At Beth El, we’re all about meeting our teens where they are in their Jewish journey.
Our high school usually meets on Monday nights from 6:00–8:30 p.m. (dinner included), with additional programs available on different days of the week. Learn more about our high school education program.
Our high school students are encouraged and invited to take advantage of different programs offered by J-LOFT (Jewish Learning Opportunities for Teens), MetroWest’s collaborative high school initiative, of which Beth El is a member. In J-LOFT, our students participate in classes and activities together with teens from 6 other local congregations – expanding their Jewish and social horizons.
Examples for J-LOFT course/activities include Religious Action Center seminar in Washington D.C.; Love, Gender in Relationship in Jewish Text, and hands-on service projects. J-LOFT tracks are offered on Mondays when our high school is off, as well as other nights of the week.
HiBuR is an innovative and immersive exchange program that fosters connections between Jewish teens from the MetroWest area and Beit Sefer Hugim, a public high school in Haifa, Israel. The program is one of the CJP’s Boston-Haifa Connection programs. Through HiBuR, teens develop person to person connections, learn about each other’s Jewish cultures and identities and develop a sense of Jewish Peoplehood that extends beyond local and national boundaries.
The program includes two mifgashim (meetings) in which teens visit each other’s families and communities, an extensive curriculum for MetroWest participants as well as a year-long joint curriculum with the Hugim school.
The Boston mifgash begins with a joint weekend at New York and continues for a week of hosting in the MetroWest area. During the Israel mifgash, the teens spend a week with their hosts in Haifa and end the visit by spending a weekend together in Jerusalem. See blog entries, photos and videos with our HiBuR students!
Congregation Beth El takes great pride in our youth group, WASTY (We Are Sudbury Temple Youth). As an integral component of our BE InSpired Journey program, Beth El’s youth in grades 8-12 have their own “student body” which, under the direction of the Director of Teen Education and Engagement, enables them to grow, learn, contribute and enjoy the community they are part of. Led by their WASTY Board, the teens organize tikkun olam activities, trips, retreats, and a variety of educational and spiritual experiences. We encourage our teens to take ownership and become leaders in their community, and being a part of WASTY is a great way to do so at such a young age.
For more information, email Shoni Aronovich, Director of Teen Education, at youth@bethelsudbury.org.