Chamsa Family Workshop

Yesterday morning, our Edot students shared what they had learned about the Babylonian/Iraqi Jews (our second unit of study) with their parents at our Chamsa Family Workshop. The workshop took place in the Oneg Room, which afforded us plenty of space for a "stage" area where the students presented five skits covering the early history of this edah (Jewish Diaspora Community) - the very first edah in Jewish history!

The first skit described the Babylonian King Nebuchadnezzar's (pictured here with his General) siege of Jerusalem (capital city of the Kingdom of Judah), and his army's conquest of the City and the destruction of the First Temple.

Ella and Kyra, my T.A.'s, took turns filming each of the skits, though sadly our microphone was not working very well and so I apologize for the poor sound quality. Below, is a part of the first skit:

The second skit described the 500 mile march the Judahite exiles were forced to make from Jerusalem to Babylon, and how, according to Psalm 137, they were forced by their Babylonian conquerors to "sing to them from the songs of Zion." Part of the second skit involved leading the audience in singing the first two lines of this Psalm.

The exiles of Judah remembered what had happened to the inhabitants of their northern neighbor, the Kingdom of Israel, about 140 years before Nebuchadnezzar conquered Judah - how they had been conquered by the Assyrians and exiled to the Assyrian capital, and had become assimilated, forgetting their Israelite identities. This, the leaders of the Babylonian exiles determined, would never happen to them. The third skit shared how the Judahites created new rituals to worship a universal God in their own homes, now that they had no Temple or priests to sacrifice to God. A new religion - Judaism - was born. And they had the Prophet Jeremiah to thank for giving them advice on how to lead their lives in exile in Babylon, "seeking the welfare of its inhabitants, for in their welfare they would find their welfare," even as they recorded their own history and laws and developed their own rituals to keep from assimilating into Babylonian society.

The fourth skit jumped ahead about 800 years in history, to the era of the great Babylonian Talmudic academies of Sura and Pumbedita. The skit shared a typical debate of Rabbis (over several centuries) over legal issues - in this case, when exactly to say the Sh'ma prayer in the morning.

Jumping ahead in time again, this time to the rise of Islam in the mid-7th century, and the adoption of an Arabic amulet by many Jews, the fifth skit shared the Muslim legend behind the "Chamsa" amulet, which was also called "The Hand of Fatima" (the Prophet Mohammed's daughter). This skit also served to introduce the art project we worked on for the remainder of the workshop - making copper foil chamsa amulets.

Between the third and fourth and the fourth and fifth skits, four student readers shared a connecting narrative, explaining what happened in the history of this edah during those eras not covered in the skits. Part of this narrative shared how, after 2,500 years, no members of this first edah are left in Iraq (still referred to as Babylonia by them), thanks to Muslim animosity against the Jews which arose in the early part of the 20th century. Most Iraqi Jews now reside in Israel, with more residing in the United States and other parts of the world. But they still maintain their strong connection to their edah's history and its traditions. One of these traditions is singing a song of praise to Adonai during their Simchat Torah celebrations - "Hallelu Avdei Adonai." ("Give Praise, Servants of Adonai") We joined in on the chorus of this song as we listened to Iraqi musicians and singers performing it on a CD.

And another Babylonian/Iraqi Jewish tradition is including a pastry called "Menena" (very similar to the Arabic "Ma'amoul" pastry) in their Mishlo'ach Manot Purim baskets each year. We prepared Menena in class last week, and I made little gift packages which each family took home following the workshop (after all, Purim is just a little over 2 weeks away!).

This was definitely a hit with the students!

And, in several cases, just too tempting not to take a taste right away!

When the final skit was over, we moved over to four long tables that were set up with all the tools needed for the art project.

Parents and children sat together, carefully reading the instructions for how to make a copper foil chamsa ...

... even as I was constantly reminding everyone to focus carefully on what they were doing, since the copper sheets were very sharp, and it was easy to cut yourself on them!

And focus they did!

Occasionally looking up to smile for the camera. 

There was even time for schmoozing.

One by one, the students and parents finished making the amulets, and proudly posed for photos with their masterpieces:

By the time the last chamsas were completed, it was time for us to move next door into the Sanctuary for our first Creative Tefillah service of this school year. Last Tuesday, Rabbi Miller came into our classroom near the start of the session to collect sixth graders who would work with her to find a theme for tying together the major prayers we chant and sing during our school tefillah. Three Edot students participated in this first Creative Tefillah session - Gabe, Will and Joseph.

By the time I entered the Sanctuary, Ben, our music director, had already asked all the sixth graders participating in this Creative Tefillah, to stand in front of the bimah, to lead everyone in singing "Hinei Mah Tov." ("How Good it is").

Rabbi Miller introduced the theme the students had decided upon - not surprisingly, it was the Winter Olympics, since the games had just begun a few days before.

Here are Gabe and Joseph introducing the "Barechu" prayer.

And here's Will helping to introduce the "Sh'ma" prayer.

Our other Edot sixth graders will be getting their chance to work with Rabbi Miller to find new themes to tie together our prayers during the month of March.

Now that our second unit is completed, we will take a break from our Edot studies to take a close look at Megillat Ester (the Scroll of Esther), which shares the story upon which the Purim holiday is based. Specifically, we'll be exploring the Jewish values which Talmudic era Rabbis (many from Babylonia!) found in the story, and which led them to include the scroll in the final canonized version of the Tana'ch (the Hebrew Bible). And, of course, we look forward to our LAFTY Purim Carnival which will take place in two weeks, on Sunday, February 25th. I'm already starting to think about my costume, and hope you're all doing the same!