Get Connected with the ARS

At the Ansin Religious School it is our mission to provide a range of exciting educational and social opportunities for our children and their families.  Through our experiential learning approach, children of all ages live the joys of Jewish life, while connecting with each other and the world.

Studies show that you, the parents are the single biggest Jewish influence on your kids.   Please take our new mission to heart so that, together, we can educate the next generation of leaders in our community. We will all benefit by joining in this journey together. 

This week provides several unique opportunities beyond our regularly scheduled ARS classes on Monday and Tuesday (which will feature special Sukkot celebrations).   I urge you to find a way for your family to participate and connect with our community:   

Wednesday:   Erev Simchat Torah Services, 6:00 pm

Friday:             Tot Shabbat, 5:45 pm (for children ages 6 and younger) followed by a community dinner

Shabbat Rishon, 7:15 pm featuring Allan Rodgers, Executive Director of the Massachusetts Law Reform Institute and MAZON grant recipient. This Shabbat will connect to Temple Ohabei Shalom getting ready for Mitzvah day and our new Telem (gr. 11 & 12) curriculum focus, Hunger & Homelessness (special ARS high school honors at the service).

Saturday:         Shabbat B’yachad

Join us for our new TOS Shabbat experience with something for everyone.  Come as you are for the entire morning or for just one part of the day, but please join us . . .

9:15 AM

·      Torah Study with Rabbi Franken in the Berenson Library

·      Chug Mishpacha (Jewish Parenting): It's Self-Esteem Stupid with Mark Lipof, LICSW Click here for a link to Mark’s recent article about self-esteem in the new 2^nd Floor Conference Room

·      Youth Activities with Stacy in the Chapel foyer

9:45 AM

·      Youth Service led by Cantor Schloss:  Geared for children of all ages. Parents are invited to join the youth service or one of the other morning options.                 

10:30 AM

·      Shabbat Morning Services led by Rabbi Franken and Cantor Schloss

11:00 AM

·      Youth Activities with Stacy and Shari in the 2^nd Floor conference room

11:45 AM

·         Children and adults come together for the end of our Shabbat morning services with a festive song session led by Cantor Schloss and members of our high school. Everyone is invited to come together for Kiddush Lunch following services.

Why an ARS blog?

This is the inaugural post of our new ARS blog!  I hope this will be a new and exciting part of ARS and a contemporary way to build real community in virtual space.  By sharing our thoughts and comments, we can create an amazing online dialogue between parents, teachers, and others, providing community growth along the way.  

We are constantly working to improve our communication so that it meets your needs. This includes thinking about the best format and forum to do so. In recognition of how you, today’s parents, get information and engage with the world of ideas, we felt that this would be a useful avenue. We can share thought provoking material and give fodder for meaningful conversations, both online and off.

By getting you thinking and talking about the subjects addressed in this blog, you will not only bolster your own spiritual journey, but you will ultimately be strengthening your children’s Jewish education. By modeling engagement with Jewish ideas and Jewish subjects you demonstrate the value of engagement with Jewish life. This is the same sort of modeling you do for your children when you come to TOS for services, celebrations, or other programming. Although it may be less immersive, it certainlly is no less important.

Having a blog enhances our ability to share ideas and allows us to invite others into the conversation. We will be able to give a taste of who we are and what we are about to those who are not currently part of our community. In this way we will be able to invite many more people into an ongoing conversation about Jewish education and actually Jewish life in our times.

Each ARS class will also have a blog so that teachers can share class news and homework assignments.  By updating their blogs on a weekly basis, teachers can keep parents informed of progress in our curriculum and provide week to week continuity for students.

Comments will not be immediately posted in order to ensure that they are relevant and productive additions to the conversation. In this spirit we request that you keep comments to the topic of the post to which you are responding. This is not meant to be a forum for commenting on the Hebrew School itself. As always, my door, phone, and inbox are “open” for just such feedback. Therefore, we ask you to please use this blog as a kind of “town square” for the sharing of ideas.

I look forward to hearing your thoughts, sharing my own, and building the ARS community with you!

~Shari