Our Sunday School is not just a place to learn about Judaism — it is a place to practice it. We are building capable, confident, fluent Jewish young people who feel at home in Jewish life.
OUR PHILOSOPHY
We believe Judaism is learned the way any language is learned — through use.
"Judaism is a lived practice, a language, and a set of spiritual tools that grow through use. Our aim is to form students who feel capable, confident, and comfortable participating in Jewish life – not just students who know facts about it."
The 2026–2027 school year marks a strategic shift toward a skill-building, competency-driven model. The goal is to cultivate Jewish fluency: students who can live their Judaism, not just learn about Judaism.
- Values
- Competencies
- Exposure
- Mastery
- Concepts
- Practice
- Passive learning
- Embodied participation
Kesher – Hebrew for "connection" – is Ahavath Achim Synagogue's supplementary Jewish education program for children Pre-K through 6th grade.
PROGRAM GOALS
Five commitments to every student
Functional Jewish fluency
Students will navigate prayer spaces with confidence, decode Hebrew, recognize core prayers, and participate meaningfully — not passively observe.
✓ Students can open a siddur, find their place, and follow a service.
Spiritual literacy
Students learn how Jewish structures — tefillah, Torah, ritual, sacred time — support emotional, ethical, and spiritual development.
✓ Students understand prayer as a tool for life, not just obligation.
Judaism as natural and lived
Judaism will be experienced as accessible and real — not academic or performative. Students will feel comfortable in synagogue spaces and community settings.
✓ Jewish life feels familiar, not foreign or intimidating.
Vertical skill progression (K–6)
Learning is structured developmentally with clear skill benchmarks by grade band. Each year builds intentionally on the last — cumulative mastery, not repetition.
✓ A student in 6th grade can do what a 1st grader cannot yet imagine.
Community and belonging
The school functions as a relational ecosystem — junior congregations, inter-family connections, cross-grade relationships, and shared rituals.
✓ Students and families experience the synagogue as a place of belonging.
WHAT WE TEACH
Four pillars taught every Sunday
- Tefillah
- Prayer fluency & embodied ritual
- Siddur navigation
- Core prayers
- Musical familiarity
- Meaning-based interpretation
- Hebrew
- Language & decoding competence
- Letter & vowel recognition
- Decoding practice
- Vocabulary acquisition
- Prayer Hebrew fluency
- Torah Lessons
- Narrative literacy & identity
- Torah as sacred story
- Moral complexity
- Jewish archetypes
- Big questions through text
- Rotations
- Israel · Skills · Culture · Chesed
- Peoplehood & geography
- Ritual competence
- Music, art, creativity
- Service & ethical action
"We are building Jews who know how to live Jewishly — not just learn Jewishly." |
HOW WE MEASURE SUCCESS
Not content coverage – but capability
By the end of 6th grade, we want every student to feel comfortable in Jewish spaces, participate confidently in prayer, understand Jewish rhythm and structure, recognize Torah as meaningful, and experience Judaism as a living system — not a subject they once studied.
Confidence
Competence
Fluency
Participation
Belonging
Continuity
2026-2027 Pricing
REGISTRATION
Member:
- PreK-1st Grade: $1050
- 2nd-6th Grade: $1490
Non-Member:
- PreK-1st Grade: $1450
- 2nd-6th Grade: $1890
Sibling Discounts:
- Enrolling two children: -$50
- Enrolling three children: -$150
- Enrolling four children: Fourth child free
If child(ren) enter(s) program after it begins, the cost will be prorated.
Midweek Hebrew Groups
Together with the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta and Shalom Learning (a nationally renowned leader in
Jewish Education), we bring you a program that provides top-quality teachers and excellent curriculum and instruction methods.
Families choose a convenient time for learners to meet with peers from the Greater Atlanta area in a small group setting. Teachers, synagogue education directors, and Shalom Learning staff work together to support student progress and maintain community connections.
- Classes have 3-5 students
- Up to twenty-eight 45-minute online classes
- Flexibility and accessibility for families: Monday,
Tuesday or Wednesday at 4:30 p.m., 5:30 p.m., or
6:30 p.m.
AHC is included in tuition for students enrolled in Kesher for grades 2-6. Additional Information, including choosing your schedule, will be shared closer to the start of the school year.
2026-27 Pricing
The mission of Kesher is to:
- Teach each student to be confident and comfortable in Jewish spaces (Shabbat, synagogue, celebrating holidays, and understanding rituals)
- Instill each student with Jewish values for his/her own personal growth and identity
- Help each student find where he/she fits in to become responsible Jews and stewards of their communities and the world
- Provide each student space to explore what being Jewish means to him/her
- Help each student find joy in being Jewish
- Teach each student to question, problem-solve, and build a just world through hands-on experiences
Midweek Hebrew Groups
G'milut Chasadim
Loving kindness is the root of being able to understand others so that we may be able to give and receive through Chesed.
Bitachon
Our safety/trust is the foundation upon which we create community and allow children to try, sometimes failing, and grow.
Areivut:
Responsibility is knowing it is our duty in making our world a better place by taking pride and ownership in our decisions and our actions.
Tikkun
Repair is the ability to self-reflect and make different choices in the future to make the world a better place.
Kavannah
Intention is the way in which we approach the world, with great purpose and thought, and the ability to make meaning and find connections.
