Integrated Jewish Arts - The Toronto Heschel School

Centre for Excellence in Integrated Jewish Arts

At the Toronto Heschel School we recognize the value of learning through the arts. We admire the arts for their capacity to nurture imagination, flexible thinking and creative problem solving. Research shows that students who learn in arts-rich environments have better academic outcomes, social and emotional development, as well as higher levels of civic engagement, self-motivation, and self-discipline.

God filled them with a wise heart to do every craft of the carver, weaver, and embroider.

— Exodus 35:35

The Toronto Heschel School integrates learning through the arts throughout its curriculum. The Centre for Excellence in Integrated Judaic Arts supports teachers with on-going professional development, mentorship and opportunities to work collaboratively to create, implement, and enhance our unique Judaic Arts curriculum. The Centre also supports special arts workshops, guest artists, and art-based field trips. Programmes supported by the Centre include:

The Dramatized Haggadah
Integrated Ceramics Program
Judaic Arts Dance Workshops
Slavery to Freedom Textual Arts
The Human Rights Graffiti Project
Shemuel Alef and Bet Song-Writing Program
And more…

Every child is an artist. The problem is how to remain an artist when he grows up.

— Pablo Picasso

Teaching through the arts offers students ways to make deep, meaningful connections in their learning. Creative tasks ask students to think metaphorically and innovatively to apply their understanding in new and unexpected contexts.The arts help vividly bring concepts to life by inviting students to see big ideas through the lens of their own knowledge and experiences.

— Daniel Abramson, Art Teacher, The Toronto Heschel School