B'nei Mitzvah Prep Workshop #1

We took a break from our Edot studies (as did Shira and Y'tzira tracks), to come together for a fun and information-packed meeting in the Social Hall yesterday morning. Fifth grade families came first session; sixth grade families came second session. During each session, important information relating to preparing for upcoming Bar and Bat Mitzvah ceremonies was shared and, very importantly, families in each grade level had a chance to get to know each other better.

The focus of the fifth grade session was on the Torah, as well as on introducing the checklist and timeline for preparing each student for their Bar/Bat Mitzvah, and getting information about choosing a date for the special event. While Cantor Korn met with the parents in the Social Hall, all the students and teachers followed Rabbi Miller into the Oneg Room for a very special event we call "Torah Olympics." All the games in these "Olympics" were related to people and events in the Books of Genesis and Exodus, and proved to be a fun way to review what the children had learned in their 3rd and 4th grade Torah studies.

Rabbi Miller introducing the Torah Olympics to the fifth graders, and the purpose behind the games

Students were divided into four groups

Abraham journeyed from Ur to Haran and then to Canaan. So, of course, the first event was the "Lech Lecha" race (that's the portion of the Torah where God tells Abraham to follow Him to a Land that He would show him. I suspect Abraham never moved as fast as our fifth graders did!).

Sarah was the only Matriarch to have a portion of the Torah named after her. She lived to be 127 years old. The second event asked the teams to perform 127 jumping jacks - first team to finish would win the event. (It was a draw - the teams completed the event in just 12 seconds!)

When Abraham's servant, Eliezer, was sent to find a wife for his son Isaac, Eliezer chose Rebecca because she took the time to carry water to his thirsty camels. So naturally, our third event was a wheelbarrow race (though I doubt Rebecca carried the water in a wheelbarrow!).

A final race related to the dream Jacob had as he slept in Bethel. He saw angels climbing up and down a ladder, so we held a "Ladder Relay" race. A ball was passed in each group over the head of one student, under the legs of the next, etc. to the end of the line. The ball was passed so quickly that I couldn't get a good shot of it. Needless to say, the students had a lot of fun with that event!

The final event of the Torah Olympics related to the Book of Exodus. Rabbi Miller asked a series of multiple choice questions about events and personalities in the Book, and each group wrote down its answer. I'm happy to report that every group answered all the questions correctly!

After the Torah Olympics were over, it was time to rejoin the parents in the Social Hall for an informative and fun activity called "The World's Shortest Torah Scavenger Hunt." Each year, the Women of Isaiah gift an abridged version of the Torah (in book form) to each fifth grader; the books are distributed at this point in the workshop. Unfortunately, the books didn't arrive in time, so we handed out copies we had left over from last year, as well as other print versions of the Torah to the families, to use for the scavenger hunt. It's a fun activity to help parents and students learn to find Torah references using the book:chapter:verse tool. Below are some shots I took during this activity.

Rabbi Greninger introducing the scavenger hunt activity and showing the book version of the Torah which each fifth grader will receive as soon as the books arrive.

Taking a first look at the book which will be used (hopefully) to prepare for the Bar Mitzvah ceremony

Josh handing out Torah books for the activity

Very quickly, the workshop was over, and it was time for the families to join us in tefillah in the Sanctuary. Sixth graders joined us in tefillah, while their parents joined Rabbi Miller in the Social Hall. It was during this half hour that sixth grade parents had a chance to get to know each other as they schmoozed over bagels and coffee, and participated in "mixer" activities under Rabbi Miller's direction, to help them learn about each other's backgrounds and interests.

After tefillah, the teachers and sixth graders joined the parents in the Social Hall. This first sixth grade workshop focused on the meaning and significance of the Bar/Bat Mitzvah ritual in our 21st century lives. First, Rabbi Miller conducted a poll, asking parents and students to text answers to a number she gave them, to three questions she asked: (1) What characteristics do you look for in adults you respect?  (2) How is being a teenager different from being an adult? and (3) Why is it important to mark Bar/Bat Mitzvah at age 13? The answers were projected onto a screen as they popped up on her cellphone.

Parents and children were then asked to interview each other, and then to interview one other parent and student, writing answers to the interview questions on worksheets. Student questions asked the parents to recall their own coming of age ceremonies (if any) and how they felt when they were 13 years old. They were also asked why the ceremony is so important to them and why they feel that belonging to Temple Isaiah is important. Parent questions to the students asked how being in middle school is different from elementary school, and why they feel it's important to have the coming of age ceremony at Temple Isaiah during a prayer service. Answers to both interviews were shared with the whole group, after which the history and meaning of the ceremony in traditional Judaism were shared.

Morrie interviewing his Dad

Jenna and her Dad catching me photographing them

Lauren with her Mom and Dad

Jennifer and her Mom

Ethan and his parents

Zoe and Camille with their Dad

Sydney and her parents, with Mackenzie and her Mom (not in the photo)

We then broke into groups - parents stayed in the Social Hall to learn about the importance of community building and how to become more involved with our Isaiah community, as well as how to prepare for "creative B'nai Mitzvah" by attending lessons about the content and structure of the prayer service, and by  attending prayer services. They were also informed about specific administrative details relating to preparing for the special day.

Meanwhile, students and teachers moved to the Oneg Room, to play games that would help them get to know each other better, as well as to review material we had discussed during the first part of the workshop.
Students divided into groups of varying numbers, depending upon the question posed to them by Erin, our Shira teacher. For example, God created the world in six days, and on the seventh day God rested. On which of these days will you be celebrating your Bar/Bat Mitzvah?  The answer is "on the seventh day." So students were asked to divide into groups of seven. They were then asked to form the three Hebrew letters in the word "Shabbat," using their bodies. It was a fun way to end the workshop!

