BZBI, where you learn

Neziner Hebrew School

Program Overview

In keeping with Neziner Hebrew School’s mission of providing the knowledge and experience necessary for its students to make a commitment to live a Jewish life, our program focuses on the themes of:

  • Torah: Jewish learning and values
  • T’fillah: prayer and mindfulness
  • Israel: exploring our connection to the wider Jewish Community and the Jewish People

Each grade explores each theme through a specific lens, framed around sacred texts, traditional rituals, and real life applications. The program follows a spiral curriculum, with learning taking place within each class as well as across the grades, as students share ideas creatively. Every topic intertwines with the other, and students build their knowledge based on what they learned the year before.   

Learn more about our Early Childhood opportunities.
Learn more about our Teen programs.

Structure

BZBI’s Neziner Hebrew School begins with Bonim (pre-K) and runs through the end of Hebrew High (10th grade).

Our Hebrew School meets on Shabbat mornings and on Monday/Wednesday afternoons. Shabbat is the one day on which all age groups are present. Bonim (pre-K) and Gan (K) only meet on Shabbat morning, and in first grade students start attending on weekdays as well. First grade is also the first year that children are eligible to participate in the Adasha classes, which are experiential mixed grade classes that supplement and build on the learning taking place in students’ grade-level classes. You can find a more detailed schedule below.

WHY IS THE HEBREW SCHOOL CALLED “NEZINER”? – A SHORT HISTORY LESSON

Neziner was the name of the third congregation to join what we know today as BZBI. Their official name was Congregation Ahavas Achim-Anshe Nezin, which meant “Congregation of Friendly Sons of Nezin,” a small town in southern Russia from which many of them arrived in the late 1800’s. They joined temple Beth Zion – Beth Israel in 1984. You can still see their original Ark and Bimah when you visit our school, both still being used during our Shabbat morning Junior Congregation service, and their chandelier is in the Kahaner.

THE SIGNIFICANCE OF HAVING A SHABBAT SCHOOL

Shabbat is a central pillar of the Jewish experience. Combining observance of Shabbat with prayer and learning allows us to experience this cornerstone of Judaism together in a meaningful way. Having all generations of BZBI members in the building at the same time, engaged in worship, and hearing words of Torah makes our mornings very special.

Much like dressing up to go to shul, our Neziner Hebrew School also takes on a slightly different form on Shabbat. The air is slightly more peaceful, the activities are calmer in nature. We all show up a little dressier than usual, start the morning together with Asefa (gathering), and then engage in learning, Kiddush, and an abridged weekly Shabbat service.  Students in Gimel (third grade) and older participate in Community Avodah, a slightly longer service that includes a short Torah reading and is led entirely by the students.


Copy of Neziner Hebrew School Class Schedule

Class/ProgramSaturdayWednesdayTuition
Tot Shabbat
11:15am-12pmFREE
Bonim10am-12pm$400
Gan10am-12pm$1,100
1st-3rd10am-12pm4-6pm$1,630
4th-7th10am-12pm4-6pm
$1,630
Hebrew High6-8pm$1,236

If you’d like more complete answers to your questions, download the FAQs here.

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