Our Mission
Our mission is to provide students with a profound understanding of Jewish values, beliefs, and traditions, while also encouraging them to put these teachings into practice in their everyday lives. We believe that learning about Judaism should spark both intellectual and practical engagement, ensuring students are not only informed but also inspired to live by these principles.
Program Overview
Nishmati (“my soul”) is Neshama’s innovative Bnei Mitzvah program developed by Rabbi Shneur Reti-Waks and the team at Kehillat Neshama merging traditional Jewish learning with practical, real-life applications. The program offers a meaningful educational experience that connects with both heart and mind.
For the first time, we are offering the program across two afternoons during the school term!
Tuesdays and Wednesdays
At this stage, enrolments have organically fallen into a pattern—girls on Tuesdays and boys on Wednesdays. This was not an intentional decision to separate the program, but rather seems to reflect students’ existing co-curricular schedules.
The program is absolutely not strictly divided, and families are warmly encouraged to enrol their child on whichever day works best. If you’d like to discuss what might suit your child, please feel free to be in touch with Lisa.
Program Structure
The Nishmati program seamlessly integrates theoretical study, Nilmad (we shall learn) with hands-on experiences, Na’ase (we shall do). The full program curriculum is completed over Terms 2 and 3. Each term is crafted as a 7-8-week unit.
Topics included:
- Jewish Lifecycle Event Part I
- Jewish Lifecycle Event Part I
- Prayer & Spirituality
- Exploring Jewish Identity
- Jewish Symbols and Rituals
- Environmental Stewardship and its role in Judaism
- The Jewish Bookshelf: Evolution of Sacred Literature
- Modern Israel
- Moral Philosophy and Critical Thinking
- Introduction to Jewish Values
- Jewish History and Heroes
- Shabbat and its Significance
- Kosher Kitthen and Jewish Dietary Laws
- Jewish Music and Dance
- Visit to the Melbourne Holocaust Museum
- Visit to the Melbourne Jewish Museum
It also includes monthly Kabbalat Shabbat Services.
Below you will find our Key Dates for the upcoming Term 2, 2026* and also our Term 1 2026 and Terms 2, 3 and 4 2025 booklets for your reference.
*Please note, this is for the Wednesday program, the Tuesday program will be the same except the date will be different