Hanuka and Jewish World Stumpers

I put up new stumpers on our holiday bulletin board relating to the Hanuka holiday coming up. In case a student would like to answer one or more stumpers from home (just e-mail me the question and answer), here they are:

Who were the "Hellenists" in Israel, and why did the Maccabees and their followers fight against them?

How can we be sure that potato latkes were NOT eaten by the Maccabees?

What does Antiochus' nickname 'EPIMANES' mean?

How many candles do Persian Jews light on Hanuka?

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?

I also changed the stumpers on our "Jewish World" bulletin board. As a little introduction to our upcoming unit of study about the Jews of Iraq beginning in January, I put up the above stumper:  How many Jews lived in Iraq by 1951 when most left for Israel?

Other new "Jewish World" stumpers are:

How did  Abravanel's name help Beethoven compose the Fifth Symphony?

Where did Curacao's Jews come from originally?

How many Jews live in Cuba today?

Parents, you are allowed to share the answers to any of the stumpers with your child(ren). Remember that the idea behind this Stumper/Challenge Program is to "spread the news" about our wonderful Jewish world! If you'd like to find out the answers yourself, feel free to e-mail me or call me (Daniella in our JQuest office can give you my contact information if you don't have it at hand.)

Enjoy the learning journey with us!

Get Ready for Hanuka! (Hannuka? Hanukka? Chanuka? Hanukah? Channukkah?.... !חֲנֻכָּה

Hopefully, you all had an enjoyable Thanksgiving holiday together. And now that we're back in class, it's time to focus our attention on our very first Jewish national holiday - HANUKAH. How do you correctly spell the name of the holiday? Since it's a holiday commemorating an important era in our national history, the only correct spelling is in our national language's Hebrew alphabet - חֲנֻכָּה.

So we spent our two weekday sessions this week focusing on the holiday across the curriculum - in our Hebrew Through Movement activities, our music session with Ben and the other two 5th/6th grade tracks, and in our own Edot part of the session.

Just before our Thanksgiving holiday break, I had been teaching Shabbat vocabulary. We began our HTM session by reviewing the vocabulary, especially those words relating to lighting the candles. We reviewed not only the words to the Shabbat candle blessing, but also the melody we sing at Temple Isaiah. It's not that easy a melody to catch onto quickly, so I've been singing it along with the students.

Then it was very simple for me to segue over to Hanuka vocabulary, comparing the word for a Shabbat (or any occasion) candlestick - 'pamot' - to the word for a Hanuka menora - hanukiya. The students already recognize the words for candle - ner - and "to light" - l'hadleek from our Shabbat vocabulary. There is just one word that changes in the first Hanuka blessing over the candles from the Shabbat candle blessing - the name of the holiday at the very end of the blessing. And the melody of the Hanuka candle blessing chant is different from that of the Shabbat blessing chant.

Of course, we couldn't even begin to review or introduce vocabulary until we had a warm-up session to get the blood running after sitting and listening to me read the story. Since I don't follow a script when I give commands, each day I issue commands that come to mind.

On Tuesday:

On Wednesday:

After our Hebrew Through Movement session, we immediately go outside and climb up to the lawn outside the Sanctuary for hafsaka (recess), where we now have a Gaga "pit" in which most of the children enjoy playing. Unfortunately, because of recent rains, we had to forego the game since the "pit" was filled with water. Luckily, we still have balls and jump ropes for everyone to play with.

Then it's time for tefillah (prayer service) in the Beit Knesset with Rabbi Greninger and Ben. This week, our warm-up songs as all the 3rd-6th graders gathered in the BK was a Hanuka song - "Seveevon, Sov Sov Sov" (the dreydl song). And before we began the actual service, Rabbi Greninger shared the happy news that in just two weeks we'll be holding our "Bring-A-Friend" days at JQuest (Tuesday, December 12th and Wednesday, December 13th) when each JQuest student can bring along one friend to class for a wonderful session filled with Hanuka games and songs and candle lighting. 

Back in our own classroom after tefillah, I introduced the holiday by asking the students to share how Jews celebrate Hanuka. We made a list on the whiteboard as they shared: lighting the candles, eating latkes and jelly doughnuts and maybe chocolate Hanuka gelt, giving presents, and singing Hanuka songs. Then I asked the students to tell me which items on the list were required by the Rabbis to celebrate Hanuka. They all agreed that only lighting the candles and "making famous the miracle" (Rabbi Greninger had shared the Hebrew phrase "peersom ha'nes" during tefillah) were required. I then introduced the Hebrew word "halacha" and asked everyone in the class what they had to do in our Hebrew Through Movement sessions when I gave the command "la'lechet." They all immediately answered "walk." Halacha is the term for Jewish law - what is required of all Jews everywhere in the world. It is a "path we walk on" or, to bring up a metaphor I've shared in class before, "a line upon which we balance in order to achieve tikkun olam."  So for Hanuka, the only "halacha" that is required of us, is to light one candle each night on a hanukiya until we have all 8 candles (plus a servant candle - a shammash) burning on the final night of the holiday, and to "make famous the miracle" by putting the hanukiya in a window or other location where as many people passing by can see it. (Of course, in times of danger, Jews were given permission not to follow this part of the law.")

I then introduced the word "masoret" (tradition/customs), and asked which items on the whiteboard list fit under this category. Again, all the students recognized immediately that every other item we had listed fit under this category. I then shared that this coming Sunday, we'll be doing an art project that will teach us customs for celebrating Hanuka of 8 other Jewish edot (Diaspora communities) - one community for each day of Hanuka.  

Before it was time to go to music in Shira's classroom, we read a summary of how to tell the difference between a menorah (literally, a lamp in Hebrew) which is found in synagogues and which originated in the portable Sanctuary built by the Israelites in the wilderness, from a hanukiya, used exclusively for the Hanuka holiday. Each student then received a packet of worksheets which challenged them to answer questions relating to the menorah and the hanukiya. Since we didn't have time to finish the packet in class, I offered two stickers in our Stumpers/Challenge program to any student who could successfully answer all the questions either at home or in class, and hand in the packet. Almost everyone took me up on my offer, filing the packets in their folders to work on later.

We finished our session with Ben, learning two Hanuka songs:

Mi Y'malel (Who Can Retell) and "O Hanuka" a song describing several Hanuka customs. After Ben taught us Mi Y'malel, he challenged each track to sing it alone. Here's our Edot rendition:

And here's everyone singing O Hanuka using hand motions that Ben taught us:

Potato Kugel

This past week, all of our 5th and 6th graders started each session by going up to the Oneg Room at 4 p.m., where our cooking teacher, Karen, was waiting to greet them with card tables set up for groups of 4. On each table were the ingredients for a delicious potato kugel.

As usual, Karen began the session by going through the recipe and giving suggestions for the best (and usually easiest) way to work with the ingredients.

As soon as she had finished, all the students quickly found a table to work at, and proceeded to grate the four large potatoes they found on each table. In many cases, their hands were too small to hold the large potatoes comfortably, but that didn't stop them!

The trickiest part was figuring out how to comfortably hold the grater with one hand while getting a good grasp around the potato with the other.

The idea was for the grated pieces of potato to fall onto the pieces of towel paper.

Some held the graters standing up, while others found it more comfortable to lay them flat on the table.

Lots and lots and lots of grating!

We had 45 minutes to prepare the recipe, and most of that time was spent grating!

At some point at each table, one student took a break from grating, and prepared the batter.

This involved combining all the other ingredients in the recipe, except for the potatoes, and mixing them together just enough to create a very loose batter. At this point, the smell of the chopped onions took over the entire Oneg Room - not a bad smell at all!

Finally, it was time to add the grated potatoes, but only after as much of the potato liquid as possible had been squeezed out using the paper towels - lots and lots of paper towels!

Then it was time to transfer the batter over to a square baking pan, using the spatula to smooth it out in the pan.

The spatula was also helpful in scraping out all the batter into the pan.

Karen baked the kugels for us in a convection oven for about half an hour, let it cool enough so she could cut each kugel into squares, then packed them all into plastic sandwich bags to distribute to all the students in the classrooms. There was so much kugel, that students and teachers in the 3rd and 4th grades were able to taste the delicious results as well.

This was the third of our seven scheduled cooking sessions for this year. We won't have time in December to prepare a Hanuka delight, so in a way, this grated potato kugel prepared the students for helping to make latkes at home for the holiday.

As always, I want to thank Karen for all the work she puts into making this class an enjoyable one (and tasty!) for us all. I can only imagine all the time she spends shopping for the ingredients, setting them out on the tables, overseeing the class, then cleaning up after we've all left for hafsaka (recess) and preparing the finished product for us to taste in our classrooms at the end of the session.
YASHER KO'ACH, KAREN!!!

Remember that we have a special "JQuest Does Shabbat" session this coming Saturday morning (regular first session time, from 9-11 a.m.). We'll be playing the Shekel Game in our Edot class, so stay tuned!

Sigd Festival

Our Edot unit of study about the history and culture of the Beta Yisrael of Ethiopia culminated yesterday morning when we re-enacted an abridged version of their annual Sigd Festival on our Isaiah campus.

As soon as the first students entered the classroom a little before 9 a.m., they were directed to one of four tables on which were spread out dresses and tunics and vests of all colors, similar to what Beta Yisrael members might have worn in Ethiopia for a special occasion.

One table was devoted entirely to the white robes and turbans and colorful, fringed umbrellas that are the traditional garb of the Kessim (their religious leaders)...

...while two tunics and plastic swords and daggers awaited the two "shiftas" (highway robbers) who would be "attacking" our group as we "climbed the mountain."

As the classroom began to fill with the "actors" and costumes were donned...

... as scripts were looked over and "kessim" could be seen walking past "shiftas..."

... a (relatively) quiet calm "kissed the crowd" and within 15 minutes we were ready to begin our procession down to the courtyard between the Talmud Torah Building and the Temple House.

Very quietly, we all proceeded through the upstairs school hallway, then down the stairs where we gathered by the courtyard gate.

From the courtyard, we began to go down to Risa Road, singing "Am Yisrael Chai" (the "African" version) as we descended.

Led by our three Kessim (singular, Kes), we then began our "climb up the mountain," as we listened to a CD recording of a song written by Shlomo Gronich called "Ha'Masa l'Eretz Yisrael" ("The Journey to the Land of Israel"), which describes the hazardous trek the Beta Yisrael had to take in 1984, in order to reach Israeli cargo planes waiting for them in the desert of Sudan, to take them to the "Promised Land." The song describes the dangers - extreme heat in the day and cold in the night, lack of food and water, and "shiftas attacking with swords and daggers."

As we began our ascent, we passed through a "Beta Yisrael village" where a young basket weaver was plying her trade along the path.

Even before leaving the mountains of Gondar Province, there was hidden danger lurking in the underbrush...

...two shiftas were waiting to pounce on our unsuspecting group, though all the valuables they might come away with were the little bits of food we took for our journey.

Still listening to the song on the CD, we climbed the highest "peak" of our "mountain."

Finally, we reached our destination (not Jerusalem, but the Oneg Room!). There, we all stood facing east as our three Kessim led us in reciting two prayers and a song taken directly from the Torah (or the Orit, as the Beta Yisrael call it) - the Sh'ma, V'Ahavta and Mi Chamocha. Following the Mi Chamocha song, we sat on the rug (while parents sat on chairs set up behind us), as the Kessim read the first 8 verses of Chapter 8 from the Book of Nehemiah, recalling how Ezra the Scribe gathered all the people in Jerusalem to hear the words of the Torah.

We then came to the verse in the Book of Nehemiah where the name of this Festival is derived from - "And they bowed their heads and worshiped the Lord with their bodies and faces to the ground." The Ge'ez word "sigd" ("seged" in Hebrew) means "prostration or bowing down."

The final verses read by the Kessim read, "And Nehemiah and Ezra the Scribe and the Levites that taught the people said unto all the people - This day is holy unto the Lord your God; mourn not, nor weep. For all the people wept, when they heard the words of the Law. Then Ezra said unto them, Go your way, eat the fat and drink the sweet and send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared: for this day is holy unto our Lord: neither should you be sorry; for the joy of the Lord is your strength." (Nehemiah 8:2-8)

At this point in the Sigd Festival, the Beta Yisrael, who would fast all morning before climbing the mountain, would "break their fast."

We broke our fast just like the members of the Beta Yisrael, with slices of Yemarina Yewotet Daabo (Honey Yeast Bread)...

... and with pieces of Dabo Kolo (Sweet Snack Bread) which we prepared in class last Sunday. To wash it all down we drank traditional Ethiopian beer (OK, it was apple juice).

While we were still eating and drinking, the students performed the Proverb Skits they had written several weeks ago (with the Proverb posters they painted  during our previous week day sessions as backdrops). These skits taught the value the proverb was created to teach, by setting the proverb in a modern-day context.

WHEN TWO ELEPHANTS FIGHT, THE GRASS BENEATH THEM IS BENT AND BROKEN

IF YOU DON’T KNOW THE WAY, EVEN A PLAIN IS LIKE A JUNGLE

SLOWLY, SLOWLY, THE CHICKEN’S EGG WILL GET ON ITS FEET AND WALK

ONE STRING BRAIDED WITH OTHERS IS STRONG ENOUGH TO TIE DOWN A LION

When the skits had all been performed, it was time to celebrate with traditional drum circles and shoulder dancing. Unfortunately, we had no drums or drummers to form the drum circle, so instead I played the YouTube videos of the drum circle and shoulder dance that I had shown in class the previous Sunday (see November 6th post to view them). With the shoulder dance video playing on the screen we had set up, I tried to get my students and even their parents to join me in trying out the shoulder dance. But while the students did a wonderful job getting into character for the rest of the Sigd Festival, they somehow couldn't even be "noodged" (one of my favorite Yiddish words!) into trying it out by me or my TAs.

That's OK - our Festival was just about over, and it was time to remove the costumes and throw them and the props into a large, plastic bin I had set to the side in the Oneg Room for that purpose. As parents and students moved into the Sanctuary to join the other 3rd-6th graders for tefillah, my very able TA's began the clean-up process, while some parents stayed behind to help as well. A very big thank you goes to Jill and to Tom for helping out!!!

As a post note, the Sigd Festival is always held on the 29th day of the Hebrew month of Cheshvan. This year, that date falls on November 18th when we are scheduled to hold our very first JQuest session on Shabbat morning! I'm hoping to see you all then.

In the meantime, pack your bags and put on your traveling clothes. We're about to take a big jump in time and space, from 20th century Ethiopia back about 2100 years to 167 B.C.E., when a group of very unhappy Jews living in Judea are about to begin a revolt against a seemingly overwhelming enemy, with very long-lasting results for the culture and beliefs of our Jewish People!


 Post Note:  During the weekday sessions following our Sigd Festival, I asked the students to write down their responses to the following two questions:

What did you learn about the Beta Yisrael that you found interesting and would like to share with others?

Which activity did you enjoy the most during our unit of study about the Beta Yisrael and/or during the Sigd Festival?

I used their responses to create a documentary bulletin board in the hallway outside our classroom. I invite you to come up and read their responses.