The Center for Jewish Life at Beth David provides many avenues to nurture and to teach our children, from our religious school, to our ECC, Day School, and Tikvah Center, to enrichment programs and camps. Even the very youngest of our children toddle across the bimah, and everyone has the chance to perform on stage, compete across the playground, plant gardens, study the sciences, create and display art, and publish their own books. The result is children who are engaged, questioning, and self-possessed.
Our religious school ensures that children embrace Judaism in a seamless, natural, and spontaneous way. Tweens experience their B’nai Mitzvah as a process that can highlight their strengths and benevolently challenge them to achieve more than they might have thought possible. From formulating Mitzvah projects that closely reflect their values and interests, to holding this ritual at the service that suits them best, each child comes away from this rite of passage with a deeper relationship to Judaism and greater self-confidence.
Our congregation has been home to The Gordon School of Beth David Congregation since 1985. The highly-regarded ECC and Day school help children reach their greatest potential in a nurturing environment that emphasizes academic excellence. We take full advantage of the diversity of our students, faculty, parents, and staff to raise well-rounded children. Our alumni have been able to go on to the schools of their choice, have benefited from lifelong friendships, and have pursued interesting careers in an array of fields.
We also are proud to be the first Jewish day school in Florida to provide a program for children on the autism spectrum. At The Tikvah Center, children benefit from highly individualized, research-based intervention strategies to facilitate language acquisition, behavioral skills, and independence. Tikvah students also have various opportunities for inclusion, both in the classroom and in social settings.
We also know that children need to play, and that working families need a safe, stimulating environment for them when school is out. We offer after-school enrichment programs, summer camp, and special events such as PJ parties.
In the process, our congregation and our students influence and benefit from each other. With access to the synagogue, our children will always feel completely at home in a house of worship. For the adults in our congregation, the sound of children learning, playing, and praying is a happy reminder that the mandate to teach endures. And, of course, all of us benefit from living within a multi-generational society.