B’nai Mitzvah Tutors

Elyse Banak

My name is Elyse Banak and I am a tutor for B’nai Mitzvah.  Sharing the B’nai Mitzvah experience with my students is very important to me.  I enjoy the connection that I have with my students and their family during this meaningful time in their lives.  In the religious school, I am one of the dalet teachers. I have been teaching at TBT for 17 years.  Through my years at TBT, I have taught bet, dalet, hay, vov and zayin!  I also play flute at Shir Shabbat services.

In my other life, I have a degree in Electrical Engineering, and worked as an engineer for 15 years in CT.  When we moved to Massachusetts, I started teaching and tutoring math and science.  I now teach math and science at a private boarding high school in Natick.  I enjoy tutoring all math and science high school classes privately.

I have three children who attended Temple Beth Torah’s Religious School  and they each had their Bat Mitzvah at TBT.  My oldest daughter is now working in retail, my middle daughter is a chemical engineer and my youngest daughter is working at a tutoring center and records music (ask me about her stage name and you could listen to her music!).

I have enjoyed teaching at TBT and like the warm community that it offers!

Charli Bernstein

My name is Charli Bernstein and I have been a member of Temple Beth Torah for over 27 years. In 2005, I began tutoring B’nai Mitzvah students. Starting in 2009, I began teaching the 6th grade students and for several years, also taught the 2nd grade. I am currently serving as co-chair of the Ritual Committee.

My education philosophy is to provide students with a solid foundation in Judaism; to teach our history, traditions and prayer texts and to understand the meaning of Jewish identity while helping them determine what being Jewish means to them.

Watching the students grow, develop relationships and share their thoughts and opinions brings me great pride. There is nothing more satisfying than seeing our students be called to the Torah and become a Bar/Bat Mitzvah.