Jewish Text

The Jewish Text department offers a broad range of Jewish text courses, with a focus in Tanakh/Bible, Talmud, and thematic Toshba/rabbinic text courses.

The High School Tanakh/Bible curriculum is designed to deepen and expand the skills and understandings of Tanakh that students gained in earlier grades and experiences. Building on students’ prior knowledge of the Torah and their study of Neviim Rishonim/Former Prophets, the curriculum takes students on a journey through the stories of the kings and latter prophets of Israel, explorations of the books of Ketuvim/Writings, and offers the opportunity to circle back to the Torah and its eternal themes. The High School Tanakh curriculum continues the work of skill building while also offering students opportunities to discover personal connections to the ancient texts that are at the heart of our tradition. Students study the Tanakh with a variety of tools, including classical and modern commentaries on the texts, midrash, historical perspectives and archaeology, and close literary readings.

The High School Toshba/rabbinic text curriculum is designed to offer students a range of opportunities to develop a personal connection with the classical, medieval, and modern rabbinic tradition. With two tracks, students can choose to study Talmud in depth throughout their high school experience or they can choose to explore a range of themes in semester-long courses that cover everything from the Jewish Life Cycle and Rituals to Jewish Theology. All courses include study of classical rabbinic texts from the Mishnah and Talmud, and many include medieval and modern texts of rabbis and other Jewish thinkers, all with the goal of enriching students’ understanding of the Jewish interpretive tradition and their place within that tradition. The HS curriculum gives students opportunities to study how Jews live and think and wrestle with our rich inheritance of texts that have given shape to Jewish life for thousands of years.