Edot: February 2013

Monday, February 25, 2013

Thursday, February 21, 2013

Our Edot students are getting ready for Purim, which is this coming Sunday. We briefly reviewed the original Purim story, as told in the Book of Esther. Amazingly, the Rabbis who determined which books to include in the Hebrew Bible and which to leave out, decided to include the Book of Esther, even though it is the only book not to mention the name of God even once or to take place even partially in the Land of Israel. On top of that, the names of the heroes in the story are those of Babylonian gods - Marduk (Mordechai) was the Chief God of the Babylonian pantheon, and his consort was Astarte (Esther). Why, then, include this book in the Bible? The Rabbis recognized important Jewish values within the story, which overrode the other issues mentioned above - values such as Jews being responsible for each other, tz'daka (helping the needy in the community), putting faith in an unseen God (who is in the story though his Name is not mentioned, according to the Rabbis), and the willingness to risk one's life for one's people.

Once I was sure that all the students were familiar with the major elements of the story, I introduced a historical aspect to the holiday - special Purims. Though the original story in the Bible very likely never took place as written, according to Biblical scholars and historians, there were hundreds of Jewish communities over the past 2,500 years or so, scattered over the globe, which could historically document being seemingly miraculously saved at the very last minute from certain destruction. I shared the story of one of these communities - Fossano in Italy in the year 1797, when, on the 4th day of Pesach, Christians entered the Jewish ghetto with the intent of looting Jewish homes and shops, and killing its inhabitants. Just as they entered the synagogue where the Jews had all gathered awaiting their end, a French cannonball (Napoleon's army had laid siege to the city some weeks before) crashed into the vestibule of the synagogue, just in front of the Christian mob. It didn't explode, but scared off the mob and saved the Jews just at the moment they were about to meet their end. Napoleon succeeded in capturing the city two days later, and assigned many of his soldiers to protect the Jewish ghetto. To this day, if you visit Fossano (in the foothills of the Alps, on the Austrian border), you will see how the community commemorated this "special Purim" by creating a window out of the hole in the wall created by the cannonball, with the Hebrew inscription in gold above the window, "Saved by the Miracle of the Bomb."

I then assigned different groups of students a Special Purim. Each group received a folder containing the story of their assigned special Purim, along with information about how the holiday of Purim is celebrated in different Jewish communities around the world. Some stories included how the special Purim is celebrated each year by the community, but where this information was not included, the children could refer to the information provided about the country in which their assigned special Purim took place, to show how it was likely celebrated. Each group was asked to create a poster depicting what the miracle was that saved the community, and how it is celebrated each year.


One of the Special Purim folders (this one took place in the 17th century in the Frankfurt, Germany ghetto)

The story of the Purim of Fettmilch

Information packet about Purim Customs around the World

Purim is a fun and certainly a colorful holiday, and hopefully this poster activity put the students in the mood for the upcoming Purim Carnival that our Teens in LAFTY will be putting on this Sunday. The finished posters have been hung on the hallway bulletin board just outside Room 202; we hope you can come and see them, even after the holiday is over. In the meantime, enjoy these photos of Edot students in action.

Designing the "Miracle of the Bomb" poster

Writing the summary of the miracle for the poster

Working on the Purim of Saragossa, Spain (13th century) poster

Purim Taka (Hebron, 16th century)

Curtain Purim (Prague, early 17th century)

Getting all the paint colors organized (it's fascinating to watch how each group organizes itself and plans how to complete the project in the short amount of time they're given)

I'm not kidding about how little time we have - the time allotted for the poster work was from 4:30 to 4:50 and again from 5:35 to 6:00 - just 45 minutes, and that included cleanup!

Our Edot students are definitely focused on their tasks

Monday, February 11, 2013

Making Wimpels

We finished our unit of study about Ashkenazi Jews yesterday with an art project. Each student decorated a wimpel, one of the oldest forms of Ashkenazi folk art. Originally made only for the sons, wimpels in recent times have become popular again among Jews in the U.S., both for boys and girls. Before beginning the project, I shared two photos with the students - one of a wimpel made by a parent of a former Religious School student of mine, and the second of a wimpel made by Laurie Bellet, Nathan's mother, who teaches art at the Oakland Hebrew Day School. Laurie's wimpel is being "modeled" in the photo by Nathan's and Katie's baby boy, Ze'ev, looking very peaceful wrapped snugly in the binder.

