Religious School Programs

Northern Hills Synagogue Religious School draws it students from the Northern Greater Cincinnati, Ohio area. The children and their families live in a multitude of communities and school districts, including West Chester and Lakota Schools in Butler County; Kings, Lebanon, and Mason schools in Warren County; Loveland and Milford Schools in Clermont County; Cincinnati, Finneytown, Indian Hill, Madeira, Princeton, Sycamore, and Wyoming in Hamilton County.

Our highly qualified and professional teaching staff help us to individualize our Jewish educational program to fit the learning styles of each of our students. Our Religious and Hebrew school curriculum ensures that Northern Hills students gain Jewish knowledge in areas including Torah, T'filah, Talmud, Hebrew language, holidays, Israel, Jewish history, the Jewish life cycle, current events, and other topics. Our educational program not only encourages learning in school, but also learning at home and with the family. Each class participates in a family education session at least once each year so that parents can be involved with and understand more about exactly what their children are learning. The entire school often gathers together for fun-filled music sessions and Israeli dancing too.

Gan Mishpacha
Gan Mishpacha Class

Gan Mishpacha is our monthly Sunday preschool program for children 2 1⁄2 - 5 years old. This past year the program was awarded a Solomon Schechter Gold Medal Award for Excellence in the area of family education. The program is structured around Jewish holidays and themes and engages the children through crafts projects.

Each class starts with making a decorative magnet (“refrigerator art”) to remind the children of the upcoming holiday. Over the years, our projects have been ambitious and have included Jewish holidays in American quilt patterns, garden stepping stones made from cement with embedded rocks from Israel, mishloach manot baskets to American soldiers serving overseas, “rebuilding the walls of Jerusalem” in various media, and cooking projects appropriate to the holiday (eg. Israeli salad, potato latkes, and the famous Gan Mishpacha many-bean soup mixture, and cookies and challah from scratch). Of course, each class ends with snacks, the appropriate beracha, and lots of laughter.

The classes are planned to be multi-level with parents actively participating with their children and learning beside them.The class allows children to begin to feel comfortable in a classroom setting and it also allows parents and children to do activities and learn together. The Gan Mishpacha class offers many different hands on activities to help everyone learn the touch, smell, taste, sound and importance of the different Jewish holidays. We encourage ongoing discussions and send home a great deal of informational materials surrounding holiday rituals and activities.

The class meets from 11-12 on specified Sunday mornings. This is an award winning program designed by our own NHS congregant, Diana Newman.

Kindergarten thru 2nd Grade

The graduates of the Gan Mishpaha class are ready for a more structured educational outlet. For these students, we offer a K-2nd grade class, which meets every Sunday from 9 a.m. until 12 noon. It resembles a more "traditional" class and introduces the students to the places and parts of the synagogue. The children are also introduced to the prayer book and some of the more basic prayers. All of the Jewish holidays are reviewed each year as well. The K-2 class also introduces students to the Alef-Bet!

3rd thru 6th Grade
Children in grades 3 through 6 attend classes Sunday morning from 9 to 12, and on each Monday and Wednesday from 4:30 until 6:00 p.m. The Sunday school program begins with morning T'filot in the style of a learner's minyan, and students take turns leading the prayers. After T’filot on Sundays, 3rd and 4th graders come together to learn the meaning of the T’filot, holidays, Israel, Torah and much more. The 5th and 6th graders come together to learn about the Jewish calendar, rituals and ceremonies, Israel and Torah. Monday and Wednesday grades 3-6th come together again and learn Siddur Hebrew. Students’ individual needs are met based on their skill level. They are able to progress at their own pace. Students are also given the opportunity to lead T’fillot in the Stein Chapel. During fall and spring they become familiar with the Mincha service and in the winter months they learn the Ma’ariv service.

The Northern Hills Synagogue's intermediate Hebrew class is made up of 3rd, 4th, and 5th graders from around the city. In class we have been increasing our verb conjugation knowledge, in addition to expanding our vocabulary base. We are well on our way to be able to carry on class matters in Hebrew exclusively. We have learned about the seasons and weather associated with each. Each class we begin with an opportunity for each student to lead services. Since our class starts in the autumn, some students have succeeded in feeling comfortable enough in the prayers to lead them at our synagogues Shabbat services.

Hebrew is taught on Monday and Wednesday afternoons. Students learn spoken Hebrew at the same time they learn the Hebrew of the prayers and receive a great deal of one-on-one attention from their teachers. Students in the mid-week Hebrew program also receive instruction in cursive Hebrew writing.

7th Grade
7th grade class

Students in 7th grade meet on Sundays from 9 am to 12 noon and Mondays from 4:30 pm to 6:00 pm. They experience a unique opportunity to explore what it means to become a B'nai Mitzvah through Mitzvah projects, and a distinctive and personal look at Tefillot, Torah, and ritual and ceremonies. The students also take an in-depth look at the Holocaust and modern Israel. The seventh graders also participate in the city wide program “Reach for the Stars”.

If you would like information about educational programs or upcoming events, please call Tracy Weisberger at: (513) 931-6040 or email tracyw1@fuse.net..