Leesvov S'veevon (Spin a Dreydl)

Back from Thanksgiving holiday break, we dove right in to our Hanuka unit studies, which include both the history of events leading up to the Maccabean Revolt, as well as Hebrew vocabulary associated with the holiday and some of its customs. We focused on the conflict between those Jews who accepted the Hellenist culture and the Maccabees, members of a priestly family in Judea and their followers, who fought against it. This led us to a discussion of whether we, as American Jews, could appreciate the Christian culture of the majority and still feel a strong Jewish identity. The students unanimously agreed that as long as we weren't forced to give up any aspects of our Jewish culture (as Judeans were forced to do by the Syrian-Greek king Antiochus IV), there was no reason why we shouldn't be able to appreciate not only the Christian culture around us (especially during this holiday season) but also the cultures of other minorities living in the United States today.

We had a lot of fun building our Hanuka vocabulary in the Hebrew Through Movement program over the past week.

Callen, l'hareem et ner ha'shamash me'ha'hanukiya. (Callen, lift up the shamash - servant - candle from the hanuka menorah.)

Max, la'seem ner Hanuka al ha'rosh shel Emma; Emma, la'seem ner Hanuka al ha'rosh shel Max. (Max, put a Hanuka candle on Emma's head; Emma, put a Hanuka candle on Max's head.)

Zach, l'hatzbee'a al ha'meela "loo'ach" eem ner Hanuka. (Zach, point to the word "board" with a Hanuka candle.)

Callen, l'hadleek ner shel Hanuka. (Callen, light a Hanuka candle.)

Matthew, leesvov s'veevon al ha'kova shel Joey. (Matthew, spin the dreydl on Joey's hat.)

Jack, leesvov s'veevon al ha'shoolchan. (Jack, spin the dreydl on the table.)

Alexia, la'seem ner Hanuka al ha'rosh shel Emily; Emily, la'seem ner shamash shel Hanuka al ha'rosh shel Alexia. (Alexia, put a Hanuka candle on Emily's head; Emily, put a shamash - servant - candle on Alexia's head.)

Emily v'Alexia, la'lechet ba'keeta eem nerot al ha'rosh. (Emily and Alexia, walk in the classroom with candles on the head.)

Gabe, leesvov s'veevon al ha'rosh shel Zach. (Gabe, spin a dreydl on Zach's head.)

Ashley, l'hareem hanukiya me'al ha'shoolchan. (Ashley, raise a hanukiya over the table.)

And, of course, since we are just a few weeks away from Hanuka, we now have a Hanuka bulletin board in our classroom, filled with new stumper questions relating to the history and traditions of the holiday.

There are games and puzzles on the board, as well as stumpers! We'll have a lot of fun playing some of the games on December 13th and 14th, during our "Bring-A-Friend" days just before winter break.

The new stumper questions on the board are:

What does Antiochus' nickname "Epimanes" mean?
How can we be sure that potato latkes were not eaten by the Maccabees?
Who were the "Hellenists" in Israel, and why did the Maccabees and their followers fight against them?
Who were the first Jews in Italy known to us by name, and how were the Maccabees connected to them?
Who was Judith, and how did she help save her people?
How many candles do Persian Jews light on Hanuka?

Yesterday morning, we had a special visitor to our classroom each session. Josh from the JCC Maccabi Sports Camp came to JQuest to speak to our 3rd through 6th graders about the overnight summer camp which is located on the Menlo College campus in Atherton. During tefillah in the Sanctuary, he shared a 10-minute film, showing a lot of campers having a lot of fun playing all sorts of sports, as well as observing Shabbat, doing arts and crafts, and other activities.

When he came to speak to the 5th and 6th graders in our Edot classroom, he asked us a lot of questions, many of which focused on Jewish values relating to sports. For example, he introduced the value of "sh'meerat goof" (taking care of the body) and asked for volunteers to share how we can fulfill this value everyday.

 And during tefillah, we all followed Rabbi Greninger's lead as she helped us practice for our upcoming "Hanuka Flash Mob" dance at the Broadway Plaza in Walnut Creek on Sunday, December 18th. We ran through a couple of practice runs of the dance, and I for one have to say that practicing with everyone else is much more fun and certainly more productive than practicing alone at home! Hopefully, you can all join us for this happy Hanuka event!

This coming Tuesday and Wednesday, our 5th and 6th graders will be preparing a Hanuka treat with Karen (on Tuesday) and Stephanie (on Wednesday) - soofganeeyot (jelly doughnuts). And remember that on December 13th and 14th, our last weekday sessions before winter break, every 3rd-6th grade student at JQuest is welcome to invite one guest - Jewish or not - to join us for a lot of Hanuka fun. Our Edot class will join with Shira and Y'tzira students and friends for an enjoyable afternoon of Hanuka learning and fun.