Talmud Torah Tuesdays give students the opportunity to build on their core Jewish knowledge through a wide variety of Judaics electives. Attendance is required on TTT nights for everyone enrolled in Tamid. While we understand that other obligations compete for the very limited time in a teen’s schedule, we would like for them to show a concerted effort to be engaged with our post-B’nai Mitzvah congregational community by prioritizing TTT weeks. This allows our teen community to have critical mass at least once per month, which creates ruach (spirit), cohesion, relationships, and a venue for communicating upcoming opportunities. 

Judaics electives: Taught by members of the clergy and staff, electives are a creative and fun way to dive into a wide variety of Jewish topics. Some past electives have been: Wilderness Narratives in the Book of Numbers, Who Was Bob Dylan, Jewish Monsters, Gender in the Torah, Judaism and Star Trek, and more! Students can choose a number of electives throughout the year. This allows for deep and wide-ranging discussions across ages and experiences.

On these Tuesdays, students are involved in discussions and programming about making our world a better place. We participate in hands-on mitzvah work while also discussing the ways they can grow into ethical Jewish adults. We work to educate ourselves on how we can be better allies to those in our communities who are excluded or oppressed.

These sessions allow Tamid students to stay informed on and create a safe space for open conversation about the issues of the day. Current Events Tuesdays occur either when there are five Tuesdays in a month or when there is something going on in the world that we feel we need to address with students (or that students ask us to address!). We discuss and debate current events in a respectful environment that appreciates different backgrounds and opinions. We view these issues through a context of Jewish teachings and values, talk about how they impact teens’ lives, and discuss how we might respond to these issues.

Each of these Tuesdays focus on fun activities and community-building for our Tamid students! The goal for these Tuesdays is to help create and build on the community and friendships that form throughout the year. These programs include trivia competitions, game nights, cooking, movie nights, and other fun activities!

Anything can happen on a Wild Card Tuesday! Wild Card nights happen a couple times a semester and are usually off-site activities. Past Wild Cards have included bowling, mini-golf, a Tamid seder, and laser tag! We are always looking for fun new suggestions for activities!