If the Colonial School District is closed for the day on a Tuesday, Or Ami will not have religious school at 4 pm or Kollel classes at 7 pm.
If the Colonial School District closes early on a Tuesday, Or Ami will not have religious school at 4 pm or Kollel classes at 7 pm.
If the Colonial School District opens late on a Tuesday morning, Or Ami will probably have religious school at 4 pm and Kollel classes at 7 pm. If school is cancelled, you will be notified by phone.
If the Colonial School District runs a full day, but cancels afternoon/evening programs on a Tuesday, Or Ami will be open at 4 pm and a decision will be made later about the 7 pm session. Parents may pick up their children before the regular 6 pm dismissal time if the weather presents a driving hazard. Or Ami will shelter students who take the bus from the Colonial School District schools to Or Ami instead of sending them home to empty houses.
On Sunday mornings, we must depend on our own best judgment. If we feel that driving is hazardous or the parking lot will not be safe, we may cancel classes. If school is cancelled, you will be notified by phone.
If Or Ami Religious School or Kollel classes are cancelled, parents/guardians will receive a phone call from our "Dialmycalls.com" system. Each family may receive calls on up to two phone numbers. Please call or email the school office if you would like to add or change contact phone numbers.
School closing information can also be found on the home page of the Or Ami website at www.or-ami.org.
Please contact the school office if you have any questions or concerns about this school closing information.
From the Desk of Lauren Luskey, Director of Education & Lifelong Learning
Praying With Our Feet: Pursuing Justice at Or Ami
by Lauren Luskey, Director of Education and Lifelong Planning
“Tzedek, tzedek tirdof, Justice, justice shall you pursue.” (Deuteronomy 16:20)
Social justice comes in many forms, from giving tzedakah, to acting with kindness toward one another, to advocating for human rights. A core value of Judaism, it dictates how we treat others and how we approach the “broken” parts of our society. Rabbi Eric Yoffie, president of the Union for Reform Judaism, explains, “Reform Jews are committed to social justice. Even as Reform Jews embrace ritual, prayer, and ceremony more than ever, we continue to see social justice as the jewel in the Reform Jewish crown. Like the prophets, we never forget that God is concerned about the everyday and that the blights of society take precedence over the mysteries of heaven.”
Historically, the Jewish people have been advocates for social justice. Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel marched with Martin Luther King Jr. in the civil rights protest march at Selma, Alabama. He describes his experience in these words, “For many of us the march from Selma to Montgomery was both protest and prayer. Our legs uttered songs. I felt my feet were praying.”
As Jews, we are obligated not only to practice social justice ourselves, but to teach it to our children as well. In last month’s newsletter, I wrote that our Religious School students have already begun this pursuit of justice by giving hundreds of dollars for tzedakahthat we will donate to non-profit organizations in the United States and abroad that are dedicated to helping others.
Our seventh grade students will visit the Jewish Relief Agency in March, where they will help package and deliver food to low-income Jewish families throughout the greater Philadelphia area. Through this direct, hands-on experience, the students will learn why we must address issues of hunger and poverty.
In January, our Confirmation students visited the Reform Action Center (RAC) in Washington, D.C. on the L’taken Seminar, where they had the opportunity to learn about a number of public policy issues and the Jewish values surrounding those issues. After an in-depth exploration of the issues, the students lobbied our Senators and Representatives for social change. With the help of the Confirmation class, we have moved the pursuit of justice beyond the walls of Or Ami.
Although our students have begun to take steps toward social justice and tikkun olam(repairing the world), we can still do more. I want to encourage every person at Or Ami — Nursery School students, to Religious School students, to adults — to think about how they can pursue social justice in their own lives. This pursuit does not have to be a large one; it can simply be donating tzedakahor writing a letter to our senators. Even this small step can make a difference.
As inspiration for our pursuit of social justice at Or Ami, our students have illustrated how they, like Heschel, can “pray with their feet,” by writing how they give and what they do on footprints that have been posted on the bulletin board in the school wing. Next time you pass by the Religious School office, please look at the bulletin board to see all the incredible things that our students are doing in the pursuit of social justice.
As President Barack Obama said at the URJ Biennial, “Today we look forward, to the world not just as it is, but as it could be. And when we do, the truth is clear. Our Union is not yet perfect, our world is still in desperate need of repair, and each of us still hears that call. The question is: how will we respond? In this moment, every American, of every faith, every background, has the opportunity to stand up and say, ‘here I am.’”
From the Religious School
Working with you to raise great Jewish kids!
Mission:
Congregation Or Ami holds that Jewish learning and participation in Jewish religious and cultural life are essential to the formation of a solid Jewish identity.
Therefore, the Or Ami Religious School is dedicated to educating Jewish youth who will:
See Judaism as a positive and meaningful framework for their lives;
Express their Judaism through ethical behavior, ritual participation, and social action;
View their Jewish education as a life-long process; and
Involve themselves with their Jewish community both locally and globally.
Statement of Intent
It is our intent that our Religious School, in partnership with families and the entire synagogue community, will significantly contribute to the learning, growth and maturation of Jews who:
Express pride in their Jewish heritage, understand and practice Jewish traditions, and are able to transmit knowledge of and enthusiasm for Judaism.
Can articulate different ways Jews have conceptualized God throughout history, and affirm and act upon a personal perspective of God and spirituality.
Can describe the mitzvot which guide Jewish behavior, knowledgeably evaluate them for contemporary life, and commit themselves to live by these values both in their daily lives and on significant occasions.
Understand the reasons for the rituals and customs associated with Shabbat, the Jewish holy days and life-cycle events and observe these occasions appropriately in the synagogue and at home.
Enthusiastically participate in and support the life of the synagogue, the Jewish community, and the community at large.
Appreciate the nature of Tefilah (what it is and why we pray), know the structure and contents of the prayer book, and comfortably participate in Tefilah with kavanah.
Understand the significance of Hebrew as the sacred language of Jewish tradition and the Jewish people, and use it appropriately during synagogue worship and home celebrations.
Understand the basis of Reform Judaism and appreciate all forms of Jewish religious expression.
See themselves as important links in the chain of Am Yisrael for whom the history and the current condition of the Jewish people is familiar, meaningful and central.
Affirm their historic bond to Eretz Yisrael, visit Israel, and work for its well-being.
Religious School Committee
The Religious School Committee is comprised of parents, teachers and congregational leaders.It is charged with:
Working to enhance educational programming and encouraging its continued development and growth.
Maintaining a mission statement, setting goals, and developing an action plan and time line for RSC work.
Reviewing, clarifying and/or developing educational policies in consonance with the mission statement and in coordination with the Educational Director, clergy and related education staff.
Advocating for the school and for educational programming.
Maintaining open communications with the Board, professional education staff, clergy, congregation members and related groups and committees with educational functions.
Engaging in ongoing discussion and evaluation of the school, its objectives and curriculum, its personnel and achievements.
Being involved with the Educational Director and clergy in curriculum development.
Ensuring a safe school environment and the well-being of the students, teachers and staff.
Participating actively and regularly in synagogue-wide and community endeavors on behalf of Jewish education.
The Religious School Committee meets at 7:00 pm in Room 200.
Congregants are welcome to attend meetings as observers.You do not need to have children in the religious school to participate.If you have a specific item that you would like discussed, please contact Lynne Richman to be put on the agenda.
For more information about the Religious School Committee, please contact the
