WHY WE TEACH WHAT WE TEACH
There is a reason why we have chosen to teach our young people the above parts of the service:
· KIDDUSH The blessing over the wine is part of the home celebration of Shabbat. It is a blessing recited in gratitude for rest, for the beauty of the universe, and for the freedom we enjoy. Shabbat is not a phenomenon reserved for the synagogue. It is sacred time that should fill our homes and our hearts. We encourage you and your child to recite kiddush every Friday night, and thus turn that Friday into a Shabbat. When our B’nei Mitzvah recite Kiddush at the synagogue on Friday, it also serves as a ground-breaker prior to their leading greater parts of the service before a crowd on Shabbat.
· A PORTION OF SHAHARIT / MINHAH / MA’ARIV Prayer is an integral part of Jewish life. People who know how to pray know that there is a source of energy beyond them which can help them through moments of happiness, sorrow, trial, and pain. We want our young people to be able to lead the congregation in prayer. In learning these ancient prayers, they will be able to enter synagogues around the world, and always find a home and feel at home.
· THE TORAH SERVICE Of course, the Torah service constitutes the very heart of every Shabbat and festival service. We take out and return the Torah to the ark with a bit of pomp and dignity as we pay homage to the central teaching of the Jewish people.
· BIRKHOT HATORAH There are two Torah blessings, one recited before and one recited after the Torah reading. The first blessing speaks of the Jewish people as chosen, not because of genetic superiority, but because the Torah has directed us to follow God’s will. The second blessing notes that by following Torah, we enter into the realm of eternity. By following Torah we become one with people who lived before we were born and one with those who will live well after we have left this physical world.
· BIRKHOT HAFTARAH (for Shabbat morning only) The Haftarah blessings are filled with Jewish values and principles. We learn about God’s dependability, the importance of hope, our eternal connection to the land of Israel, our prayer for joyous living, our hope that the world will soon be perfected by the will of God, and the fact that God continued to communicate to us through the prophets. God’s love for the Jewish people specifically is eternal as God’s love for all people is forever. These are important concepts for our young people to know and to integrate into their way of thinking about life.
· HAFTARAH (for Shabbat morning only) These words are taken from the second section of the Bible known as Nevi’im or Prophets. The recitation of the Haftarah is closely associated with the Torah reading and is typically connected to each other thematically or linguistically. Haftarot (the plural) may contain some marvelous narratives of our people’s history or present us with poetry both esoteric and mystifying.
· MAFTIR The Torah is the word of God. Anyone who has peered into the Torah knows that it is without vowels or punctuation. By learning how to chant from the Torah, a human becomes the voice of God and that’s why being called to the Torah is known as an honor.
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Updated July 12, 2006 
