Hanuka Fun on Bring-A-Friend Days

We welcomed in the first two days of Hanuka this past Tuesday and Wednesday with our annual "Bring-A-Friend" days. In spite of the pouring rain both days, our fifth and sixth graders came, many with their friends. The Talmudic era rabbis declared that we must "make famous the miracle." In Temple Isaiah tradition, we invite friends, both Jewish and non-Jewish, to share the miracle with them - and have a lot of fun while doing so!

We combined all three fifth and sixth grade tracks (Edot, Shira and Y'tzira) and began the session each day in the Beit Knesset. There, I read a short summary of the Hanuka story. We then divided the students into 4 groups on Tuesday and 5 groups on Wednesday, and assigned each group one fourth of the Hanuka story I had just read. They were to take their assignment and create a 2-minute skit, performing it in a certain style. For example, one group was asked to perform it in the style of the TV show "Family Guy"; another group would perform their assigned part in the style of a football game, etc. Each group rehearsed with an assigned teacher in a different room or area of the school, so that no group would overhear what another's assignment was.

After 20 or so minutes, the groups re-convened in the Beit Knesset, where each group was asked to perform their part of the Hanuka story for the other students as I timed the 2 minutes they were given to perform it. After each performance, the audience was asked to guess in which style the skit was performed. Once they had guessed (and each group performed their part of the Hanuka story so well that the audience guessed the style in which they performed it right away!), I challenged each group to perform the same skit, but in half the time and half the time again. Lots of laughing and craziness ensued, and helped to put everyone in a "Hanuka mood!"

As I looked in on each group as they prepared their skits each day, there seemed to be a lot of chaotic action, yet ultimately the skits all came together. Take a look below at some footage I shot of the group assigned to perform their part of the story in the style of the TV show "Glee." 

First, their brainstorming session in one of the classrooms:

Then, the final performance:

Below are some still shots taken of the other groups preparing for or performing their skits both days. One thing can be said for certain - both students and friends went home in the evening knowing the events and the miracle of the Hanuka story very well!

Demanding Jews worship Greek gods a la Indiana Jones

Fighting the Syrian-Greek army a la football game

Bowing down before a Greek god a la Family Guy

Snow White's 7 dwarves lining up to go to work cleaning the Holy Temple

Darth Vader (breathing heavily!) commanding all Jews to worship Greek gods

Mattityahu (a/k/a Luke Skywalker) killing the Jew who dared to bow down before the Greek idol

Hobbits working hard to cleanse the Holy Temple

Superheroes preparing to fight Antiochus' army

As soon as all the groups had performed their skits each day, each track went back to its classroom to play the Dreydl Game. I gave each student and friend a bag of Skittles to use for playing the game in our Edot class. There were other games they could play, but everyone chose to play the Dreydl Game. 

You could even play the dreydl game and while you were waiting for your turn, find Hanuka objects in the "Where's Waldo" style Hanuka book

We finished the day up in the Sanctuary, joining the third and fourth grade tracks to light the first candle on Tuesday evening, and the second candle on Wednesday evening. 

Rabbi Greninger led us in chanting the blessings for the first night. Amazingly, just 8 hours later, she gave birth to Gabriel.  MAZAL TOV!)

 

 

I'd like to take this opportunity to wish you all a CHAG HA'ORIM SAMEACH - HAPPY FESTIVAL OF LIGHTS, as well as a very happy and healthy 2015. We'll see you back in school on Tuesday, January 6th or Wednesday, January 7th - 2015!

The Early History of the Ashkenazim

I introduced the students yesterday to the Ashkenazim. Most of us living in the United States today are descended from this Jewish community, which origins are shrouded in mystery to this day. Obviously, I had to simplify a good deal of what we think we know about Ashkenazi origins for the students. My presentation was taken entirely from the "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews" program. In order to help the students understand the atmosphere in which Ashkenazim had to live in Europe outside of Spain as the only non-Christians, I began my presentation with segments from the program describing Jewish life in Judea under Roman occupation and the continual growth of Diaspora communities at that time (minutes 0.45-6:28). We then watched a segment describing the birth of Christianity in Judea (minutes 9:18-13:42) and the eventual rift which grew between Christianity and traditional Judaism during the first century C.E. (minutes 17:26-19:47).

