LOMDIM 365

At the Centre for Jewish Living and Learning, we believe that… LOMDIM

Jewish learning energizes Jewish living.
Jewish learning happens best in the context of community.
Jewish learning should support and challenge learners to become accomplished progressive Jews.

An accomplished progressive Jew should feel competent and comfortable in a variety of Jewish settings and able to articulate their Jewish decisions positively and knowledgeably.

We seek to maximize opportunities for learners to strengthen their Jewish identity and connection to the Temple Emanu-El community and the Jewish community at large.

Thus, we developed LOMDIM 365 - a bold new educational initiative that presents learners with 5 points of entry into a culture of lifelong Jewish learning:

1. Choice
We respect the educational choices of learners. Through exercising choice, learners not only become agents in their own learning but also become active partners in a culture of learning. Our aim is to provide learners with as many points for engagement with their Jewish tradition through diversity in content (see #2) and schedule (see #5).

2. Unconventional Topics
We realize that the traditional supplementary program model is not meeting the needs of learners as effectively as it could. By presenting traditional curricular emphases (e.g., the holiday cycle, Jewish history) in an untraditional package or manner (e.g., learning to prepare symbolic holiday foods, using improv-theatre to explore historic dilemmas), learners are engaged, stimulated, and still acquire the knowledge, context and skills necessary to be an accomplished progressive Jew.

3. Courses
We appreciate that learners enjoy and thrive on variety. By structuring curriculum in discrete courses (as opposed to units spanning the ebb and flow of a September-to-May yearly calendar), the Centre is able to provide learners with an opportunity to differentiate their learning based on interest in subject matter. In addition, learners strengthen their connections with a broader range of learners as well as instructors from within their community and without.

4. Communities and Multi-Generational Learning
We are committed to the idea that Jewish learning, like Jewish living, is done best in the context of community. Traditional supplementary schools, however, construct “community” in a very limited fashion. Borrowing the grade level structure from the public school system, traditional programs consider learning as something generally done with individuals who were born in the same calendar year. (And like “school”, learning is something one does while at school, then “graduated from” into “real life”.) By constructing “learning communities” of diversely-aged children (i.e., “Ktanim” [grades 3-6], and “BMG” or B’nei Mitzvah Group [grades 7-9]) or different generational cohorts combining young adults with adults of all ages (i.e, “Mevugarim”) or broadly-constituted, multi-generational “families”, the Centre seeks to model and reinforce the value of learning as a lifetime project.

5. Flexible Scheduling
We understand that learners lead busy, programmed lives. By offering courses on Sunday and Shabbat mornings as well as Tuesday evenings, we structure abundant opportunities for learners to realize their learning goals and learn together as they strengthen their ties to the Emanu-El community.

For more information
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or call the Centre at 416-449-3872.