Ottawa Talmud Torah Afternoon School is our community's premier choice for supplemental Jewish education.
Talmud Torah is excited to be offering a more dynamic curriculum based on modern Jewish values, traditions, and Hebrew language. Using a theme based cross curricular approach we will provide meaningful Jewish education to our students.
The program will run Tuesday, Thursday and Sunday afternoons and students will have the option to attend one, two or three days. We have hired a great team of educators to help make our educational goals at Talmud Torah a reality. One of the primary goals of our program is for students to feel that they have a voice so that they emerge with critical thinking skills and an ability to challenge the status quo, shape their environments, and make the world around them better. We are a community based school with no affiliation to any one synagogue. Our only affiliation is to the Jewish community as a whole. At Talmud Torah it is imperative that all children and their families feel welcome regardless of their background, affiliation, or how often they engage in Jewish activities.
Our goal is not only to connect our students with Jewish tradition, but to encourage them to be part of the dialogue that defines modern Judaism. At Talmud Torah we are committed to developing a meaningful program for our next generation that is relevant and engaging to Jewish children today and that will help them develop into the involved and educated Jewish adults of tomorrow.
Eliana Mandel-Carsen
Director
OTTAS
For nearly 90 years we have been dedicated to providing Ottawa families with a traditional, comprehensive alternative to Jewish day school.
Today, our community-minded program is designed to instill students with a firm sense of pride in their Jewish identities while making our rich heritage relevant to today's modern world.
We are the only supplemental school that offers classes three days a week, our standards for the hiring of teachers are the highest of any supplemental program, and we are determined to offering our students an extremely strong Jewish education.
Our curriculum, has and will continue to reflect our commitment to offering a standard of Jewish education unparalleled outside of the day school system.
Talmud Torah’s educational vision is based on three inter-related principles: Knowledge, Engagement, and Connection.
Knowledge:
We are dedicated to providing the most complete Jewish education possible. To that end, we must adopt the attitude that the more knowledge we can offer our students, the better. In doing so, we reject conventional limitations on what is taught in supplemental school. Talmud Torah commits to equipping students with maximum understanding of Jewish observance in its most traditional forms while ensuring full respect for students/families of all levels of observance.
Engagement:
Jewish education is not a purely academic or theoretical pursuit, and we must realise that a Talmud Torah education needs to prepare our students for life as Jewish adults. Instruction must make Judaism come to life and inspire students to embrace their role in our living tradition. In addition to hands-on demonstrations and experiential learning, in-school initiatives and take-home resources will be available to enable students to extend their learning beyond class hours.
Connection:
Judaism does not occur only in the classroom, and therefore shouldn’t be confined to individual classes. Our students should all feel connected to each other and to their community, and our staff must serve as strong Jewish role models as representatives of that community. Families are welcome to take part in the learning of our students and will be given opportunities to participate in learning of their own. Inter-grade study units, optional adult education classes, and family events are a few examples of how we intend to make the learning experience transcend the limits of the classroom.
With these principals in mind, we intend to focus our program on continuing to ensure a high standard of education with an emphasis making Judaism real and important to our students.
Hebrew Language
o Reading: Standard and Cursive scripts
o Comprehension useful for both Biblical and Modern dialects
o A general understanding of key prayers
Prayer
o Familiarity with personal blessings including those before and after eating
o Comfort using the siddur and navigating the prayer services
o The ability to participate meaningfully in any synagogue services
Jewish Values and Traditions
o Key concepts central to Jewish life (i.e. Shabbat, Kashrut, etc.)
o The Jewish lifecycle
o Hands-on familiarity for ritual items (i.e. Talit and Tefilin, Torah Scroll, Shofar, Torah Scroll, etc.) and their purpose
o Practical understanding of the celebration of all Jewish holidays
o Mitzvoth (good deeds)
History
o Historical significance and context of all significant days on the Jewish calendar
o Timeline of the Jewish people
o Zionism – the Jews’ connection to the Land and State of Israel
o Anti-semitism and Holocaust studies
Miscellaneous
o Vocabulary of key terms/concepts in Jewish life
o Weekly Torah Portion
o Intro to Jewish Philosophy
o Fundamental questions and answers regarding Jewish beliefs
o Bar/Bat Mitzvah training
Classes:
Tuesdays 4:15 p.m. - 6:00 p.m. at OJCS
Thursdays 2:30 p.m. - 4:30 p.m. at Knoxdale
Sundays 3:30p.m. - 5:30 p.m. at Machzikei Hadas.
JK/SK (Sundays only)
Grade 1-7 (Sundays and Tuesdays)
Transportation:
Transportation from various public schools in the Ottawa area is available Tuesdays to Ottawa Talmud Torah Afternoon School.
Organization:
The school is administered by the Director who is responsible to the Ottawa Talmud Torah Afternoon School Board.
The Ottawa Talmud Torah Afternoon School Board, a standing committee, is made up of parents and other interested individuals. This committee examines school matters such as the development of curriculum in collaboration with the administration and teachers of the school.
The Ottawa Talmud Torah Afternoon School Board seeks to promote understanding of the goals of the school for the parents as transmitted through the curriculum and the Board works for the betterment of all students.
Registration:
Parents are encouraged to enroll their children at the Junior Kindergarten, Kindergarten or Grade 1 level so that they may take advantage of the fully integrated curriculum. Placement at higher levels is determined by the principal.
To register, or for further information, please contact the Ottawa Talmud Torah Afternoon School office.
