Religious School: Our first Beit Sefer Shabbat

Parents of Beth Ami have organized a new religious school, or Beit Sefer. The first Shabbat Beit Sefer session starts on October 15th at 10:30 in the multi-purpose room. David Joseph, a dynamic experienced teacher of Judaism will be facilitating this class geared for families with older children. Younger children are also invited for a separate special Shabbat experience geared for that age group. For more information on this new exciting young person’s program, call the office at 707-360-3000.

If you are interested in tutors, either in general or for child or adult Bar Mitzvah, please contact the Beth Ami office; we are proud of our recent Bnei Mitzvah who have been tutored by our members and have inspired the congregation.

Beit Sefer plans and goals

We are excited to rebuild our Beit Sefer and Jewish Education program for our community. Over the past few weeks, we have been meeting to identify our goals, and establish an outline of our curriculum, timeline and activities for the coming year.

Here are our most current ideas, with the hopes that you will want to participate.

Our goal is to create a program that becomes a welcoming, interactive community that will elevate our children’s Jewish learning and strengthen their Jewish identity.

Our Beit Sefer program will formally begin after the High Holidays.

What will Beit Sefer include?

Our goal for the program includes integrating Jewish learning with Tzedakah/Tikkun Olam and community family gatherings. A typical month would include a different activity each week:

* Bi-weekly Shabbat morning Bet Sefer group sessions from 10am-11:30am at Beth Ami
* A monthly Friday night family Shabbat dinner
* A family oriented Tzedakah project on a Sunday
There is an optional weekly Alef-Bet and prayer learning session in small groups.

*Beit Sefer Calendar of Preliminary Events*
* September 16th (Fri.) Shabbat dinner at CBA at 6:45pm
* October 15th (Sat.)– Beit Sefer begins at CBA, at 10:30am. Classes to be taught by David Joseph.
* October 23rd (Sun.) – Tikkun Olam kick off meeting (TBD)
* October 29th (Sat.) – Beit Sefer at CBA at 10:30am.
* A year calendar will be given out at the first Sefer session

*Information on the Alef-Bet and Prayer Learning option*
There is the possibility of an additional class that would be either in person or on-line and would focus on alef-bet and prayer learning during the week. If you are interested in participating in this option, please let us know what days work best for you, and if you prefer in-person or virtual.

We are all very excited to get started and hope to see you at Beth Ami.

B’shalom,

Barbara McGee, David Joseph, Jenny Beck and Rabbi Miller