By Samara Katz, Binah B’emet Director and Director of Congregational Learning at Temple Emeth
As we approach the final months of this academic year, Temple Emeth is an anchor in a sea of unpredictable Jewish offerings in the Boston area. It seems that many are dismantling institutions, making new and tenuous partnerships, and searching for their way. Temple Emeth offers a stable and thoughtful approach to Jewish life, one that is consistent and continuous and open to change.
For the past three years, Ma’or has been a successful collaboration of three area Temples interested in cutting edge, enlightened Jewish education. Coming in Fall 2016, Binah B’emet, a new model of religious education for children, will be housed at Temple Emeth in Chestnut Hill. While the move will include several changes, the core values and innovative methodologies of Ma’or will remain intact. The same excellence in joyous, Jewish education will be continued in the new, updated Binah model.
Binah B’emet’s mission is to build a community of families who share the vision and want to explore the idea of community education and action – learning and doing the Jewish way. The philosophy of Binah B’emet is the formation of Jewish identity through the establishment of a community built on Jewish values with a global outlook. The name, Binah B’emet, can be translated as Knowledge/Understanding and Truth, or Knowledge at (Temple) Emeth.
Among some of the new innovations in the program are Limmud Leculam – “learning for all,” an approach to multi-generational value-based study on Sunday mornings. Under my direction, and with the help of Emeth’s clergy and team of teachers, Binah B’emet will focus on community education around specific themes. With all ages learning simultaneously, infinite possibilities for Tikkun Olam and community engagement will emerge organically, and will become a springboard for the projects undertaken as a community. Binah B’emet is about creating connections between people, between people and the environment, and between Jewish values and the contemporary world.
Binah B’emet is open to students in grades pre-K through 7, regardless of synagogue affiliation.
By bringing elementary education back to Temple Emeth, and combining it with adult education and multi-generational participation, Temple Emeth is able to offer a revitalized approach to education within a stable framework. We look forward to exciting and enlightening times ahead.
For more information, please contact me at binahbemet@gmail.com or at Temple Emeth at 617.469.9400
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