Bring-A-Friend Day

Our Edot track students concluded this semester, as did all the weekday classes at Isaiah, with our annual "Bring-A-Friend" day. Students often share with their friends outside of our Isaiah community their experiences in Religious School, and this is the one day during the year when they can invite one friend into our classroom. The lesson for the day in Edot track revolved around Hanuka. Charna started the lesson by welcoming all the friends, and explaining what the Edot track was all about. She then read a summary of the events of the Hanuka story. Students and their friends were then divided into four groups, and each group was given one fourth of the summary Charna had just read, and given the challenge to create a skit depicting their assigned part of the story. The challenge was that each group was told to perform the skit in a certain style. Group 1 had to perform the start of the Hanuka story in the style of an American western film; Group 2 as a scifi film; Group 3 in the style of a Harry Potter story; and Group 4 in the style of a Sesame Street episode. The groups went to separate rooms and areas with teachers and Avodah TA's overseeing them.  After 20 minutes we all assembled in Room 202, which had been set up with a stage area, and the performances began. The audience was asked to try to guess the assigned style of the performance, and, in every case, on both days, the groups performed so well that we all guessed correctly. Following the performances, students were given dreydls and bags of pennies, and for the next half hour the sound of dreydls being spun and pennies being thrown into the "pot" could be heard, along with the accompanying shouts of triumph or sighs of frustration. We rounded out the session at a Hanuka assembly in the Sanctuary with the rest of the weekday classes. Rabbi Greninger chose 9 volunteers from friends who were visiting to become a "human hanukiya." The friend playing the role of the Shamash (servant candle) "lit" the 8 friends playing the roles of the 8 candles of the last night of Hanuka, as Rabbi Greninger explained that we put the candles into the hanukiya each night from right to left, but then light them from left to right (lighting the newest candle first). Rabbi Greninger and our Shira (Music) Track teacher, Elaya, then led us all in singing Hanuka songs until it was time to go home. A good time was had by all!

Have a very happy Hanuka holiday - Chag Hanuka Sameach!  Enjoy your winter break, and a smooth and enjoyable transition into 2012.

Hanuka Around the World

Students in our Edot class completed their Hanuka unit of study last week by learning about different Hanuka customs and traditions around the globe. They shared some of what they learned in the form of posters depicting the customs in 9 different countries or regions:  Mexico, Germany, Poland/Russia, Tunisia, Kurdistan (northern Iraq), Yemen, Germany, Alsace region of France, and Morocco. These posters were then hung on a bulletin board outside our classroom, made to look like the 8 candles plus the Shamash (servant candle) of a hanukiya (Hanuka menorah). The finished products were wonderful, and, even more importantly,  the process of learning and creating the posters was enlightening (excuse the Hanuka pun!) and fun.

Hannuka YouTube Links

Now that the Thanksgiving holiday is behind us, our Edot class has been focusing on learning about the Jewish holiday of Hannuka, as it relates to a running theme of our curriculum - cultural borrowing.

We began by reviewing the customs and laws of Hannuka. Students volunteered how they celebrated the holiday at home, and these customs were listed on the board. The students were then asked to look over the extensive list they generated, and share which of the items on the list were mandated by Jewish law (halacha). It was a surprise to many of them that playing the dreydl game and eating latkes (potato pancakes) were not required. The only halachic ritual we are required to perform is lighting the hannukiya (the 9-branch menorah used only for Hannuka), adding one more candle each night, and placing the hannukiya where all can see it  - "l'farsem et ha'nes" - "to make famous the miracle."  Everything else, from playing the dreydl game to eating the latkes, giving presents, eating chocolate hannuka gelt, etc., all falls under the category of customs or traditions ("masoret" in Hebrew).

Once we established the difference between "halacha" and "masoret," we continued the lesson by reviewing the history behind the events of the Hannuka story, beginning with the conquests of Alexander the Great in the early 3rd century B.C.E., the spread of the Hellenistic (Greek) culture, and the ultimate clash of cultures when many Jews began to adopt the Greek culture. The Maccabees, as we know, were victorious, and the Talmudic era Rabbis, living about 500 years after the events of the Hannuka story, emphasized that the miracle that occurred was not so much that the small Maccabean army was able to defeat the large, well-organized army of the Syrian-Greeks. Rather, the true miracle was that a minority culture could survive in the midst of a larger one, and the lesson we could share with the rest of the world was that religious freedom should and could be attained "not by might, and not by power, but by spirit." This lesson is what the ritual of lighting the hannukiya is meant to help us remember each year.

This past Sunday, recalling what we had learned about the prevalence of the Greek culture in the Mediterranean world some 2,000 years ago, we took a close look at our own American culture and how American Jews have adopted many of its elements, giving them a "Jewish twist" and making them part of our own culture. We viewed 4 YouTube videos, each of which reflected how we have borrowed extensively from our American (western) culture to enrich our Hannuka celebrations. Below are the links to these YouTube videos. See if you can isolate the American cultural elements in each. Enjoy!


