Matza Apple Tea Cakes

Pesach is less than 3 weeks away (the first seder is the evening of April 14th, officially the start of the 15th day of the Hebrew month of Nisan). So I'm focusing now on recipes relating to the holiday. This week, we prepared a "kosher for Passover" recipe for apple tea cakes prepared with matzo meal.

Here's the vocabulary to look over - I left out several words that we have used multiple times, and which most of the students recognize already

Reisheet kol, leesh'bor et ha'beitzeem b'toch ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola. (First of all, break the eggs in the large bowl.)

Az, l'hoseef et ha'shemen (Then, add the oil)

Achshav, l'haktzeef et ha'beitzeem v'ha'shemen b'yachad. (Now, whisk the eggs and oil together.)

L'hoseef et kemach ha'matza, ameelan tapoochei adama, v'et ha'melach l'toch ha'eerboov... (Add the matza meal, potato starch, and the salt into the mixture...)

...v'l'arbev et ha'kol be'yachad eem ha'kaf. (...and stir everything together with the spoon.)

Achshav, l'hoseef et ha'sookar... (Now, add the sugar...)

...v'et ha'tapoo'ach... (...and the apple...)

...v'l'arbev et ha'kol pa'am achrona eem ha'kaf. (...and stir everything for the last time with the spoon.)

L'maleh et ha'neeyarot ba'tavneet eem ha'eerboov. (Fill the papers in the muffin pan with the mixture.)

U'va'sof, l'fazer eerboov shel keenamon v'sookar al kol oogeeya. (And finally, sprinkle a mixture of cinnamon and sugar on each little cake.)

Leerchotz et ha'shoolchan... (Wash the table...)

...v'leerchotz et ha'ya'da'eem eem sabon. (...and wash the hands with soap.)

La'afot ba'tanoor 30 dakot, l'chakot 30 dakot, ve'az zeh moochan le'echol.  B'TEYAVON! (Bake in the oven 30 minutes, wait 30 minutes, and then it's ready to eat. BON APETIT!

Fifth Grade Field Trip to the Contemporary Jewish Museum

While our 6th graders and their families were exploring their assigned Torah portions during their final B'nai Mitzvah Prep session yesterday morning, our fifth graders and their families were treated to a very special visit to the Contemporary Jewish Museum in San Francisco. I accompanied the fifth grade families on a tour of the Arthur Szyk Haggadah exhibit and the art project which followed the tour.

Students and family members gathered outside the main entrance to the CJM, and at 10 a.m. our two docents, Jenni and Cara, came out to greet us. We divided into two groups, and each participant was given a Museum sticker to wear over our name tags. Jenni began the tour with her group first, while the second group, including myself, waited for a few more minutes for any families that might still show up. Once Jenni's group entered the Museum, Cara gathered the remaining families together and began the tour.

She told us about the architect of the building, Daniel Liebeskind, who was told to preserve the historic PG&E building on the site of the Museum. Using the original, rectangular-shaped building, he created the Hebrew word "Chai" by using the original building as the "Chet" shape, and adding a blue cubic-shaped annex, which forms the letter "yud." It's hard to see from the ground, but an aerial view leaves no doubt that the buildings form the word "Chai" - Life!

You can catch a glimpse of the blue cube-shaped annex here.

Once inside the entrance, you feel somewhat disoriented. No wall stands straight; some go out, some go in, and we are thus introduced to the Jewish experience throughout most of our history, never quite knowing where we stood in relation to the societies in which we lived.

As we entered the "cube" upstairs, we moved from a very dark corridor into an incredibly light room.

The ceiling of the cube has 36 diamond-shaped skylights - the number 36 is "double-chai" and also reflects the Jewish tradition that there are 36 righteous people living in every generation - the "Lamed-Vav Tzadeekeem."

In order to introduce us to the background history behind the main focus of our tour - Arthur Szyk's Passover Haggadah illustrations -  Cara had the students form a "living historical time line."

One by one, each student was given a piece of paper with a date to hold, and as Cara described what happened in Jewish history that year, the student performed an action representing the historical event. Later, during the actual tour of the exhibit, this activity proved to have been very effective - the students recalled how the English took over Palestine from the Ottoman Turks after World War I, how Germany began to tighten the noose in Europe between the two wars, and how early Jewish pioneers began to reclaim the Jewish homeland. Cara was able to help us understand the political situation in Europe and Palestine, which Arthur Szyk describes in his illustrations. Here's an example of how we learned the history:

Following the "history lesson," we all moved downstairs again, and briefly visited a pictorial exhibit of the early Kibbutz movement in Palestine. Cara focused on just two photos, asking the students questions about what they saw on the faces of the pioneers, as well as what tools they were holding (scythes and shovels).

Cara helped us understand the hope and determination these early pioneers brought with them, shirking off the "shackles" of their European lives and looking forward to the future that they would build themselves. These are themes running through Arthur Szyk's work.

Then it was time to enter the exhibit hall for the main focus of our tour. No photos are allowed in the exhibit, since the flash of cameras can hurt the water color and guache illustrations. This enlarged photo of the "Mah Nishtana" page of the Haggadah is in the corridor leading to the exhibit hall.

Arthur Szyk's work is laden with symbolism, which is why the historical background information was necessary, in order to fully appreciate his work. He was a social activist, who used his art to try to effect social justice - tikkun olam. Most of his work reflects his fascination with the illuminations created by medieval and Renaissance artists to illustrate the Bible. His Haggadah illuminations describe in vivid images the desperation and "slavery" of the Jews in Europe during the 1930's (when he created the Haggadah), contrasted with the hope and determination of the Jewish pioneers he had seen when he visited Palestine in 1914.

Following the tour of the Szyk exhibit, both groups met in the CJM's art room, which had been set up with tables for our art project. Jenni introduced us to the project - each participant would create his/her own illumination on a vellum sheet, to share what s/he considered to be a problem in our world today.

Danielle used her illumination to cry out against the imbalance of poverty vs. plenty in our world...

...while Jacob shared the natural catastrophe of drought...

...and Jennifer's message is to stop world hunger, war, and stereotyping

Shortly before noon, most of the families had completed their projects. This was a very successful trip in that we learned so much in such a short amount of time, we had a wonderful community experience outside of our Isaiah campus, and for many of the participating families, this was their first visit to the CJM. Since each Bar and Bat Mitzvah of Temple Isaiah will be receiving a free membership to the CJM as a gift from the Museum, I'm hoping that this visit will inspire them and their families to visit the Museum often.

Orange Cake

This week, I turned to Israeli cuisine for my inspiration for our Hebrew cooking elective recipe. Orange trees are just beginning to blossom in the Land now. One of the strongest memories I have of living in Israel, in Rehovot, was of the pervasive scent of the orange blossoms from the orchards surrounding the city. I specifically recall a first grade field trip (literally) to the orchards, where my teacher, Chava, taught us about how oranges grow and how healthy they are to eat. She then let us climb the trees and pick the fruit. We spent the rest of the field trip sitting under the trees and enjoying the sweet taste of the oranges.

The recipe for the orange cake we prepared this week is probably the simplest recipe we've prepared all year. It took us only ten minutes to prepare the batter and transfer it to the baking pans. Since we had about half of the lesson time left once we finished, I took Tuesday's class to the kitchen, to teach them vocabulary related to washing dishes. "Leerchotz et ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola" (Wash the big bowl); "L'vayesh et ha'kaf v'et ha'kos." (Dry the spoon and the cup), etc. The students took turns at the sink and drying, following my commands, and I was able to go home earlier, since most of the cleaning was already done. Since Wednesday's class was much larger, I reviewed our Hebrew cooking vocabulary with them in the classroom, using the Hebrew Through Movement commands and adding in the cooking vocabulary.

During our tefillah session in the Beit Knesset immediately following the elective, we enjoyed a sweet, orange scent in the room as the cakes baked in the ovens. The cakes turned out perfectly.

This week's vocabulary, which I used for both the preparation process and for the dish-washing and Hebrew Through Movement exercises

Reisheet kol, la'seem et ha'kemach l'toch ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola, v'az l'hoseef et ha'sookar. (First of all, put the flour into the big bowl, and then add the sugar.

L'arbev et ha'kemach, sookar, avkat afeeya, v'soda afeeya be'yachad. (Stir the flour, sugar, baking powder, and baking soda together.)

Achshav, le'hoseef et meetz ha'tapoozeem, ha'shemen, v'kleepat ha'tapooz l'toch ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola... (Now, add the orange juice, oil, and orange peel into the big bowl...)

...v'l'arbev et ha'kol b'yachad. (...and stir everything together.)

La'avor et ha'batzek me'ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola la'tavneet. (Transfer the batter from the big bowl to the baking dish.)

Jordan wouldn't let her broken wrist keep her from getting the job done!

The students are beginning to get the knack of using the spatula to get out all the batter!

Mission accomplished!

L'nakot et ha'shoolchan (Clean the table)

Eevreet Bee't'nua - Joel, la'seem et ha'tavneet al ha'rosh shel Lucy. (Hebrew Through Movement - Joel, put the baking sheet on Lucy's head.)

Ashley, l'hareem et ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola; Lauryn, le'hareem et ha'ke'ara ha'k'tana. (Ashley, raise the large bowl; Lauryn, raise the small bowl.)

Koolam la'koom, v'la'seem et ha'keeseh tachat la'shoolchan. (Everyone get up, and put the chair under the table.) The command right after this one was, "Koolam la'lechet le'beit ha'knesset beeshveel t'feela." (Everyone walk to the Beit Knesset for tefillah.)

The finished product

Purim Carnival

And finally, after two weeks of crazy hair, silly hats, pj's, and silly walks, the 14th day of Adar Bet arrived. At 8:50 a.m., the first Purim celebrants began to arrive in the Sanctuary entrance, and greeting them at the door were our Isaiah teachers, all decked out in costume.

We started the morning with Purim songs and a Purim play.

Rabbi Greninger and Joel led us in singing Purim songs...

...then Jojo Petersen directed the Purim players in re-telling the Purim story in verse.

Here's our own Edot student - Jason G.- playing Mordechai

Everyone in the audience had groggers - some even had two!

After the play, all the students paraded around the Sanctuary led by Rabbi Greninger while the rest of us sang more Purim songs. Here are the 3rd-6th graders parading around:

And just before we moved to the Social Hall for the games and food, all the teachers went up to the bimah, where everyone could see us and decide who deserved the "best costume" prize. 

Tough choice!

Then we all moved into the Social Hall where an array of booths and events and foods awaited us, not only inside, but outside on the lawn as well.

Daniel T. gave the "hoola hoop" contest a try - nice form!

So did Morrie G. - we've got talent in our Edot class for sure!

I caught Simon trying to decide where to spend his money next

Here's Josh C. giving Ian one of 3 balls to try to knock down the cans - which he did after the 2nd try. Bravo!

Here's Josh R. choosing a prize - a tough job with all the choices

Just outside the Social Hall, I found Sydney "picking a duck" at the booth Michael S. was running

And Jake W. gave Ari G. a good dunking!

While Jacob B. had a wild time in the bounce house:

Going back inside, I ran into some friends:

Batman and Robin (a/k/a Karen G. and Joel S.) in their "we're here to protect you" stance...

Rainbow Brite (Katy) and Heather...

Bill B. sporting a happy face on a happy face...

and Mara K. and friends

Danielle W. gave the hoola hoop contest a run for its money...

And Lauren B. and Ari B. were trying to win one of the fabulous prizes in the Cake Walk contest.

A GOOD TIME WAS HAD BY ALL 

I'm already starting to think about next year's costume!