Our Stories

It’s probably a safe bet to assume that, if you’ve done it before, the first time you chanted Torah was in middle school or later. This past year, however, each 5th grader at MILTON enjoyed the opportunity to chant publicly at a multi‑grade Thursday Torah service. All students chanted over the course of the year, with some participating multiple times.

This opportunity was the result of both the Netivot Tefillah (Prayer Paths) program launched last year and the new Torah service structure introduced this year. According to Director of Jewish Life Reb Scott Slarksey, “Both were designed to diversify our students’ prayer experiences at MILTON and to empower them to lead communal Jewish prayer experiences.” 

In Netivot Tefillah, Elementary School students stay in their classrooms once a week during their regular tefillah time to learn about new prayer-related skills, traditions, and concepts from MILTON faculty. This program provides the initial introduction to Torah trope as a system of musical punctuation that animates the text in Grade 4. For several weeks, students learn a variety of trope markings and melodies and practice identifying and chanting each one. This paves the way for students to work their way through a full reading the next year. 

In each weekly Grade 5 Torah service, students chant from the Torah, take aliyot, and practice essential ritual skills such as lifting, dressing, and carrying the Torah. They also engage deeply with the parasha in discussions led by Reb Scott. This program helps them develop greater confidence and ease in chanting Torah within a warm, supportive community well in advance of their b’nei mitzvah. 

Introducing a new skill to our curriculum and creating an authentic forum for students to demonstrate their learning has expanded student proficiency in tefillah leadership and strengthened students’ connections to Torah and communal prayer. Dor and Stephen from the Stars and Stripes class, for example, both chanted from the Torah twice throughout the year because, in Dor’s words, “it was really fun.”

“We practiced together to get ready,” he explained. “First, we looked at the text and just read each word normally. Then, we added in the trope. We repeated every word again and again, then moved to each sentence once we were ready. We first practiced with a recording, and then we did it without listening until we got it. It took about two weeks.”

When asked how he’d advise an incoming Grade 5 student preparing to chant from the Torah for the first time, Dor said, “It’s not as hard as you think it is. What I’d tell someone is to not rush. Just practice slowly and take your time. Especially when you’re reading—just read each word slowly, and you’ll do great.”