Judaic Studies and Spirituality Self Study Report
Part 1 - Judaic Studies : Overview of Standards and Benchmarks Throughout the initial two decades of Levine’s existence (As “Solomon Schechter School of Dallas”), the curriculum for Judaic learning reflected both a strong text -based foundation studying traditional Jewish texts, or rabbinic literature, (Chumash, Talmud, etc.), in addition to offering a growing emphasis on synagogue skills that reflected the Conservative movement’s practices. Following the school’s separation from its founding synagogue, Congregation Shearith Israel, in 1997, the school continued for several years to teach and align its curriculum to most of the accepted Conservative Jewish day schools’ “Schechter” practices, yet the overall appeal and population of the Conservative movement began to stabilize, then decline across America. Following the school’s name change to Ann & Nate Levine Academy in 2005, the school recognized the trending demographic and began to see its future as necessitating a more inclusive approach in order to appeal to families across the spectrum of denominations. While the most previous two strategic plan processes - in 2015 and 2019 - incorporated the word “inclusive” up front in its Mission Statement, the Judaic program began to evolve on a couple of fronts: 1) The school adopted two of the Standards and Benchmarks published by JTS (Jewish Theological Seminary); Standard #1, which calls for students to develop independence and become astute readers of biblical text in Hebrew, and Standard #8 provides for students to develop a love of Torah study for its own sake and embrace it as an inspiring resource, informing their values, moral commitments and ways of experiencing the world. Torah studies in Lower School grades will touch on the stories of Genesis and will learn the key episodes not just once but several times in order to focus in on the highlights with gradually greater sophistication. These are also the years when students will learn about the Jewish calendar and will celebrate each of the main holidays through song, artwork, class projects, discussion, and interactive engagement. Alongside these teachings, primarily taught in Hebrew, students also learn the siddur (prayer book) in ways that enhance their Hebrew understanding while promoting Jewish values alongside the main concepts found in our Mission Statement, like “critical thinking,” “creativity,” “integrity,” and “leadership.” In Middle School, students are formally engaged with the full JTS Standards through the study of Chumash, or the Torah in its full text format. Students begin to zero in on passages and learn to study textual Hebrew very closely, appreciating a range of
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