Weaving Baskets

As always, we've had a very busy week in our Edot class. We started with the shortest game of Jeopardy - excuse me - Jewpardy! in recorded history. A big thanks goes to Erin, our Shira teacher, who used her technology skills to create the game board on her computer.

Terrific categories from the curricula of all 3 fifth and sixth grade tracks!

We divided into two teams, and everyone was quickly involved

Category: Jewish Holidays - can you figure out the question to this answer?

 Check out this video below to hear the game's lo-tech sound effects!

Then it was time for our Edot students to move around to the commands of the Hebrew Through Movement program:

Still on the Shabbat holiday theme: Andrew, la'tet bakbook ya'een shel Shabbat l'Jake. (Andrew, give the Shabbat wine bottle to Jake.)

Jake, leesh'foch ya'een mee'bakbook ya'een shel Shabbat l'toch kos shel Shabbat. (Jake, pour wine from Shabbat wine bottle into Shabbat cup.)

Ari, leesh'tot ya'een shel Shabbat mee'kos shel Shabbat. (Ari, drink Shabbat wine from Shabbat cup.)

Following our hafsaka (recess) and tefillah (prayer service), I introduced the students to the Sigd Festival, a holiday unique to the Beta Yisrael community until it was made into an official Israeli national holiday in 2008. It's basically a combination of Yom Kippur and Shavuot, during which, in the morning, the Beta Yisrael members fast and pray for forgiveness for their sins, and then, in the afternoon, they climb a mountain (or go up to Jerusalem in Israel) and break the fast with Ethiopian breads and stews and beer, at which point the religious leaders, the Kessim, chant the first 8 lines from the Book of Nehemiah describing how the Scribe Ezra read from the Torah to the Judahites. After that, the afternoon is filled with dancing and singing, more eating, more dancing and singing, and more eating (sound familiar?!). 

I then shared with the class that on November 22nd (the Sunday just before we start our Thanksgiving holiday break), we will be re-enacting a Sigd Festival on our Isaiah campus. We'll skip the fasting part and asking for forgiveness for our sins (since we've already observed Yom Kippur), and will begin by "climbing a mountain" (from Risa Road all the way up to the Oneg Room). Once we reach the "summit," we'll celebrate as they still do in Israel (this year the Sigd falls on November 11th). I'll be asking parent volunteers to help prepare the breads we'll be eating, and the students themselves will prepare a popular Sigd treat called Dabo Kolo in class, the week before the event. We'll also dance and sing.

I already introduced the drum circles a week ago, which all members of the Beta Yisrael dance to. This week, I introduced the students to the Ethiopian shoulder dance, which the Beta Yisrael adopted, and gave a Jewish "twist." Instead of simply dancing just with their shoulders, they added whole-body movements to tell the story of how Queen Yehudit attacked the Christian stronghold of Axum (or Aksum) in the 10th century C.E.. She is a heroine to the Beta Yisrael, who believe she saved them from certain annihilation at the hands of the Christian kings who ruled at the time (shades of Queen Esther and the Purim story perhaps?). I shared a few minutes of a YouTube video of the shoulder dance (giving the students the chance to stand up and "try out the dance," which many did!). Then I shared a YouTube video taken in 2009 of a Sigd Festival celebration in Israel, to give the students an idea of how the Sigd is celebrated.

We ended our weekday sessions with our "Music with Maya" session, as I call it, when we join the other two 5th and 6th grade tracks every other week, to learn new songs or new melodies to prayer chants.
Below, are two videos showing the process of how Maya teaches us - first "B'tzelem Eloheem" ("In the Image of Eloheem") and second, "Elohai neshama she'natata bee" ("My God, the soul you gave me").

On Sunday, we focused entirely on the Beta Yisrael. After reading a chapter from "The Storyteller's Beads" while the students ate a snack, I reminded them of how the Beta Yisrael community was forced to give up its lands to the Christians after warring against them during the 15th and 16th centuries. Since they weren't allowed to farm land anymore, they turned to crafts such as iron smithing, pottery, weaving and dyeing of textiles, clothesmaking, and basket weaving to earn their living.

I then introduced our project for the day - weaving reed baskets - and step by step, we learned how even the simplest weaving steps require intense focus and patience, not to mention a lot of practice, to become  experienced weavers like the Beta Yisrael. The results are below, and as you'll note in the photos, EVERYONE was totally focused.

Hmm - I wonder if there's a merit badge for basket weaving!

Helping each other figure out the steps - here, anchoring the "spokes" to the wooden base

 Once the spokes were anchored to the base, the weaving could begin.

You had to be sure to keep the reeds moist or they would break - very frustrating at times!

It surprised everyone how easy it is to weave 2 "out's" or 2 "in's" and break the pattern. Did I share yet that this requires a lot of focus?!

Weave and moisten, weave and moisten

The hour of weaving went by as if it were only a few minutes. Even the students were surprised when I announced the end of the session. Here are some examples of how far they got in the weaving process. After school, I packed each student's basket in a plastic bag, together with an instruction page and whatever materials they needed to finish the project at home.  Yasher Koach to our Edot weavers!