The Hebrew School Committee, along with Education Director, Dov Goldberg, sets policies, reviews curriculum, and hires appropriate personnel to ensure the effective operation of the Temple Beth El Hebrew School.  It formulates an annual budget, subject to the approval of the Board of Directors, undertakes appropriate fund raising activities, and provides guidance and support for the Education Director regarding Hebrew School administration.

During the 2008-2009 school year, the Hebrew School Committee discussed two primary issues: how to create a greater sense of community and how to increase educational focus on the needs of students as individuals. Several initiatives grew out of that endeavor and were implemented during the 2009-2010. They included the following:

• Four Shabbat Experience programs in which students (and parents) met on Saturday instead of Sunday morning.

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               1. Parallel learning sessions on a holiday theme were held for parents and for students. Parent sessions were led by Dov Goldberg, Rabbi Braun, or TBE Resident Scholar Rabbi David Freidenreich.
               2. Students and parents gathered with those attending regular Shabbat morning services for a communal Bagel Brunch between Shacharit and the Torah Service.
               3. Parents joined students in their classrooms for a session on the morning’s holiday theme.
               4. Parents joined students for separate age-appropriate Kids Kehillah services.

• Multi-age classrooms (K-1, 2-3, 4-5 & 6-7) were created to enhance community and provide more opportunity for individualizing instruction to meet the needs of each student.
• Individual Shabbat dinners were held for families in each of the classes. Dov Goldberg “home-cooked” these chicken dinners as a way of sharing a personal gift with the families.
• The position of Tefillah Specialist was established to teach prayers in a way that created more continuity and standardization across classes.
• Greater emphasis in the curriculum was placed on the meaning of prayer and on Jewish Lifecycle rituals.
• More emphasis in Grade 7 was placed on Bar/Bat Mitzvah preparation.
• Special mini-courses on Anti-semitism and the Holocaust were created for Grades 6 and 7 respectively.
• Students in Grade 7 led a powerful and moving Hebrew School Yom Hashoah commemoration.
• More textbooks were used as non-consumables so they could be reused in subsequent years, being more sensitive to the environment and lowering future textbook expenditures.

Other highlights of the year included:

• We welcomed Anat Levey as a new Kitah Dalet-Hei (Grade 4-5) teacher.
• Judi Slotsky moved into the newly created position of Specialist in Holocaust Related and Contemporary Studies.
• Dov Goldberg moved from an interim position to Director of Congregational Learning.
• We received a grant from the Legacy Heritage Foundation for a SMARTBoard which was placed in Classroom1A. The grant also covered two mornings of training on the use of the SMARTBoard. The SMARTBoard has been used by the Hebrew School, Levey Day School, And Adult Jewish Learning classes and events.
• A new course was introduced for Hebrew High students in Grades 8-10 called “The Jewish Len: Exploring Values and Community Through Photography”. This course and training on implementing it was made possible by the Edward Weisberg Fund.
• A new offering for Hebrew High students in Grades 11-12 called “Jewish U: Dinner Club & Chat” was also introduced. Meeting over pizza in various homes students explored making their own Jewish choices in college and beyond.
• We had eleven very talented madrichim (teaching assistants) in the classrooms, four of whom were new: Max Aronson, Jesse Barkin, Eliana Finberg, Gabi Garson, Zach Hindall, Alyssa Ladd, Marlena Lantos, Andrea Levinsky, Claire Muscat, Emily Muscat, and Ariana Solodar-Wincele.
• Third graders received their Siddurim during services on October 4, 2009. In a change Second Graders, having just completed learning to read Hebrew received their Siddurim during services on April 9, 2010.   Many thanks to TBE Sisterhood for donating the Siddurim.
• In order to emphasize the original meaning of Chanukah students engaged in Chanukah Rededication projects around TBE cleaning and organizing various parts of the building.
• Students participated in a Lag B’Omer Maccabia (Field Day) which combined friendly competitive activities with review of material learned over the course of the Hebrew School year.
• Dov Goldberg attended the Mid-Atlantic New Alternatives in Jewish Education (MANAJE) conference in August in Baltimore, MD.
• The Hebrew School partnered with the Ritual Committee in creating multiple age-appropriate High Holiday Youth Services as well as a teen discussion of the rabbi’s sermon.
• Hebrew High students in the Jewish Lens class attended the community Yom Hashoah commemoration and film “Inside Hana’s Suitcase.”
• We had a wonderful Hebrew School Shabbat Dinner on November 13.
• We had a very special program this past Shabbat.       During services students in our B’nai Mitzvah Family Class delivered a joint-D’var Torah which they wrote. Following services was a Shabbat dinner during which we honored our teachers, specialists and madrichim. The evening culminated with “This I Believe: A Confirmation of Jewish Teen Commitment”. Our Tenth Grade Confirmation students, Arielle Harding and Ariana Solodar-Wincele shared their thoughts and posed central questions concerning what it means for them to be Jewish. A special thanks to Karen Hindall for her help with the dinner.
• Thank you to Amy Brier for once again chairing the Rock-a-thon Fundraiser.
• Thank you to Nancy Levinsky for organizing the annual Book Fair which she developed and continues to organize and run
• Thanks to Olivia Solodar and Daniela Skalina for co-chairing the 8^th annual Shalach Manot Project.

 We give our sincere thanks to our hard working school committee, our teachers and madrichim, our parent volunteers and the many organizers, donors and sponsors of our fundraising efforts.

 Temple Beth El Hebrew School gratefully acknowledges the generous funding it receives from the Jewish Community Alliance of Southern Maine.

Hebrew School Committee members include: Olivia Solodar (chair), Joan Levy, Ann Fleischer, Karen Hindall, Janine Smestad, and Sharon Craig.  If you would like to join this hardworking committee, please contact Olivia.