itinerary focuses on community service, biblical and historical locations, contemporary Israeli culture, and the diversity within the State of Israel. In 2019-2020 and during 2020-2021 school year, the pandemic has unfortunately made this trip impossible; however, the school is promoting the JNF Israel Roots experience for rising 9 th graders - 11 th graders among its current 8 th and alum 9 th graders, and there will likely be twenty Levine students taking part in this Israel option during the summer of 2021. One of the school’s curricular enhancements very recently was the adoption of a curriculum that helps students understand Israel today - th e curriculum is called, “Israel - It’s Complicated,” and this new curricular approach marks a turning point in the school’s Hebrew curriculum, as the 8 th Grade year is now devoted to learning about Israel while emphasizing conversational Hebrew instruction. Part 2 - Spirituality: Overview Spirituality permeates the entire school, including regular and specialized programming, by way of daily prayer, community-wide weekly gatherings for Shabbat, school-wide festivals, and the ever-present emphasis on our seven Jewish middot, or values, which are promulgated one main value per year over a seven year cycle: Holiness, Respect, Citizenship, Caring, Integrity, Justice, and Responsibility. Shabbat Services Perhaps the most community-enhancing program of our school is our weekly Kabbalat Shabbat services on Friday mornings - the 8am service is devoted to our K-8 student and family community, and our 9:15am service is devoted to our Early Childhood student and family community. These services have been embraced and cherished by Levine families for decades. During the pandemic phase of time, beginning in Mid- March 2020 and lasting straight through the entire 2020-2021 school year, these Shabbat services have pivoted to virtual programs, with several segments pre-recorded, and often including special guests, live trivia contests, featured Shabbat presentations by each of the grades (typically one grade featured per month), and numerous dance and musical sequences that have spiced up our Shabbat services and kept our family community in close contact with the school. Indeed, several of our Shabbat Zoom shows have garnered well over 100 participants each. Zimriyah Zimriyah is our annual school-wide (K-8) song festival, which has been a tradition at Levine for over 36 years. Each year a theme is determined that inspires a selection of music to be played and sung by all grades together in front of a capacity audience inside our Beit Aryeh. The program will have creative asides in addition to both grade-
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