Along with her husband Rod and sons Andrew, Alex, and Ari, Rebecca Bernstein McVeigh joined our congregation in 1997. After serving in various leadership roles as a volunteer, she was asked to lead the religious school in a professional capacity in 2003. Rebecca was raised on Cape Cod and graduated with a degree in Education from Simmons College in Boston, and has lived for the past 25 years with her family in Oakland, New Jersey.

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EVENTS:

Send Your Kids to Eisner or Crane Lake Camp!

Once again the Jewish Federation of Northern New Jersey, in partnership with the Foundation for Jewish Camp, is providing a limited number of grants to encourage children to attend overnight Jewish camp for the first-time. Financial incentives of $1,000 will be awarded to first-time campers who attend a nonprofit Jewish overnight summer camp for at least 19 days. Eligible campers must be entering grades 4-12 (after camp) and attending a camp listed on the Foundation for Jewish Camp’s website (www.jewishcamp.org/camps).   This program is an outreach initiative for children who are not currently receiving an immersive, daily Jewish experience. As such, children who attend Jewish day school or yeshiva are not eligible for this incentive program.

As only a limited number of first-time camper incentive grants will be distributed this year, and they will be distributed on a first-come first-serve basis, we encourage your families to apply at www.onehappycamper.org as soon as possible.

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Volunteers are needed. Call the synagogue office at 201-512-1983 or email

Beth Haverim Shir Shalom (BHSS) offers a one-day-a-week religious school program for children in Kindergarten through twelfth grade. We take pride in working with families to strengthen each child’s sense of Jewish identity. In the Monthly Preschool our four year-old students explore the holidays with fingerplay, cooking, stories, and crafts. Beginning with Kindergarten and continuing through Grade Twelve, students learn not only the Hebrew reading that they will need to become Bar or Bat Mitzvah, but also the rich tradition, history, and culture that help them to become informed Reform Jewish adults living in today’s world. They participate in Tikkun Olam (healing the world) through our congregation’s social action programming, as well as learning about it in their classes through the Union for Reform Judaism’s (URJ) Chai Curriculum.

Our program includes the unique Family School alternative, as well as our Kadimah (“moving forward”) program for Grades Seven through Twelve. In Kadimah the teens discuss hot topics, argue moral issues, cook Jewish foods, dance, sing, meditate, and learn conversational Hebrew, to name a few of the Monday night options. During their tenth grade year, they have the opportunity to travel with their peers to Washington, D.C. to put their social action knowledge to use at the Religious Action Center.

Click here to view the 2011-2012 school year calendar.
It shows the days school is in session throughout the year.

Registration is going on now! If your child previously attended, you should have received all of the forms you need via email. If you need more forms, please see the instructions at the bottom of this page.

Family School is ongoing and ongrowing! Engraved in our mission statement is our congregational aim for lifelong learning; we are “…dedicated to the never-ending process of Jewish learning.” As a jewel in the crown of our educational programming, the Family School stands as a testament to what we believe in. From our original fifteen families of chalutzim, pioneers, the Family School now engages over forty families each week in this unique program where every participant benefits. Each one is a student, and each one is a teacher. When these families leave our building, they have had richer, deeper conversations about what their Judaism means to them. And these conversations continue – into the rest of Sunday, into the rest of the week, and into the rest of their lives. Every single family should participate in Family School for just one year during their child’s religious education; it speaks to the moral imperative that we all have to be responsible to maintain the chain of our people. I hope you will consider this alternative to our regular religious school. Please call me with any questions you may have about this exciting and unique program!

Community Service Hours Available: As we get our classrooms ready for the new school year, extra help is always welcome to organize books and other materials. Please email to schoolatbethhav@optonline.net or call 201-512-1983 to let us know if your child would like to volunteer.

Beth Haverim Shir Shalom's Monthly Preschool Class, 2011-12, For 4 Year-Olds: Our monthly preschool class for 4 year-olds will be offered with a minimum of five registered students. This program meets for 1 ½ hours each month, without parents. If you are interested, please call the synagogue to leave your name and telephone number. (Please note: If you have a 3 year-old and are interested in a program for him/her, we will develop one if there is sufficient interest. Call the synagogue office and leave your contact information.)

The preschool fee is $400 for members and $500 for non-members. The schedule for 2011-12 will be available by the end of the summer. If you are registered, you will receive this schedule directly.

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SESSIONS OF RELIGIOUS SCHOOL ARE AS FOLLOWS:
Kindergarten, Grades 1 and 2: Mondays 4 – 5:30 p.m.
Traditional School Grade 3: Mondays 4 – 6:00 p.m.
Traditional School Grades 4 and 5: Tuesdays 4 – 6:30 p.m.
Traditional School Grade 6: Sundays 9 – 11:30 a.m.
Family School (Grades 3,4,5,6): Sundays 9 – 11:45 a.m.
Kadimah (Grades 7 through 12): Mondays 6:45 – 8:30 p.m.