Frank Family Wimpel

Bellet Family Wimpel

The wimpels we created were very simple forms of what could often be very intricately embroidered or painted pieces of art. While the usual length of a wimpel is between 10-15 feet, ours were only 3 feet, obviously necessitating an abbreviation of the usual formula. Each student's Hebrew name (i.e. the name they will be called when it's time for them to come up to the bima to read from the Torah during the Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony) and Jewish calendar birth date (easy to figure out from their Gregorian calendar birth dates thanks to Google) were written in Hebrew, while the accepted wimpel formula ("..."May God raise him up to a life of Torah, a successful marriage, and good deeds, Amen Selah") was abbreviated to "Bless him/her with Torah, Marriage, Good Deeds Amen," and was written in English.

Students were advised that traditional decorations for the wimpels were flowers, birds, zodiac signs, tree of life, and Torah scroll. The tools they were given to decorate their wimpels were pencils, fabric markers, and liquid embroidery paints. As always, the results were amazing considering the very little time they had to complete the project.

Hopefully, these wimpels, which will go home with the students during the coming week day session, will serve as a reminder to them of their connection to the family's Jewish community (i.e. Temple Isaiah), and to the Jewish People as a whole. Perhaps they will even inspire some of our Edot families to create true wimpels in preparation for the Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremonies coming up in just a year or two.

Coloring the penciled-in Hebrew name with fabric marker

Consulting with Ariel about the use of a Torah scroll stencil

Patterns are good (and take lots of patience!)

You can't make mistakes on the piece of muslin - focus!

Lots of room around the lettering to decorate

And below, some of the beautiful results hanging on the bulletin board to dry.(Liquid embroidery paint takes 4 hours to dry!)

Monday, February 4, 2013

Hiddur Siddur

Our Temple Isaiah fifth graders and their parents from both Shira: The Musical and our Edot class met yesterday morning for the second of our three B'nai Mitzvah Prep workshops. This one focused exclusively on the Siddur. We opened up with a skit presented by myself, Josh (my co-teacher), and Alex, the Shira teacher. The skit introduced the purpose of the workshop and the meaning of "Hiddur Siddur." "Hiddur" means 'embellishment.' Talmudic era Rabbis determined that the verse in the Book of Exodus, "This is my God and I will glorify him," was a directive for us to decorate or embellish the rituals we perform to fulfill the commandments. For this reason, we dress the Torah scroll in beautiful cloths or cases, we decorate our Sukkah and lulav, and use beautifully made kiddush cups and candlesticks for the holiday candles.

During the workshop, each fifth grader was presented with his/her own Mishkan T'filah Siddur, a gift from the Religious School which will hopefully be used to help prepare for the Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremony, and for a lifetime after (and perhaps be handed down as an heirloom to future generations!). In line with Hiddur Siddur, we provided book covers for each student to decorate. We provided stencils of Jewish symbols and ritual objects, as well as of Hebrew and English letters, to help get everyone started on decorating their covers. Parents worked together with children, and in just half an hour, the book covers were completed. We then gave each student his/her Siddur and as all the fifth graders stood on the stage in the Social Hall holding their Siddurim, we all sang the "Shehecheyanu" blessing led by Cantor Korn. Once everyone had put the book cover on the Siddur, they held them up proudly for all to see.

The workshop was focused on Hiddur Siddur, but we also left plenty of time for community-building activities - specifically, mixers. Adults got to know each other better with mixers led by Rabbi Greninger and Cantor Korn in the Social Hall, while their children had a lot of fun with mixers led by Josh and Alex in the Oneg Room. Just before ending the workshop, each fifth grader signed up to help lead a prayer during our 3rd-5th grade t'filah service in the Sanctuary. (Sixth graders and their families had their own special B'nai Mitzvah Prep workshop on Shabbat, so were not in attendance on Sunday.)

Yasher Koach to the fifth graders for designing beautiful Siddur book covers and for leading us in chanting the prayers.

How will a Torah scroll look on the cover? Very nice!

Lots of collaboration between parents and children!

Some chose to work on the stage instead of at a table

Those families who finished decorating the covers early could work on a Siddur puzzle together.

Can you discover the prayer in this spiral puzzle?

Gathering onstage to receive their Siddurim

Chanting the "Shehecheyanu" blessing

Proud new owners of the Mishkan T'filah Siddur Journal (exactly like the regular Siddur, but you can write down your thoughts about the prayers in this one!)