Once the students understood the background antagonisms between Christianity and traditional Judaism, I jumped ahead and shared with them a video segment describing the growth of animosity toward the Ashkenazi Jewish population in Europe beginning about a thousand years ago (minutes 18:38-24:46). Following the destruction wreaked upon the Jews during the First Crusade, Jewish communities recovered, but the hatred of uneducated peasants that grew out of their belief that their Messiah had been murdered by Jews, coupled with the economic tensions growing between Christians of all classes and Ashkenazim, led to a cycle of Jewish expulsions (especially when kings owed the Jewish moneylenders more money than they could possibly pay back) and invitations to return (when kings needed more money!) in western Europe. This cycle continued until the mid-14th century when one third of western Europe's population succumbed to the Black Death. It was at this time that most Ashkenazim, blamed for poisoning the wells and thus causing the plague, were forced to leave western Europe and seek refuge in eastern Europe at the invitation of Polish princes and kings. It was in Eastern Europe that the vibrant Yiddish culture of the Ashkenazim blossomed.

Baked Latkes and the True Miracle of Hanuka

If it's Hanuka (and it will be this coming Tuesday evening), it must be latkes!  We again took a break on Tuesday and Wednesday from our Hebrew Through Movement sessions to explore Hebrew vocabulary associated with preparing latkes, or, as they're better known in Israel - leveevot.

Instead of frying the prepared mixture, our recipe called for baking it. There was so much oil on the pans and in the mixture, that the pancakes basically fried in the oven - certainly less messy and safer than frying over heated oil! 

As usual, I began by reviewing previously used vocabulary and introducing vocabulary specific to this recipe.

To be sure the students understand the vocabulary, I ask them to raise each ingredient up in the air, then place it back on the table.  L'hareem et ha'kos shel shemen (Raise the cup of oil).

L'hareem et ha'k'ara ha'k'tana eem batzel (Raise the small bowl with onions) Note: we used diced onions instead of grating them to save time and avoid tears!

Now comes the real action - Reisheet kol, l'gared et tapoochei ha'adama (First of all, grate the potatoes)

L'hachzeek ba'k'ara! (Hold onto the bowl!)

Az, leet'rof et ha'beitza (Then, beat the egg)

Ein lanu harbei z'man - l'gared v'leet'rof! (We don't have much time - grate and beat!)

Achshav, l'hoseef et ha'shameer v'et ha'shoom. (Now, add the dill and the garlic.)

Leesh'foch et ha'shemen l'toch ha'k'ara ha'g'dola... (Pour the oil into the big bowl...)

...v'az l'arbev et ha'kol b'yachad b'toch ha'k'ara ha'g'dola. (And then stir everything together in the big bowl.)

U'va'sof, la'avor et ha'eerboov la'tavneet eem kaf. (And finally, transfer the mixture to the baking sheet with a spoon.)

Achshav, zeh moochan la'afot ba'tanoor. (Now, it's ready to bake in the oven.)

Ta'eem me'od - B'TEYAVON! (Very tasty - BON APETIT!)

After we took a much-needed hafsaka (recess), followed by our tefillah session with Rabbi Greninger, we returned to our Edot classroom and I introduced the subject of Hellenism as a focus to our discussion of the Hanuka holiday and the "real miracle" of Hanuka. After opening the discussion by showing the students a poster with about 30 different Latin letter spellings of the word "Hanuka," I asked them which spelling was the only correct one. After receiving a few responses, one of the children answered "All of them," and another student then called out, "Actually, none of them!" The latter is the correct answer. Hanuka is a Hebrew word (meaning "dedication") and is the name of a Jewish national holiday, so the only truly correct spelling is with the Hebrew alphabet - chet, noon, kaf, hey (חֲנֻכָּה).

