Edot: 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: