First B'nai Mitzvah Preparation Workshop

Yesterday morning, our fifth and sixth grade students gathered in the Social Hall with their families for the first B'nai Mitzvah Preparation Workshop of the year. The fifth grade families met first session; the sixth grade families came second session. It was a wonderful turnout which was pretty amazing, considering the fact that it was raining cats and dogs outside for all of the fifth grade session and a good part of the sixth grade one. On top of that, the Lafayette Reservoir Run was taking place (there were a few brave runners in the rain, I was told!), and the detour set up to allow Isaiah families to drive down Mt. Diablo Blvd. took quite a bit of time for some families.

Bill caught a shot of this beautiful rainbow - ironically, it appeared in the sky just minutes before the rain started around 8:30 a.m.!

Of course, we'd never expect anyone to brave such elements and detours without preparing a table filled with bagels and all kinds of shmears and, of course, hot coffee or tea to sip on while drying out.

The focus of the fifth grade workshop for the students is to share how they will be researching their assigned Torah portions using a printed version of the Torah given each year by the Women of Isaiah as a gift to each fifth grade student. Unfortunately, the books didn't arrive in time for the workshop, so instead, Rabbi Greninger shared Google links for appropriate sites to find their Torah texts, discussing why these sites are appropriate and why other Google link sites relating to the Torah and its study may not be (they may be set up by non-Jewish groups such as "Jews for Jesus" which will offer a very different interpretation of the Torah than Jews accept, or perhaps they are set up by ultra-Orthodox Jewish groups such as Chabad, which will give a different interpretation than Reform Judaism does). 

Bimbam (formerly known as "Godcast" is one appropriate site...

...and ReformJudaism.org is another.

Then it was time for parents to remain in the Social Hall, to learn more about how to choose a date for their child's Bar or Bat Mitzvah, while all the students went with Rabbi Miller and the teachers into the Oneg Room to have a fun review of the people and stories they've learned about over the past two years in the Torah. The review took the form of a "Torah Olympics." Judaism encourages us to put the Torah into action in our everyday lives, and we certainly took this advice literally.

After Rabbi Miller gave the students a chance to ask questions they may have about the Bar/Bat Mitzvah process, we divided them into 3 teams for the "Olympics".

The first few races provided a review of the first book of the Torah - Genesis. Students shared what they recalled of the main characters in the Book, and then Rabbi Miller explained that each of the first few races would have something to do with one of the Patriarch or Matriarchs.

For example, here is how she introduced the relay race relating to Abraham:

On your marks, get set...

GO!

The Abraham relay race was followed by a Sarah jumping jack contest (which team could do 127 jumping jacks fastest, one for each of the years of Sarah's (Abraham's wife's) life. This was followed by a wheel barrow race (one student "running" on his/her hands with the feet held up by a second student), in honor of Isaac's wife, Rebecca, having brought a lot of water from the well to give the camels of Isaac's servant, Eliezer, water to drink when he came looking for a wife for Isaac.

The "Genesis" races were followed by a Book of Exodus "Trivia Contest," in which the three teams sat on the floor in separate corners of the Oneg Room, and wrote down the letter of multiple choice answers offered by Rabbi Miller to review questions she posed relating to Moses and the Exodus story. For the Book of Leviticus, which describes how the Israelites were expected to make their lives holy through holy acts, each team was asked to act out (without speaking) a holy act. Below, one team is acting out "feeding the hungry."

For the Book of Numbers, which describes how the Israelites wandered in the wilderness for 40 years, during which time they complained a great deal to Moses, each team had to think of as many complaints as possible in a 1-minute period:

At this point, our time ran out, and we joined the parents in the Social Hall. After a brief wrap-up with parents and students, all the fifth grade families went to the Sanctuary for tefillah, as did the sixth grade students, arriving for their workshop during the second session. While sixth graders were in tefillah, their parents stayed in the Social Hall and were given the opportunity to get to know each other better.

Rabbi Miller led the parents in a game of "4 corners" to help them find out interesting information about each other. From the look on their faces, it was a very enjoyable activity!

Once the sixth graders joined their parents in the Social Hall after tefillah was over, Rabbi Miller introduced the focus of the workshop, which was, for the students, to consider what becoming an adult means in our Jewish community as well as beyond. In order to do this, each family was given two worksheets - one had questions for the students to ask their parents and write down the answers, the second had questions for the students to ask other parents. The questions all related to the focus of the workshop. Here are some Edot students and their parents:

Zach and his Mom...

Max and his Mom...

Joey with his brother, Robert, and Dad...

Abby and her Dad...

Emma and her Mom...

Allie and her Mom...

Jeremy with his Mom and Dad...

and Matthew with his Mom and Dad.

Once the interviewing was over, the families divided into two groups, one meeting with Rabbi Shanks in the Social Hall, the other meeting with Rabbi Miller in the Oneg Room. Each group was provided with an outline relating to Bar and Bat Mitzvah preparation requirements. After the requirements were reviewed and families had a chance to ask questions about what was expected of them and their children, the adults all gathered in the Social Hall again, while the sixth graders joined Maimone and myself in the Oneg Room to play some games helping them to review what we had just discussed. We ran out of time again, but had a good time, and when we realized the session had ended, I realized that the sun was shining brightly. I didn't see a rainbow after the storm, but I'm sure there was one there, just out of sight!

Thank you again to all the families who came yesterday. If you weren't able to join us, the school office will be sending you materials that were handed out during the workshops. Please feel free to contact Rabbi Greninger or Rabbi Miller if you have any questions.

Fifth graders - your Torah books are on their way, and should arrive very soon. We'll give them out to you in the classroom as soon as they come!

Edot families - remember that next Sunday, November 6th, I'll be leading 5th and 6th grade families on a field trip to Sonora and Columbia, to learn about the Jewish experience during the Gold Rush era. Those of you who can't join us will NOT have class that day.