Jewish life of Emanuel is the soul and heartbeat of our school.
You can feel it when students enthusiastically take part in Ruach on a Friday morning, in anticipation of Shabbat. You can feel it when the little voices of our Years K - 2 sing the Birkat Ha'mazon (grace after meals prayers) with enthusiasm at the end of lunch. You can feel it when the students from Kornmehl - Year 12 come dressed up for Purim, having put thought and effort into their costumes and you can feel it when our Year 7 students present their Shorashim projects, reflecting on the importance of their heritage and roots.
The journey each Emanuel student takes through our school is fundamentally a Jewish journey. We strive to build a community of caring and knowledgeable individuals, who experience Judaism as personally engaging and meaningful. With a diverse student body and staff, we honour and promote pluralistic expressions of Judaism as enriching and deepening our shared heritage.
Our inclusive and welcoming school environment serves to nurture responsible and concerned individuals, contributing to both our Jewish and world communities.
Pre-School
Kornmehl Pre-school supports and celebrates diversity, honouring our heritage by providing a rich and unique learning experience that values family, history, traditions and cultures.
Children's knowledge and understanding of traditions and importance of a Jewish heritage are celebrated and cultivated. We come together Kabbalat Shabbat each week and enjoy a warm, spiritual sense of community.
All Jewish festivals are celebrated with enthusiasm, with children engaging in activities to provide them with knowledge and teach the values of Miztvot, Tzedakah and Tikkun Olam. This learning is extended outside of the classroom, with visits to the aged, chesed and the creation of care packages.
In keeping with our ethos, Hebrew is taught by a specialist teacher and it is integrated into the daily life of the Pre-school.
Primary School
Jewish Life in the Primary School provides students with knowledge, skills and memorable experiences as they learn about their Jewish heritage and build their own sense of Jewish identity.
MIND לבבך
Hebrew is taught through immersion using the programs TalAm, iTaLAM and Chaverim B’Ivrit. These programs are used around the world and have a holistic approach and a connection to Israel.
Students engage in Hebrew learning through texts, technology, music, drama and games to experience Hebrew as a living culture.
In Jewish Studies students explore Jewish history, texts, ethics, tradition and Jewish living in an open, pluralistic environment that encourages questioning and the creation of personal meaning.
SPIRIT נפשך
Ruach (spirit) fills the School during tefillah (prayer), Shabbat and festival celebrations as students learn, lead, create and celebrate Jewish living through prayers, readings, music and dance.
Students learn, lead and experience various opportunities involving the siddur, Torah readings, personal reflections and Jewish meditation.
BEING מאדך
Hebrew is visible and experienced on our school campus and through music, Israeli dancing, plays, reading clubs and student presentations at assemblies.
Pathways ceremonies bring students and families together to celebrate significant moments and milestones in Jewish learning and living.
Students live the Jewish values of Gemilut Hasadim (acts of kindness) and Tzedakah (working for justice) by engaging with the community and joining with various organisations as partners in the process of Tikkun Olam (bettering the world).
High School
In accordance with our school motto, we are committed to educating the whole child, in Mind, Spirit and Being.
MIND לבבך
Within our Jewish Studies classes, which are compulsory from Years 7-11, we challenge our students to explore and discover Judaism as a living dialogue in which each individual has a voice.
Through project-based learning, electives and thematic units, our students are encouraged to develop both an appreciation of the wisdom of our tradition and a critical and authentic understanding of how it may help them forge a mindful and meaningful Jewish life.
Our students encounter their Hebrew studies as a means to engage more fully with their Jewish heritage and present-day Israel. They experience Hebrew as the shared language of our people and as a core component of their Jewish identity.
SPIRIT נפשך
Every Friday, we enjoy a student-led welcoming of Shabbat that highlights the joy of communal celebration. Our students sing Shabbat and Hebrew songs, dance together, share in a variety of theme-centred Shabbat experiences, join in the kiddush and motsi (prayers over the wine and bread) and, in a spirited expression of simchah (joy) and ruach, honour the best of Shabbat.
On Monday mornings we communally experience moments of prayer, reflection and study. Student members of each House lead their peers in prayer and share their thoughts and perspectives on the weekly parashah (Torah reading), through their own D’Var Torah. In addition, a variety of tefillah (prayer) groups, such as Jewish meditation, encountering prayer as a personal journey, or exploring challenging and personal theological and ethical issues through the lens of Jewish thinking and living, are provided to our students.
BEING מאדך
Coming together in chaggim and moadim, celebration and commemorations, we give living expression to our Jewish being. Our Jewish Life madrichim and their peers develop programs and activities that highlight the essence of holiday and commemorative events, while generating new rituals and observances that speak to them. Our students become empowering agents in creating a living Judaism in which being Jewish is an ever-renewing enterprise.
Our students engage in many diverse Tikkun Olam projects and programs. As Jewish styudents, they learn that we are called upon to live as God’s partners in bettering our world through caring for the wellbeing of others (gemilut hasadim) and working for equity and justice (tzedakah) for all people. Students initiate and participate in Tikkun Olam endeavours within our local, national and world-wide communities.
Students actively engage in Jewish Life each day, with Hebrew, Jewish Programs and Camp experiences designed to further explore and deepen their connection to Judaism. These include Year group Shabbatons, Machaneh Krembo in Year 8, Machaneh Ayekah in Year 10 and the Chavayeh Trip to Israel in Year 10.
An Emanuel student is taught that the highest Jewish value is to be a mensch. We teach about ve’ahavta lereiacha kamocha, you shall love your neighbour as yourself. We also encourage the Jewish value that everyone is created in the image of God and is deserving of respect and dignity.
Our students leave Emanuel proud of their Judaism, with a deep love for Israel. They are not afraid to question, and they also understand the importance of listening.
More than anything we encourage love for our tradition and a love for humanity and our planet- ensuring that our students’ roots run deep in the soil of our ancient past, while their branches reach towards the sky, with limitless possibilities.