Once we had established that it is a Jewish national holiday commemorating a very important epoch in our nation's history, I shared that about 2,200 years ago, the Jewish People had to face an enemy that was more powerful than any enemy we had ever faced before. I ask the students whom they thought this enemy might be, and received many answers - the Greeks, the Romans, the Egyptians, and the Syrians among others. I wrote these down, then told the students that I was about to show them an 8-minute video segment that would help to answer the question. To help the students focus, I gave them each a sheet of paper with one of 5 topics written on the top: Art and Architecture, Education, Language and Literature, Science and Philosophy, or Religion. They were to listen carefully for any information relating to their assigned topic and jot it down on the paper to share in our discussion following the video showing. The video segment was taken from the "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews" dvd-rom program. (Begin at 17:30 minutes into the program, and end at 25:57)

What the video segment shared with them was the incredible Greek culture that flourished from its height during the reign of Pericles in Athens in the 5th century B.C.E. until the advent of the Roman Empire in the 1st century B.C.E.. I wanted the students to understand how amazing and seductive a culture it was, so that by the time of the Hanuka story events (168-163 B.C.E.) when 9 out of 10 Jews were living outside of Judea, almost all the inhabitants of the territories conquered by Alexander the Great had adopted the Greek culture.Of course the Judeans were the only ones back then worshiping one God, but were assimilated in almost every other aspect. In fact, so many Jews could not understand Hebrew anymore, that the Bible had to be translated into Greek.

After we shared what the students had learned about the Greek culture from the video segment, I wrote the word "HELLENISM" on the board and explained that the Greek word for Greece is Helas, and that Hellenism is a term referring to the love of the Greek culture. We then discussed the split that occurred in the Jewish world within Judea, caused by the advent of Hellenism. Could Jews live within a majority culture and still hold onto their beliefs and their national identity? Could they speak another language on a daily basis, eat other foods, enjoy another culture's holidays, dress as everyone around them did, sing their songs, dance their dances, etc. etc., and still be able to feel proud of their Jewish heritage, hold fast to their beliefs, and share that pride and belief system with the generations that followed them?

It didn't take long for the students to catch on to the fact that we were describing our own American Jewish situation. I asked for a show of hands of how many spoke Hebrew fluently (no hands raised), how many kept strictly kosher at home (no hands raised), how many attended Shabbat services every week (no hands raised), how many felt proud of being Jewish and wanted their children to feel the same (ALL HANDS RAISED!!!). 

Tragically, 2,200 years ago, Jews in Judea did not have the opportunity to explore the possibility of living within a majority culture while still holding onto their beliefs. Antiochus IV (Epiphanes) ordered all the peoples in his Syrian Kingdom to worship the Greek gods. There were many Hellenist Jews who were more than willing to "convert" and helped to introduce Greek gods into the Temple in Jerusalem. But many refused to give up their Jewish beliefs; those Jews were led by the Maccabees. Just like in our own American Civil War, families were often divided and fought against each other.There were atrocities committed on both sides. Happily, the Maccabees were able to reclaim the Temple in the year 165 B.C.E. and cleanse it from the unkosher offerings sacrificed to the Greek gods. The war raged on for five years after that event until the Maccabees could claim a total victory.

About six hundred years after the Maccabean Revolt, the Rabbis of the Talmud created a story about oil miraculously lasting 8 days to try to "erase" our national memory of the bloody Maccabean Revolt. They did not want future Jewish generations to think that our nation could only survive by bloodshed. "Not by might, and not by power, but by spirit alone shall we all live in peace." (Words from the Debbie Friedman song inspired by the phrase in Zechariah 4:6, when God tells the prophet Zechariah, “Not by might, nor by power, but by My Spirit.")

