A Taste of Jewish History and Culture

During this past academic year, our JQuest 5th and 6th graders have been studying Jewish history and values in three different tracks: Edot, Shira and Y'tzira. My Edot students have been exploring the history and cultures of four Jewish Diaspora communities (edot): Ethiopia, Iraq, Spain and Yemen. Erin's Shira students have been studying history through the lens of music and dance, while Maimone's Y'tzira students have been creating skits, games and mysteries to share the history.

Yesterday morning, all three tracks had the opportunity to share some of what they have learned with the other two tracks in an event called "A Taste of Jewish History and Culture." Beginning up in the Beit Knesset, our Edot students staffed food, game and arts&crafts booths to share aspects of the cultures of the edot we studied.

Students learned how to play the Ethiopian game QILEBLEBOSH, a favorite of Beta Yisrael (Ethiopian Jewish) children, very similar to jacks except that you can only use one hand during the entire game, and stones are used instead of jacks.

Picking the right sized stones can be a challenge!

The Mexican game STOP was a busy booth. This is a Sephardic (Spanish Jewish) children's game brought to Mexico by Crypto-Jews who were fleeing the Spanish Inquisition. Originally, it was played orally, but in more recent times paper and pencil have come to be used.

The Iraqi Purim card game of DOSA was a very popular booth. No skills are required to win, only luck, since that is what saved the Jews in Persia from Haman's gallows. A lot of money was won and lost at the table!

A lot of students decided to try making a Yemenite copper wire beaded bracelet. Our Edot students showed them how to use the jeweler's pliers to twist the metal wire into a spiral shape and then string beads of their choice onto the wire. The Yemenite Jews are well-known for their silver, gold, and copper jewelry. Arab Muslims were not allowed to work with metals, so Jews became the jewelers in Yemen.

The Beta Yisrael Jews of Ethiopia were well-known for their intricate straw and yarn basket weaving. At this booth, students could create a foamy yarn basket.

At the food booth, you could taste foods from each of the four edot: Bint al-sahn, a honey "cake-pie" is traditionally served by the Yemenite Jews as a first course at life-cycle ceremonies because of its round shape and sweet taste; charoset balls, made with dates, raisins and honey, are served at Sephardi (Spanish Jewish) seders; sesame bars are a popular candy served during the Passover holiday by Iraqi Jews; and Daabo is a honey yeast bread used by Ethiopian Jews to break their fast at the Sigd Festival celebrating the giving of the Torah on Mt. Sinai.

As soon as everyone had a chance to play the games, taste the foods, and try out some of the arts&crafts, it was time for the Shira students to share what they have been working on all year - their music video.

We had the honor of watching the premiere of the video! It's wonderful, and the rest of the school will have the chance to view it at our Spring Fling. Yasher koach to the Shira students on their performances!

After viewing the video, we all went downstairs to the Amphitheater where the Shira students taught us two dances: Nigun Atik, a Hasidic dance from Eastern Europe...

...and Debka Kafrit, a Yemenite line dance.

Finally, it was Y'tzira's turn to share some of the Jewish history they had learned during the year. The students had prepared "history scavenger hunts" during the previous two weeks in their class. While we were still in the Amphitheater, Maimone divided us into five teams, each of which was led by Y'tzira students who had created a history scavenger hunt relating to one era or one edah (Diaspora community) they had studied about. I followed Team #5, led by Zach, Josh, Abi and Evan. We had to look for clues all over the Isaiah campus, and then decode the clues when we found them. Our clues all revolved around the Ethiopian Jewish edah, having us search for a key that would unlock the mystery of the Kessim (the Ethiopian Jewish religious leaders) who were working to stop an evil Jew (played by Evan) from preventing the Ethiopian Jews from returning to Israel.

Our search led us from the Amphitheater into the Sanctuary, down to the playground by the Temple House Building, then up to the Basketball court. We raced from one location to the next, searching out clues and finally finding the key! Yasher koach to the Y'tzira mystery writers and actors. Who knew that learning history could be so much fun!

Racing up the stairs to find a clue in the Sanctuary...

...then racing back down to search for the next clue in the playground!

Zach wrested the key from the evil Jew and ran to find the Kes (played by Abi) who would show us how to unlock the mystery.

And when all the teams had completed their hunts, it was time for tefillah. While the fifth graders joined the third and fourth graders in the Sanctuary, all the sixth graders went to Y'tzira's classroom to meet with Erin and Jasmine, to decide which organization would receive the tz'daka money collected by all the JQuest classes during the year. Their decision will be announced at our Spring Fling.

I'd like to thank those Edot parents who volunteered to prepare the foods served at our food booth. Your time and efforts are greatly appreciated! I'm happy to report that "A Taste of Jewish History and Culture" was a great success thanks to all the participants. From what I could tell, everyone enjoyed themselves, and we all learned at least one new thing, if not more, while having fun.