyalty and honesty. The events of their lives and the lives of many other Biblical figures enables our children to identify Jewish achievement with humanistic values.

In addition to the study of early biblical heroes, the children continue their study of the holidays, and begin to explore ethical behavior and feelings. Hebrew is introduced with an emphasis on sight recognition of key Hebrew words, and Yiddish vocabulary is also provided. 

The power, strength and self-confidence of such dramatic figures as David, Solomon, Ruth and Elijah make them effective heroes. More exciting than their predecessors, Jewish leaders of the later Biblical period afford the opportunity to study many Jewish personalities. The individual heroes who evidence a humanistic tendency are chosen for study. If they sought to solve their problems through reliance on human effort and reason, they are morally interesting.

Holiday study continues, with the children developing a fuller holiday vocabulary. Hebrew and Yiddish vocabulary is further developed.

GIMEL: GRADE THREE

THE EARLY RABBIS AND THEIR TEACHINGS

As the students study the early rabbis and their teachings, they will also learn about the history of the Jewish people during the period in which the rabbis lived. They will begin to understand the relationship between the events that were currently happening, and the words that the rabbis were proclaiming. The children will study about Hillel and Shammai, Yochanan Ben Zakkai, Akiba, and Judah Hanasi.

Holiday study continues as does the development of a Hebrew and Yiddish vocabulary and sight recognition of key Hebrew words.

The first Jews landed in America in 1654 and some of the most famous Jews of the past three centuries have been American. Outstanding personalities like Judah Touro, Emma Lazarus, Louis Brandeis, Felix Frankfurter and J. Robert Oppenheimer provide exciting stories of human concern and courageous idealism. Students in the fourth grade explore the lives of these great people and the lives of others like them.

Holiday study continues, with emphasis moving from the retelling of the holiday stories to the values and meaning that the holiday offers. Further study continues with the development of the students’ Hebrew vocabulary and sight recognition of key Hebrew and Yiddish words.

HEY: GRADE FIVE

THE ROOTS OF MODERN JEWISH LIFE

The Jewish people is an international people which survives amid a wide range of cultures, states, and nationalities. To give the students a perspective on the vast and complex group of which s/he belongs, the children will explore three major areas: Yiddish Culture, The Enlightenment, and Zionism.

• Yiddish Culture includes the language and crafts of the people as well as their philosophy of life. From the Baal Shem Tov and the Vilna Gaon, students will move toward the political figures of Simon Dubnbow, Ludwig Zamenof, Leon Trotsky and the choices the Jews in Eastern Europe were forced to make.

• Our study of the Enlightenment emphasizes the personalities of that time: Moses Mendelssohn, Abraham Geiger, Heinrich Heine, Sigmund Freud, Eric Fromm, Albert Einstein, Hannah Senesch.

• Study of Zionism includes the Aliyah Movement, The Balfour Declaration, The White Paper, The Haganah and the personalities involved as well as a simulation of Kibbutz life.