Dear BPY Parents,
As I shared earlier in October, this year we launched a new tefillah curriculum program at Ben Porat Yosef with the following goals in mind:
1) For students to experience comfort and joy in prayer
2) For students to understand the structure and meaning of the tefillah
3) For students to experience tefillah as an emotional tool with which they can elevate their personal relationships with Hashem
I wanted to take this opportunity to update you on the program to date and share some of our plans for the rest of the year.
First, we are excited that on Friday, May 16 we are planning to take our students in grades 6-8 to a scenic location on the Palisades for a meaningful outdoor tefillah experience that will be followed by breakfast and a shiur. Parents are invited to come along too. Please email daniellet@benporatyosef.org for more information.
Since the first months of school we have continued to move forward with our curriculum development and implementation and are now in the middle of teaching Kriyat Shema. Students across all the elementary grades focus on the same part of tefillah each week which is taught by their classroom teachers according to grade level. Each curriculum topic includes at least one interactive classroom activity designed to help students connect with the meaning of the tefillah they are studying that week. For example, some teachers did a black light activity with students to help them internalize the meaning of "veha'er einenu" and explore the idea that we can't necessarily always see things for what they are right away. When we begin our studies of the Amidah, students will create personal "Amidah" booklets that will attach to their siddurim to help them focus on and explore the part or parts of the Amidah with which they most strongly identify.
We are also going to be incorporating five tefillah discussion questions into our weekly parsha sheets that go home with our students on Fridays. This will provide another opportunity for you to discuss tefillah with your at home during Shabbat.
In addition, we have hosted the following guest speakers:
- In January, Rabbi Shalom Hammer who serves as a rabbi in the IDF spoke to students in grades 2-8 about "Koach HaTefillah" and his experiences as a spiritual advisor for soldiers in the IDF.
- In February, Rabbi Elie Kaunfer of Mechon Hadar gave a shiur for our junior high students and staff that focused on deriving renewed personal meaning from tefillah by looking at the context of the original text in Tanach. His shiur focused on examples from the Amidah and involved extensive student participation and insight.
- In March, Rabbi Zev Reichman of East Hill Synagogue spoke to our junior high school students about the power of Tefillah Be'tzibbur.
The speakers were all deeply impressed with our student's knowledge, proficiency in Hebrew, and thoughtful questions. We plan to host two additional guest speakers before the end of the school year.
We are also completing filming for the BPY Tefillah video series which we will share with our families so that you, our parents, can become more familiar with tefillah in action at BPY.
I am grateful to Rav Pinchas Yarhi for leading the development and implementation of this program as well as to all of our Judaic Studies faculty for bringing it to life in their classrooms. It is my sincere hope that this program has already served to strengthen each one of our student's relationship with Hashem and that their growth in this area will continue for the rest of their lives.
Tizku L'Mitzvot,
Rav Tomer Ronen
Rosh HaYeshiva
No comments:
Post a Comment