The Maccabeats sing "Candlelight"
Hanuka with Veronica Monika
Adam Sandler's Chanuka Song
Hannuka Flash Mob in Jerusalem

The History and Geography of Ancient Canaan

Our Edot class has begun to explore the ancient history of the Jews, to learn about the origins of the specific Edot (diaspora communities) we'll be studying. As we travel back in time, we'll be trying to answer the questions, "Who were the earliest Jews?" and "Why and how did the tiny Jewish nation survive while other great civilizations (Sumeria, Assyria, Babylonia, Phillistine, etc) disappeared?"  We'll be using several resources to bring the discoveries of historians and archaeologists to life, including the Revson Foundation's "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews" interactive dvd-rom program.  Check out this program online.
Heritage: Civilization and the Jews

So far, we have discovered that Abraham, the "first Jew" was actually a Sumerian, coming from the city-state of Ur, according to the Book of Genesis. We learned that cultural elements of the Sumerians were brought to the Land of Canaan (modern-day Israel) via trade routes established at least a thousand years before Abraham appeared on the scene. Sumerian creation stories are echoed in the Book of Genesis, and the Code of Law established by Hammurabi, a great king of Sumeria, was likely the basis for many of the commandments found in the Torah. And Sumeria wasn't the only civilization the earliest "Jews" were exposed to - the great civilization of Egypt also exerted a lasting influence on the ancient Israelite culture. Could the monotheistic ideas of Ahmenhotep IV (also known as Akhneton) have had an impression on the ancient Semites living in Egypt? What about the rite of circumcision, practiced in ancient Egypt before there was ever a people identified as "Israel"?

Since many of the events in our ancient history took place in the Land of Canaan, which we came to regard as our homeland, it's important that the students understand the geography of the land, and how geographical features, in many cases, influenced major historical events. For example,  why would Joshua, Moses' successor,  choose to attack the Jordan Valley city of Jericho first, to gain a foothold in the Land of Canaan? Why did the Israelite tribes fight among each other for territory, and which territory did they covet? Why did the Phillistines choose to settle on the Coastal Plain, and how did this affect their interactions with the ancient tribes of Israel? Why did King David choose Jerusalem as his capital city once he defeated the Phillistines and unified the 12 tribes?

For the past couple of weeks, our Edot students have become experts in the geography of the Land of Canaan/Israel. Students were divided into small groups, and began their research by reading a description of Canaan's geography in "A Child's Introduction to the Early Prophets" published by Behrman House. Using notes they took relating specifically to 9 geographical features of the land and its boundaries (Mediterranean Sea, Coastal Plain, Hill Country, Mountains, Jordan River, Jordan River Valley, Lake Kinneret (the Sea of Galilee), the Dead Sea, and the Negev Desert), they drew rough drafts of a map of Canaan on scrap paper. Finally, when they correctly located each feature on their first draft, they were ready to draw the final map on 18"x24" construction paper. These maps were completed in class on November 20th, and will be laminated and referred to as we continue our historical study of the ancient Israelites.

Hebrew Through Movement

Our Edot track 5th and 6th graders were introduced Sunday morning to a new, and hopefully fun way to build a working Hebrew vocabulary. It's called "Hebrew Through Movement," an adaptation of a technique used by many second language instructors called "Total Physical Response" (TPR).  TPR  was developed around the same principles which allow a baby to learn his/her first language - hearing the parent suggest actions, watching the parent model the actions, then eventually responding by acting. Eventually, after a year or so, the baby will respond not only with the actions but with the vocabulary as well. Over the course of the school year, I will be introducing basic vocabulary and, eventually, holiday and prayer vocabulary.

We met outside for our first session, to take advantage of the warm, summer-like weather. The photos share a little bit of the fun we had.

Photos from Sigd Festival

First Edot Blog

Welcome to the first Temple Isaiah Edot blog. Our Edot track fifth and sixth graders have just completed a unit of study about the Beta Yisrael - the Ethiopian Jewish community. We learned about the history of the community, and about the unique Ethiopian Jewish culture that evolved due to centuries of being separated from other Jewish communities in the world. In fact, they believed they were the last Jews on Earth, and had a difficult time believing there were white Jews when they reached Israel. During the 6th century C.E., the Beta Yisrael lost the right to own land when they refused to convert to Christianity. To earn their livelihood, they became metalworkers, basket weavers, textile weavers, and potters. Since they were isolated for so long, they didn't know about the Jewish holiday of Chanuka, but did celebrate all the holidays in the Torah. They do celebrate a very interesting holiday called the "Sigd" (meaning, worship). On this day, they fast all morning, then climb a mountain (in Israel they go to Jerusalem) where their religious leaders, called Kessim, read the first eight verses from the book of Nehemiah, then lead prayers. The fast is then broken with Ethiopian breads and stews and beer, and the ensuing celebration includes storytelling, singing, and dancing the Ethiopian shoulder dance to the beat of drum circles.

On October 23rd, our fifth graders re-enacted this Sigd Festival on the Temple Isaiah campus. Enjoy the following photos of our classroom preparation for the event and the event itself!