Shoulder Dances, Drum Circles, and Tikkun Olam

During our past weekday sessions, I introduced the class to the State of Israel's newest national holiday (as of 2008) - the Sigd Festival. We briefly reviewed the differences between the Beta Yisrael rituals and those of Rabbinic Judaism, including the holidays observed by both. Since Beta Yisrael separated from the larger Judean community before the Babylonian Exile, they had no knowledge of the Purim and Hanuka holidays. On the other hand, they developed their own unique holiday, known as Sigd. I introduced this holiday by sharing a YouTube video of a Sigd Festival held in Israel in 2009. What was particularly moving to me in this video was that as you watch these relatively new Jewish immigrants to Israel observing this special day on their calendar, you can hear a song being sung in the background by an Israeli group called "The High Windows." (6:07 minutes into the video)  They are singing "Eyfo Avraham Aveenu?" ("Where is Abraham our Father?"). The song names the common ancestors of all Jews - of all the Edot - and asks what has become of them. The answer is in front of our eyes as we watch the Beta Yisrael and Israelis from other parts of the world joining them in Jerusalem, learning about the Beta Yisrael culture and history, and praying together. We are Abraham and Joseph, Rachel and Moses. We may not look the same or follow similar customs, but we are returning to Israel and are becoming one again.

Once the students were familiar with what the Sigd Festival was all about, I announced that on Sunday morning, November 3rd, during second session, all the Edot students will be re-enacting a Sigd Festival on our Isaiah campus. (Be sure to look for the letter I've sent to parents with details about the day! You should be getting it by e-mail on Tuesday or Wednesday of this coming week.) We'll "climb the mountain" up from Risa Road to the lawn outside the Sanctuary, then read from the Book of Nehemiah and celebrate as the Beta Yisrael do - with shoulder dances and drum circles. We'll greet each other with Amharic and Ge'ez greetings, and sing the songs Joel Siegel has been teaching us. And we'll taste the breads and sweet dough treats the Beta Yisrael have eaten during the festival for centuries.

Here are two more videos I shared with the students, to get us all into the mood:  Drum Circle and Shoulder Dance . It's hard to sit still while listening to the beats and music and watching the dance. Have fun at home practicing the shoulder dance! We're sure to have fun at our Sigd Festival.

Yesterday, we took a break from our Beta Yisrael unit of study, to participate in the 5th/6th grade Mitzvah Project. All three tracks - Edot, Shira, and Y'tzira - gathered together in the Beit Knesset to watch a presentation about Wardrobe for Opportunity. Following the presentation and instructions about how to sort donated clothing, we all worked together to help effect "Tikkun Olam."

Wendy Dorband introduced the two videos she brought to share; each video focused on one client of WFO who was able to achieve success thanks to the help received from the organization's "Pathways" program (teaching social skills and interviewing skills) as well as from the five outfits they received to help open doorways to interviews and jobs.

Debra Kalan shared stories of WFO clients who had no confidence in themselves when they were referred to WFO, and who came back later to share how wonderfully their lives had changed thanks to the help they received.

Where did the clothes and accessories that we sorted come from?  A big thank you goes to everyone who donated suits, dresses, shirts, ties, etc. for us to sort.

Lots and lots of clothing!

If a piece of clothing wasn't appropriate for interviewing, it might be sold in the hospice thrift shop if it was clean and in good condition; or it might be sent to Africa where it could be mended and cleaned for use by the needy there.

Interview-appropriate clothing was hung on hangers and kept on the portable clothes rack

Donated jewelry was closely examined for its condition and style

Clothing for the hospice thrift shop was packed in white plastic bags; clothing for Africa was packed in black plastic bags

Nothing was sorted without a good deal of discussion first

There was even time to model some of the clothing...

...Looking good!

Just before the activity (first session) and just after it (second session), our Edot students were introduced to "Rambam's Rungs," learning about the best and worst ways of fulfilling the commandment to create a just world by giving things to needy people (i.e. tz'daka).

I asked the students to read through 8 different ways of giving tz'daka which Rambam (a/k/a Maimonides) described in his "Mishne Torah" and then to decide which was the best way to give, and which was the worst.

"Yeah, I give tz'daka - it's a real drag and I hate doing it..."  We all agreed that was the worst way of giving. "It's nice to give things to needy people, but I prefer to teach them skills so they can go out and become contributing members of society."  We agreed that was the best way.

Thank you to Wendy, Debra, Bobbi, and Elaine from WFO (all of them members of our Isaiah community!), who took the time to come yesterday to share with us how important their organization is to so many people, and to give us all the opportunity to help bring about a just world.  We were able to give our time and skills toward helping people become contributing members of society - the highest form of giving, according to Rambam!  YASHER KO'ACH to WFO.