The beautiful artwork displayed in our banner depicts a shtetl (village) scene, and was created by the late progressive labour artist Avrom Yanovsky for the Toronto Jewish Folk Choir's production of 'Oyfn Fidl' (On the Fiddle) in the early 1970's.

MWS CURRICULUM

Curriculum at a Glance

History –

Struggles for freedom, equality and civil rights are emphasized.

Literature –

Classical Hebrew and Yiddish writers are explored in English translations.

Secular Values –

Students examine Jewish ethics throughout history, and are encouraged to apply those principles to their own lives.

Creative Arts –

Specialty workshop leaders teach music, art and drama.

Field Trips –

Examples include trips to a Matza Factory, Kensington Market, the Jewish Book Fair and the Holocaust Education Centre

Experiential Learning –

Examples include Israel Experience Day, re-enacting a shtetl wedding and anti-racism workshops.

Holidays –

All major Jewish holidays, customs and traditions are celebrated.

 

Year 1 – Central Theme: MYSELF, MY FAMILY (WHO AM I?)

  • Overview of all Jewish holidays
  • Bible stories – Abraham, Sarah, Joseph
  • Jewish signs and symbols including: Mogen Dovid, mezzuze, yarmulke, khai, khanukiye, candlesticks
  • Life Cycle event – baby naming
  • Martin Luther King Day – anti-racist education
  • Secular Shabbes
  • Jews around the world

Year 2 – Central Theme: OUR STORIES

  • Review of all Jewish holidays with an emphasis on folk stories on holiday themes
  • Yiddish folk tales by Sholom Aleichem and others
  • Personal immigration stories – telling bee
  • Story of Adam and Eve and other creation myths
  • Different ways of being Jewish – Orthodox, Conservative, Reform, Reconstructionist, Secular, Ashkenazi, Sephardi
  • Shtetl life and a Shtetl wedding
  • Biblical biographies – Jacob, Miriam, Esau, Rachel
  • Modern Jewish Biographies – Jewish musicians, actors, rock stars

Year 3 – Central Theme: KINDNESS (GUT HARTZIKEYT/ GMILUT CHESED)

  • An ongoing account of acts of kindness performed by the students are recorded weekly
  • Brief overview of the holidays, comparison with other traditions at related times
  • Visit to other Jewish communities, etc.
  • Importance of friendship – story of David and Jonathan and Ruth and Naomi
  • Martin Luther King Day – anti-racist education
  • Life Cycle event – differences between the traditional and secular Bar/Bas Mitzvah
  • Jewish values – Maimonides Tzedakah ladder.
  • Other Jewish values to be looked at: repairing the world (tikkun olam), saving a life, peace in the home, love your neighbour, welcoming guests, visiting the sick, seeding peace, feeding the hungry, avoiding gossip
  • Righteous Among Nations – non-Jews who saved Jews during the Holocaust

Year 4 – Central Theme: WHAT ARE MY ROOTS?

  • Brief review of holidays
  • Central values of Secular, Humanist Jewishness (in comparison with traditional theistic Judaism)
  • Both Creation stories in Genesis – what they imply about the Bible and the role of women then, compared to the role of women now
  • A brief history of the Jews from the beginning to the end of Biblical times
  • Post Biblical history – Jews and Greeks, Jews and Romans, Maccabbean times, Golden Age in Spain, Enlightenment (haskalah)
  • Jewish Resistance in the Holocaust

Year 5 – Central Theme: WHERE ARE WE NOW?

  • Brief overview of holidays, asking more challenging questions about them
  • Who is a Jew? What makes us Jewish?
  • Establishment of the State of Israel including: a look at the Dreyfus case, Theodore Herzl, the Balfour Declaration, the UN vote, Kibbutz life, population of Israel, intake of refugees (Yemenites, Falashas, Russians), Israeli food
  • The story of the Labour Movement in North America, stressing Jewish participation
  • The Holocaust Experience

Year 6 – Central Theme: ARE WE THERE YET?

  • Help plan holiday celebrations with input about readings, rituals, etc.
  • Life cycle events – review of baby naming, Bar/Bat Mitzvah, in-depth look at the life cycle event of death from traditional and secular Jewish perspectives
  • Jewish literature – a look at some Jewish stories and poetry in translation
  • Significance of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising and personal Holocaust stories
  • Israeli/Palestinian situation – present all points of view, emphasizing the need to find a peaceful and just solution to enable all people to live together harmoniously

Year 7 – Central Theme: WHERE ARE WE GOING?

Overview of Jewish values, history, and the origins of Secular Humanistic Jewishness. Each student will pick a topic (related to being Jewish) to study in depth. This subject should have personal significance to the student; the resulting presentation will be the students' contribution at a communal Graduation/Bar-Bat Mitzvah ceremony. This may take the form of a speech, a video, a play, etc. The location and nature of the ceremony is determined and jointly funded by the families of the graduating students, with input from them.

Please see details of the B'nai Mitzvah Program offered at the Morris Winchevsky School.