Hebrew School
We offer a vibrant after-school synagogue program for children in kindergarten through seventh grades. Our school features multi-grade classrooms where students of different ages learn from and with each other.
Together we explore what it means to be Jewish in a welcoming, supportive, and creative environment. Our program consists of Hebrew reading, Bible/Torah, prayer, history, & life cycle/holiday education, all in an age-appropriate way. We will make every effort to accommodate your child’s learning style and ability.
We believe that the Jewish tradition offers a worldview, a set of values, and a way of life that can provide an enormously precious anchor in the midst of a turbulent and changing world.
- Our Aleph-Tav (“A to Z”) students act out Torah stories, learn Hebrew letters and vowels through hands-on experimentation (making Hebrew letters out of Playdough or Twizzlers!), and celebrate holidays by presenting plays at an area nursing home and rehab facility. This class is currently on pandemic hiatus.
- Our Ne’arim (“Youths”) students learn beginning Hebrew, as well as Torah stories and Jewish values, as they begin to take ownership of their own Jewishness and find joy in Jewish learning and practice.
- Our B-mitzvah prep class is taught by Rabbi Rachel. Together they explore Jewish values, texts, and traditions; write their own prayers, psalms, and pages of Talmud; engage body and mind through learning to tie tzitzit; write midrash in response to Torah; learn Jewish ethics via graphic novel; and practice a variety of mitzvot, both ritual / spiritual and ethical / interpersonal.
We also can help you with special tutoring for your child’s bar/bat mitzvah.
We are grateful to the Jewish Federation of the Berkshires for their funding, which makes our school possible.
For more information, contact the office or the rabbi using our form.
Youth and Family Programming
We are overjoyed to hear the laughter of children and see them smile while engaged in learning, socializing, and understanding what it means to be Jewish.
CBI offers monthly events for families with young children (ages 2-8); babies in strollers or in arms are also always welcome! Whether we’re hearing Rosh Hashanah stories in an apple orchard, spinning dreidels by a Chanukah bonfire, celebrating Havdalah, or baking hamentaschen for Purim, we welcome the youngest among us (and their parents) to learn, have fun, and enjoy being Jewish.
We are grateful to the Harold Grinspoon Foundation for their grant, which makes these programs possible.
Programs For Adults
The Jewish journey is marked by lifelong learning. We are charged with continually bettering ourselves and the world around us. Become a part of our learning community, where friends and neighbors come to meet, discuss, and engage in dynamic educational experiences.
Our offerings for adults include visiting authors and speakers (over Zoom during the pandemic), monthly Shabbat dinner time discussions (currently over Zoom), book discussions and classes, and more.
- First Friday Shabbat evening Zoom Gatherings: Celebrate Shabbat together on the first Friday of every month at 7:30 pm, on Zoom. Light candles and recite the blessings together, get to know one another, and engage on a variety of current topics.
- Book Discussion Group: CBI is currently partnering with Temple Beth-El of City Island on a joint book discussion group led by Rabbi Pamela Gottfried. Books include Traveling Heavy by Ruth Behar; People Love Dead Jews: Reports from a Haunted Present, essays by Dara Horn; and The Last Kings of Shanghai: The Rival Jewish Dynasties That Helped Create Modern China by Jonathan Kaufman.
- Journey Into Judaism: Journey Into Judaism is a class for anyone exploring Judaism and Jewishness, open both to those who are on a conversion journey and to folks who are already Jewish and want to learn more about our traditions and teachings. Taught by Rabbi Rachel (currently over Zoom), the class is offered in association with the Miller Introduction to Judaism program.
Coming Soon: A new CBI book group is forming (planned start date summer 2022) led by Suzanne Graver, professor emerita of English at Williams College.
Do you have ideas for adult learning? Tell us what activities and subjects interest you!
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