Making Wimpels

We brought our unit of study about the Ashkenazeem to an end yesterday, by decorating wimpels (not real ones, but what you could call "practice" ones), one of the earliest of Ashkenazi folk art traditions.
I prepared a 3' x 7" strip of white cloth for each Edot student by writing on it in pencil his/her Hebrew name, the Hebrew names of his/her parents (if no Hebrew name was given, I transliterated their English names), the student's birth date on the Jewish calendar, and a very abbreviated wimpel blessing in English taken from the traditional wimpel blessing ("May God raise him/her up to a life of Torah, wedding canopy and good deeds. Amen.")  I provided fabric markers and fabric paint, along with a few stencils of Jewish symbols, and the results were wonderful examples of "Heedoor Meetzvah" (making beautiful the commandment).

Choosing the tools - there's plenty for everyone!

Some chose to color over the pencilled letters first...

...others started by stenciling on decorations.

Either way, there was lots to do.

It took patience and concentration, one letter at a time...

...and every student seemed to have a lot of each to spare.

For almost an hour, all you could hear was the sound of total focus interrupted every now and then with a student asking a question or looking for a stencil.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again...

...it never ceases to amaze me how quickly and confidently the students work on their art projects, with such beautiful results.

And behold, some of the results hanging temporarily on one of our bulletin boards to dry:

Stay tuned for a more permanent exhibit documenting everything we've learned and all the activities we've done in our unit of study about the Ashkenazeem.

You may recall that we prepared poppy seed cookies during our previous week day sessions. I made little "gift packages" of the cookies for each student, which you've hopefully already received if your child attended school yesterday. If not, they will take theirs home during the coming week day session. 

Notice the glorious sunshine streaming in through our windows! "Tu Beesh'vat heegee'a"  ("Tu Beesh'vat has arrived")! This is one of my favorite songs. This past Friday evening going into Shabbat we celebrated two special days in one - Shabbat Shira, the special Shabbat when we read the Torah portion containing the "Song of the Sea" which the Israelites sang after crossing the Reed Sea, and the holiday of Tu Beesh'vat, which has evolved from a tax day in ancient times when we were farmers in the Land of Canaan (and were required to bring the best of the tree fruits to the Temple in Jerusalem to be sacrificed to God in thanks for a good harvest), to a mystical holiday involving a seder created by the Kabbalists celebrating the connection of all living things on Earth to the Tree of Life.

Immediately following our wimpel art activity, Maimone's Y'tzira class joined us in our classroom for a music session with Revital and Michaela. This week, they taught us to sing a beautiful canon called, "Roll into Dark, Roll into Light." Both Sunday sessions were filled with beautiful art and beautiful music.

It's time to get back into our time machine. Get ready to travel in space and time from eastern Europe to India to learn about a very special Jewish community, with very different customs from our own. On our way to India, we'll make a brief stopover in Persia, going back some 2,400 years to a kingdom ruled by King Achashverosh and his lovely Queen Esther. 

Pack your bags lightly this time as we can't check in our luggage and there are no overhead bins on Magic Carpet Airlines!