Finally, I asked the class once more the question I had posed to them at the start of the session - who or what was the enemy that was more powerful than any enemy we had ever faced before? The answer was "assimilation" - and the true miracle of Hanuka was that our tiny nation - very small in numbers compared to the other nations - not only survived but thrived within a majority culture. This is the story of the Edot. No matter where Jews have lived, we have borrowed cultural elements from the surrounding culture, given them a "Jewish twist" and thus enhanced and enriched our own culture. Back then it was the Greek culture; for us today it's the American culture. As long as we remember who we are, where we came from and how we got here - as long as we continue to share our values and beliefs with our succeeding generations, the "miracle" will continue!

Shabbat Shalom and Fifth Grade Siddur Workshop

We came back from our Thanksgiving break and immediately began to take a close look at the true meaning of the Friday evening greeting, "Shabbat Shalom." I began by introducing the students to the concept of the Hebrew root letters - the shoresh - from which Hebrew words are built. I shared how many words - in some cases hundreds of words - can be built from one shoresh. Most shorasheem (plural of shoresh) are made up of 3 letters. An important thing to keep in mind, I told the students, is that all the words which can be built from the same shoresh must have a meaning in common.

Once we had determined that all the words that can be built from the shin-vet-tav shoresh had to have something to do with rest (Shabbat is the "day of rest", la'shevet - which the students recognized as one of our Hebrew Through Movement commands - means "to sit," etc.) we had a lively discussion about how God rests. The consensus, by the end of the session, was that God rested after Creation by "stepping back" and appreciating the universe which had just been Created. "And God saw that it was good." So Shabbat, for us, is a time for rest - but not to sleep late or sit around all day doing nothing. Instead, it's a day to be set aside to appreciate the universe as it was created, as well as to look back at the previous 6 days to determine if we did our best to help keep our "balance on the timeline" (help to make ourselves, our friends and families and other peoples, as well as the environment more "balanced") and to look ahead to the next 6 days, to think about how we could continue to keep the "balance."

We looked at the 3-letter shoresh for the word "Shalom," and learned that all the words built from the sh-l-m shoresh must have something to do with "complete." The Hebrew word "l'shalem," which means "to pay" is reflecting the fact that when you pay, you are "completing a transaction." "Shalom," which we've always learned meant "peace" (and is also a greeting), more accurately refers to a "sense of completeness."
Thus, when we wish each other "Shabbat Shalom" each Friday evening, we are wishing others that sense of completeness that can only come when you've tried your best to do what needs to be done to make this world a better place for all living things, and the "rest" that results when you can step back and appreciate how you have helped and how beautiful the universe is.

We took a break from our Shabbat unit of study over the weekend. Our sixth graders and their parents attended a special Shabbat workshop on Saturday morning, to learn about the prayer service which they will help to lead when they become Bar/Bat Mitzvah in just a year or so. On Sunday, the fifth graders and their families came to the Social Hall during first session, for their second B'nei Mitzvah workshop. This one focused on the Siddur as well as on the B'nai Mitzvah ceremony.

Each student decorated a book cover using stencils for the English and Hebrew letters, along with Jewish symbol stencils. These book covers were for the new Mishkan Tefilah Siddur which was presented to each student after the book cover decorating activity. Many students brought along family photos as well as dedications which they attached on the book cover. Parents and siblings helped. Once the students received their Siddurim, parents stayed with Cantor Korn to learn the date their child(ren) was assigned for Bar/Bat Mitzvah, while the students joined Josh, Maimone, Genevieve, myself and our TA's in the Oneg Room for several community-building games, where a lot of fun was had by all!

The Siddurim will be brought to the Beit Knesset, and our fifth graders will use them during our weekday t'fila sessions, as our sixth graders are already doing.

Below are some snapshots from the workshop: 

 The resulting covers were amazing. It was obvious that family is very important in our congregation!