Religious School

Madeline Pimentel Diaz
Religious Education Director | madi@tbetacoma.org

Madeline Pimentel Diaz is a proud Army veteran, creator, advocate, speaker, and educator. Her passion in life is giving and helping those in need. She was born and raised in Queens, New York.

During her 22-year career in the U.S. Army as a medic, she traveled around the world in continued service to service members as well as the communities she served in. During her service, she earned a master’s degree in Organizational Leadership, a bachelor’s degree in Human Resource Management/Business and an associate degree in Business from Columbia Southern University. Her last duty station prior to retirement was Joint Base Lewis McChord. It was here where she met her partner Mazriel in 2015. They married in 2016 and became a tribe. They are raising three intelligent sons, Ivan, Gabriel, and Spencer, along with their dogs Kau, Ika and Tlaloc and cat Cha-cha Lovely.

Her professional skill set includes project management, healthcare administration, human resources, public speaking, and education. Madeline Laila is currently serving our community as the Interim Religious Education Director and Sisterhood Co-President. She also teaches life skills classes for Metro Parks Recreation in Tacoma, WA. Being a member of Temple Beth El has strengthened her faith and given her purpose.

We have devised a program that allows students to accomplish the following at the culmination of their formal Jewish education at the end of their twelfth-grade year:

• Live a life guided by Jewish values, helping each student to affirm their own Jewish identity.
• Actively participate in the covenant made between God and the Jewish people by embracing Torah and through the study and observance of mitzvot (commandments) as interpreted in the light of Reform Judaism.
• Cherish and study Torah (biblical narratives and values) and Hebrew, the language of the Jewish people.
• Engage in acts of tzedakah (righteousness, justice) and g’milut chasadim (acts of loving-kindness), working thus to pursue the quest for equality, freedom, and peace in this world.
• Form ties with the land of Israel and the State of Israel.
• Observe Shabbat, the festivals and the rituals that mark the significant occasions in their lives.
• Develop a positive Jewish self-identity that extends beyond them to their families, friends and community.
• Participate in and support the life of the synagogue.

All three programs that we offer at Temple Beth El, our kindergarten through seventh grade religious school, third through seventh grade Hebrew school, and eighth through twelfth grade Hebrew High School work in conjunction to accomplish these goals.