Happy Thanksgiving

How appropriate that we should end our Edot unit of study about American Jewry just before our Thanksgiving holiday break. There is so much our American Jewish community has to be thankful for in this country in which we settled 360 years ago. And, of course, the original Thanksgiving observed by the Puritan colonists back in the 17th century was modeled after the ancient Jewish Feast of the Tabernacles - Sukkot.

We played the Shekel Game yesterday, a group game which tells me if the students have retained key  information I have shared with them in our units of study. I ask each group questions from several subject categories. Yesterday, the categories were Eevreet Bee't'noo'a (Hebrew Through Movement), Seepoor (Story - "Out of Many Waters"), Siddur/B'rachot (Prayerbook/Blessings), Heestor'ya Yehoodeet (Jewish History), and Chageem (Holidays). The students had a lot of fun betting that they could answer my questions, and there was quite a lot of money earned, since they recalled everything I asked in all categories. The final round of the game is the "All or Nothing" round, where the students can choose the category the question will be taken from, and can bet all their money, if they wish. They know that the "All or Nothing" round questions are the most difficult ones in the categories. I was pleasantly surprised that every group chose the Hebrew Through Movement category, rather than the story category (which is usually chosen by most groups). The students feel confident in the Hebrew vocabulary taught during our sessions. The series of commands given to each group were tough ones, and they performed them perfectly.

Listening to Charna asking the question - listen carefully, since the question can't be repeated!

So how much money should we bet?

"The Huddle" - Everyone has to agree on the answer to be given by the reporter.

A perfectly executed command - "La'seem rosh al ha'shoolchan" (Put head on the table)

"La'shevet al ha'reetzpa" (Sit on the floor)

Following the Shekel Game, we moved over to the Beit Knesset, where Joel led all the 5th and 6th graders in singing. One song, written by Jeff Klepper, is about Rabbi Ben Bag Bag  and his teaching about the Torah. It's a catchy tune!

When we returned to our classroom from our music session with Joel, I officially began our unit of study about Shabbat, which I will be teaching in tandem with our unit of study about Ashkenazi Jewry. This is because the culminating event for our unit about Ashkenazi Jewry will be a family "Shabbat Seder" on Friday evening, January 23rd. Our Edot students will share what they learn about Ashkenzi Jewish culture by conducting what was once a typical Ashkenazi "Kabbalat Shabbat" (Welcoming the Sabbath ceremony on Friday evening), which included Yiddish songs and a Yiddish re-telling of a Talmudic era story about Joseph who valued Shabbat. Joel came into our classroom a few minutes after I introduced the unit, and began to teach us two of the songs we'll be singing at the "seder" - Shabbos Shabbos Shabbos and Chiri Bim, Chiri Bom (a Hasidic version of L'cha Dodi).

We finished our session with an all-school t'fila in the Sanctuary. We had a special guest help lead some of the prayers -  Liz Lerman. Taking suggestions for movements from the children, she led us in the singing of several prayers, including "Elohai, neshama she'natata bee, tehora hee..." ("My God, the soul you have given me is pure...")

HAVE A HAPPY THANKSGIVING HOLIDAY!