“The opportunity to give is, in and of itself, a gift. ” - Temple Isaiah

Dear School
Families,
After 29 years
as part of the
w o n d e r f u l
Religious School
staff here at
Temple Isaiah, I
Ellen Goldberg will be retiring
Religious School Director
at the end of
the 2009-2010 school year. As this will be
my last year as Religious School Principal,
I want it to be the best. I am so excited
for the opportunity to share it with you. I
wanted to give this wonderful community
advanced notice of my retirement in order
that we have ample time to go through the
process of finding someone great. Upon
my retirement, I will become Principal
Emeritus and enjoy continuing to be
involved in the community I love.
We are so excited to welcome a new year
at Temple Isaiah Religious school. This
summer, we launched our brand new
online registration as part of our continual
exploration of new ways to grow. Not just
administratively, but educationally as well,
we continue to find new ways to engage
and enrich our students. This coming
year will see the second year of our new
Religious School alternative for families:
Shabbat B’Yachad for which we received
a Legacy Heritage Grant and the launch
of our family-styled model called Tiyul:
Connections designed by our Re-Imagine
team.
Together, we have grown our school from
185 to 530 students, and I’ve seen many
of our students grow into adulthood and
then return as Temple members, or as
teachers here, which really makes me kvell!
I look forward to continuing to grow and
learn together and sharing a great year
together beginning in the fall. I also look
forward to being a part of the transition
when a new person takes on the leadership
of our educational programming in this
amazing congregation.
B’Shalom,
Ellen Goldberg •
R E L I G I O U S
S C H O O L N E W S
Shalom! I hope you all had a wonderful
summer! Our opening days for Religious
School will be Sunday, September 13,
Tuesday, September 15 (for afternoon
classes only) and Thursday, September 17.
Evening teen classes will begin on Tuesday,
October 13. Let’s work together to make
this a successful and meaningful year for
both you and your children! After all, your
children are only here for a few hours per
week, so you have much more influence
on their Jewish identities than any of us
do. Please be supportive of our programs
by encouraging good attendance, attending
our family programs and family Shabbat
worship, and asking about your children’s
accomplishments each week.
I have been encouraging all teachers to send
weekly emails to the parents, informing you
of the topics and activities covered in that
week’s class session. Please try to connect
with your son or daughter on the activities
each week If your child is learning Hebrew,
please make sure he/she practices during the
week so the teacher does not have to re-teach
the same letters, vowels, or prayers when the
students return to class. A week is a long
time in the life of a child.
We are continuing our wonderful Shabbat
B’Yachad program, an alternative to Jewish
studies classes for grades K - 3 and their
parents. In addition, we are beginning our
exciting new Tiyul program, an alternative
to Sunday classes for grades 4 - 6 and their
parents.
This year we have many wonderful teachers
returning to our staff: Rachel Ackerman,
Aliza Benitah, Libby Clearfield, Mark
Cohen, Leora Dan, Rocki DeGroot, Rina
Etkes, Jonathan Friedmann, Dov Gottesfeld,
Shula Hazany, Barbara Kaye, Julie Kohner,
Deborah Kreingel, Amalia Levine, Israel
Marshall, Tatyana Neyman, Deb Pitt,
Stephanie Pressman, Yona Schloss, Cantor
Richard Schwartz, and Dustin Tiep.
In addition, we have a very exciting group of
new staff members: Sarah Cohen, Michelle
Dadoun, Rabbi Steve Finley, Daniel Fliegel,
Julie Greenberg, Eliana Hall (returning after
a two-year hiatus,) Cathy Heller (returning
after a 1 year hiatus,) Rachel Kinkade,
Shoshana Kinsbursky, Aron Klein, Howie
Kramer, and Jordi Schuster.
We are looking forward to many special
programs, which you will hear about as they
get closer to the date: Blessing of the Animals,
Family Programs for all Sunday classes, our
brand new Shabbat Family Services which
will take place on the fourth Friday of each
month beginning in September, Consecration
of new students, Beit Teshuvah Program
about teens and drugs for parents and
students in grades 8 and 9, L.A. Riverwalk,
Student Retreats, Big Sunday, and a program
for grades 8 and 9 on understanding how to
communicate with and support the elderly.
As always, I am available for your questions
and other issues throughout the year.
Together, we can make this a wonderful
experience for your children and yourselves. •
Tiyul Connections
An Exciting Learning
Adventure
Do you want to know how Jacob became
one of our forefathers instead of his older
brother Esau; why Moses didn’t get to go
into the Promised Land, after spending
40 years leading his people? That and a
lot of other juicy gossip will be acted out,
discussed, played with and discovered, as
you and your children learn together (and
sometimes apart) in our new education
program for families with children in
Grades 4 -6. We will also be welcoming
and celebrating Shabbat together and
saying goodbye to Shabbat by celebrating
Havdalah.
Groups of five to seven families will be
created and will meet three times per
month, twice at the Temple, (one Friday
evening and one Saturday afternoon.)
The third meeting will be at a family’s
home. The children will also participate in
Tuesday Hebrew classes from 4:00 p.m. -
6:00 p.m.
I will be happy to answer any questions
you might have. Please fill free to contact
me at carla@templeisaiah.com or
(310) 277-2661. I look forward to
hearing from you soon.
September 2009
THE ISAIAN | Page nine