Check Out the Courses for Fall 2008!
See our pages for 8th/9th grades; 10th grade; 11th/12th grade
Kickoff a Great New Year - Sunday, August 24, Noon-1:30pm @ Midrasha in the Judea Reform Ed. Bldg.!
Come kickoff a great new Midrasha year with us on Sunday, August 24, from noon-1:30pm in the Judea Reform Education Building. There will be an opportunity to hear about our classes and programs for the coming year and for students to choose their class preferences; to meet our teachers and to enjoy some refreshments with old friends and new.
To register for Midrasha’s exciting 2008-2009 year, just download and send in the registration forms with the appropriate tuition payment (see the forms for more details).
Graduation Ceremony
On May 4th, Community Midrasha was proud to honor graduating seniors Jeremy Merrill and Rebecca Freedman, both of whom have attended Midrasha for five years.
In their remarks to the graduation attendees, Jeremy and Rebecca cited as highlights of their Midrasha experience: the Hebrew classes taught by Matt Diamond and Rachel Ariel, Rabbi John Friedman's comparative religion class; Jewish mysticism classes taught by Yehudis and Rabbi Zalman Bluming, rabbinics classes taught by Rabbi Steven Sager, and Rabbi Michael Goldman's “Kosher Sex” class.
Jeremy and Rebecca also reported that Midrasha enhanced their ability to teach Religious School at Beth El Synagogue, where the pair served as co-presidents of the USY youth group chapter. Synagogue Youth.
The graduation ceremony was capped by an address from Dr. Noah Pickus, Director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University on "Ethics on Campus: Tradition, Tolerance and Temptation".
"I Never Saw Another Butterfly"
The 8th and 9th grade students from Carly Shubitz' class performed the play "I Never Saw Another Butterfly", based on the collection of art and poetry from the children of the Terezin concentration camp. The performance capped a year-long study of the Holocaust. (Part of the cast)
May 4
End of Semester Programs
4pm - "I Never Saw Another Butterfly" play commemorating Yom Hashoah performed by Carly Shubitz' class
5pm - 8th/9th Grade "Mini-Classes" for students and parents, plus prospective 7th graders
6:15pm - Graduation Ceremony for 12th graders with guest speaker, Dr. Noah Pickus, Director of the Kenan Institute for Ethics at Duke University - "Ethics on Campus: Tradition, Tolerance and Temptation"
April 6 - All Classes Resume
Spring Break - No Classes March 28
March 21
10th Grade - "Being Jewish When Your Parents Aren't Watching" - a discussion on Jewish life in college with Rabbi Michael Goldman and Duke Hillel students - 5:30pm at the Freeman Center for Jewish life at Duke, followed by services and dinner
March 23
Dinner by Ilana Saraf, Alice Ammerman, Sharon van Horn 5-5:30pm
8th/9th - Regular Schedule 5-7:30pm
11th/12th - 5:00-7:30pm - Rabbi Goldman "Kosher Sex"
March 16
Asian-Jewish Dinner by Carly/Ariel's Class 5-5:30pm
8th/9th - Regular Schedule 5-7:30pm
10th - 5:00pm dinner; 5:30-7pm @ Midrasha "New Jewish Culture"
11th/12th - 5:00-7:30pm - Rabbi Sager
March 9
10th-12th Grade - "Jewish Community" with Orit Ramler and Lew Margolis
8th/9th Grades - Classes as scheduled
February 29 - 10th Grade Chabad Visit 6:30-9pm
Sunday March 2 - 10th-12th Grade - "Why Be Jewish? Jews by Choice Tell their Stories"
8th/9th Grades - Classes as scheduled
February 22 - 10th Grade Chabad Visit Postponed to February 29
February 24th - 8th/9th Grade - Classes as scheduled (special speaker - Rachel Ariel will speak to the Israel 1967 class about her experience as a teenage girl in Netanya during the war)
11th/12th Grade - "Kosher Sex" with Rabbi Goldman
February 17
Regular Schedule - 8th/9th
10th-12th - Rabbi Sager "Storytelling and the Study of Torah"
Plus - a festive dinner cooked by Carly and Ariel's class.
February 10
8th/9th - Regular Schedule 5-7:30pm
10th - 5:00pm dinner; 5:30-7pm @ Midrasha "Reform Judaism: Past, Present , Future" - Stacy Lubov and Heidi Aycock
11th/12th - 5:00-7:30pm - Rabbi Sager
No Classes February 3 for JCC Ski Trip
Midrasha as scheduled this weekend 1/25 and 1/27
All classes will take place as scheduled this weekend. The 10th grade will meet with Rabbi Jen Feldman on Friday evening at the Chapel Hill Kehillah at 6:45pm for a discussion of Reconstructionist Judaism, followed by Shabbat services. On Sunday, 8th and 9th grades will meet in their elective classes, while the 11th and 12th grades will meet for the first session of Rabbi Michael Goldman's "Kosher Sex" class (syllabus).
Welcome Back!
I hope everyone had an enjoyable break. Midrasha will resume this Sunday for our spring semester. The spring semester class for the 10 th grade will be “Varieties of Jewishness” and will explore different understandings and ways of being Jewish, including three Friday night services and one Shabbat afternoon “seudah shelishit” (third Shabbat meal), as well as an Israel advocacy seminar in Raleigh together with Raleigh teens.
This Sunday a pizza dinner will be served from 5-5:30pm, followed by the class session from 5:30-7pm.
2007-8 New Schedule!
Community Midrasha – the community-wide Jewish education program for teens - is pleased to announce a new time slot and format for the 2007-2008 school year: all classes for grades 8-12 (except Rabbi Friedman’s 10th grade class) will be held on Sunday evenings, in the Judea Reform Education Building, following a weekly Midrasha dinner at 5:00 p.m, with regular classes ending at 7:30pm. With this new arrangement, Community Midrasha intends to foster greater interaction among students of all grade levels and to provide a more cohesive environment for Jewish teenagers.
Fall Semester Midrasha sessions will meet every Sunday beginning on September 9th and concluding on December 9th, except for a Thanksgiving Break on November 25th.
As in previous years, the core of the Midrasha curriculum will be taught by outstanding faculty including Rabbi John Friedman, Rabbi Steven Sager, Rabbi Michael Goldman (of Duke’s Freeman Center for Jewish Life), and Rabbi Zalman Bluming (Chabad of Durham/Chapel Hill).
The 8th and 9th graders will pursue a series of elective courses, which will be announced later this summer, and will appear on the Midrasha website. Tenth-grade students will maintain their predominantly Sunday morning schedule with Rabbi Friedman during the first semester, but will join in the Midrasha-wide evening sessions during the second semester. The 11th/12th-grade curriculum will comprise a seminar series with Rabbi Goldman and a text study seminar series with Rabbi Sager.