Ma'aseh
Understanding that each action we take affects more than just ourselves
Tzedek
Building a just world and helping us define our relationships
Avodah
To engage in the act of service to better our community and our world
Sh'mirah
Preservation of our world and the resources with which we are blessed
Kavod
Human dignity/respect of our community and world we live in by believing that all human-beings are created in the divine image, and so have equal worth
Nesiah is Hebrew for "journey," and is Ahavath Achim Synagogue's on-the-move program for 7th through 9th-grade students.
Nesiah runs on a triennial curriculum, each year exploring a defining era in Jewish history and culminating with a memorable trip. The curriculum is uniquely designed to the needs of day school students and public-school students alike. As students gain a greater understanding of our shared Jewish history, they also learn more about their own identities and their families' stories.
Daily Schedule
Nesiah students meets in person from 9:30 a.m.–12:30 p.m.
2025-26 Pricing
Registration
- Member: $1550
- Non-Member: $1950
Sibling Discounts:
- Enrolling two teens: -$50
- Enrolling three teens: -$150
- Enrolling four teens: Fourth teen free
If child(ren) enter(s) program after it begins, cost will be prorated.
Enduring Themes
The course for 2022–23, "How Did We Get Here?," explored Jewish immigration to America and Jewish life in the South. Experiences included field trips to Oakland Cemetery, National Center for Civil and Human Rights, The Breman Museum, and more.
The course for 2023–24 is "How Do We Use Gelt?: Saving, Investing, and Giving," and it will explore Jewish values of tzedakah (philanthropy), tikkun olam (healing the world), and avodah (service) through a uniquely designed Giving Circle Program. The year will begin by delving into the history of Jews and money followed by sessions on how we can make change with our money today. Students will have the opportunity to raise their own money, hear from non-profits firsthand, and make decisions about how to invest money into their own community.
A Giving Circle is a group of individuals who come together, combine charitable donations from all members, and collectively make decisions about how to allocate their money. Students will design their own application and learn about seven Jewish philanthropic values that will guide their decision-making process towards which non-profits they will select through the application process. Experiences will include exposure to banks and a variety of non-profit organizations, with a service-learning trip in the spring.
Service Learning Trip
This year's 2023–24 course will culminate in a service-learning trip to Charleston, SC from June 2–5. We will learn first-hand how Jewish philanthropist helped to create the city. We will visit KKBE and the adjacent cemetery, meet with a philanthropist, volunteer at the Jewish Camp, get to know a little bit about the Jewish Federation, and take a Jewish walking tour of the city. (Activities subject to change).
Last year's 2022–23 course, "How Did We Get Here?," concluded with a memorable service learning trip to New York City where students visited Ellis Island, the Jewish Theological Seminary (JTS), the Tenement Museum, and saw a show on Broadway.
Nesiah – Hebrew for "journey" – is Ahavath Achim's on-the-move program for 7th through 9th graders.
Instead of sitting in a classroom, students learn by going: visiting Jewish organizations, exploring their community, and traveling regionally to experience Jewish life up close.
In 2026–2027, Nesiah meets 8–10 times throughout the year, each gathering a purposeful field experience designed to deepen Jewish identity, connect students to the wider Jewish world, and put values into action.
WHY EXPERIENTIAL
Learning that happens in the world, not just about it
"At this age, students don't need more content — they need more context. Nesiah puts Jewish life in front of them, not just in a textbook."
The teenage years are when Jewish identity either takes root or fades away. Nesiah is designed to make Judaism feel relevant, real, and worth belonging to — by meeting students where they are and taking them somewhere meaningful.
WHAT NESIAH BUILDS
Three dimensions of Jewish growth
- Jewish identity & belonging
- Students discover who they are as Jews — their history, their people, and their place in the community.
- Israel connection & peoplehood
- Experiences that connect students to the global Jewish community, the land of Israel, and a sense of shared destiny.
- Social justice & Tikkun Olam
- Students put Jewish values into action — repairing the world through service, empathy, and ethical engagement.
WHAT TRIPS LOOK LIKE
Local roots, regional horizons
Each Nesiah experience is intentionally designed — not a field trip for its own sake, but a journey with a Jewish purpose.
1. EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING
Research in modern education consistently shows that students retain more, engage more deeply, and develop stronger identities when they learn by doing. Nesiah is grounded in this principle: every experience is designed to activate reflection, spark conversation, and connect Jewish values to real-world encounters.
2. LOCAL JEWISH ATLANTA
Synagogues, Jewish organizations, cultural institutions, and community sites — exploring the full ecosystem of Jewish life in our own backyard.
3. SERVICE & CHESED
Hands-on Tikkun Olam experiences where Jewish values — tzedakah, kavod, chesed — become something students do, not just discuss.
"Nesiah is where Jewish learning leaves the building — and becomes a life."
Rabbi Eric Feld
Associate Rabbi and Director of Lifelong Learning
404-355-5222 ext. 222
Michael Levine
Technology and Documentary Specialist
Lily Grosshans
Kesher Gan (Pre-K–K) Teacher
Erin Johnson
Kesher Ozrim (1st–2nd Grade) Teacher
Ava Shaeval
Kesher Cosmin (3rd–4th Grade) Teacher
Rachel Kaplan
Kesher Menches (5th Grade) Teacher
Josh Ginsberg
Nesiah
Rava Shulamit Cenker
Hebrew Specialist
Ma'ayan Rosenthal
Madricha
Amelia Adler
Madricha
Ryan Caplan
Madrich