That's a pretty good SHIN!

And a very impressive BET (notice Jason rolled up as a dagesh - the dot inside of the vet letter)!

OK - I'm not quite sure which letter this is or is in the process of becoming, but they're having a lot of fun forming it!

I HOPE I'LL SEE YOU AT OUR SECOND B'NAI MITZVAH PREP WORKSHOP ON SATURDAY, DECEMBER 6th FOR SIXTH GRADE FAMILIES, AND SUNDAY, DECEMBER 7th FOR FIFTH GRADE FAMILIES. STAY TUNED FOR DETAILS CLOSER TO THOSE DATES.

Westward Ho!

After briefly reviewing how the earliest Jewish communities in the United States were settled by Sephardi Jews fleeing the Inquisition, with a few Ashkenazi Jews from England and Germany (mostly wealthy merchants) joining them in the 18th century, we continued our historical journey of our American Edah by viewing a video segment from the Heritage: Civilization and the Jews program about a sudden surge in Ashkenazi immigration to the United States beginning in the 1820's and continuing through the 1850's (minutes 13:09 to 17:49 on the video). At the same time that Jewish communities in the German territories of Bavaria and Prussia were experiencing economic, social, and religious discrimination, the United States was encouraging its citizens and any new immigrants to settle in the Louisiana Purchase territory acquired from France at the start of the 19th century. Over 200,000 Jewish immigrants left the "old world" for the "new."

We learned that many young Jewish men became peddlers who often had to walk many miles between frontier farmhouses carrying packs weighing 100 pounds. Theirs was a lonely and dangerous life - many were robbed and some were murdered for their goods.

 During our weekday sessions, we read letters, newspaper clippings, and personal memoir accounts of Jews who, during the late 1840's and early 1850's, made their way all the way west to California, to participate in the Gold Rush. These documents taught us about the Orthodox Jewish lives they left behind in Europe, the reasons they left, the conditions of the boats that took them to the North American continent, the difficulties they encountered keeping even the most basic of Jewish laws and traditions, and how they managed to do so in spite of the difficulties. And amazingly, we learned how easily they were accepted by non-Jews in the gold mining towns, who were quite fascinated by the Jewish holidays and, according to a Marysville news clipping from 1852, considered the Jews to be "some of our best citizens!"

During the weekday sessions, we took a break from our usual Hebrew Through Movement sessions, in order to teach Hebrew vocabulary through cooking. All the fifth and sixth graders prepared a "Seemaneem (Symbolic) Fruit Salad", a popular treat in Israel this time of year, during and after the Sukkot holiday. The symbolic fruits included in the salad are pomegranates (which are often associated with the Torah, since there are supposedly 613 seeds in each pomegranate, the number of commandments in the Torah), apples (eaten with honey on Rosh Ha'Shana), dates and oranges (both of which grow in the Land of Israel). There was a lot of cutting and chopping and slicing in Rooms 201 and 202 both days, resulting in a very refreshing and delicious fruit salad.

Reisheet kol, leer'chotz et ha'yada'eem eem sabon. (First of all, wash the hands with soap.)

Achshav, leech'toch et ha'reemon eem sakeen l'kama chalakeem. (Now, cut the pomegranate with a knife into several pieces.)

It's not easy cutting a pomegranate - it takes focus and a strong arm!

Az, l'hafreed et gar'ee'nei ha'reemon v'la'seem otam l'toch ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola. (Then, separate the pomegranate seeds and put them into the big bowl.)

Leech'toch et ha'tapoo'ach l'chalakeem k'taneem. (Cut the apple into small pieces.) At this point, with only half an hour for the session, each student at the table was focused on performing a different task.

L'kalef et ha'tapooz... (Peel the orange...)

...v'az leech'toch et ha'tapooz l'chalakeem k'taneem. (...and then cut the orange into small pieces.)

L'pares et ha't'mareem. (Slice the dates)

Leesh'foch meetz tapoozeem v'meetz leemon me'al ha'peirot. (Pour orange juice and lemon juice over the fruits.)

U'va'sof, l'arbev et ha'kol b'yachad. (And finally, stir everything together.)

La'seem salat seemaneem l'toch ke'ara k'tana. (Put symbolic fruit salad into a small bowl.)

L'varech al salat seemaneem - "Barooch ata Adonai, Eloheinu Melech ha'olam, borei p'ree ha'etz" - v'le'echol et ha'salat eem kapeet.  (Say a blessing over the symbolic salad - Blessed are You Adonai Our God, Ruler of the Universe, Who has created the fruit of the tree" - and eat the salad with a spoon.)

B'TEYAVON! (BON APETIT!)

The Golden Land

This past Sunday we officially began our unit of study about the Jews of the United States. Since the second week of school, I have been reading "Out of Many Waters," by Jacqueline Dembar Greene, a historical novel relating the fascinating story of the establishment of the first permanent Jewish settlement in New Amsterdam (later to be re-named New York by the English). Each time I read a chapter in the book, I begin by asking the students, "In what year does this story take place?"  They have all remembered the mnemonic device I shared with them when I first introduced the date - it's 6-5-4 with a 1 in front of it. On Sunday, they finally learned why this date is so important to remember - on September 7, 1654, 23 Portuguese Jews disembarked in the port of New Amsterdam from the French ship, the Sainte Catherine. How they came to be aboard the Sainte Catherine and ended up in New Amsterdam is quite a dramatic story which the novel shares exactly as the actual historical events unfolded.

In order to bring the history to life, I opened up this unit of study with a video segment from the "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews" dvd-rom (sharing minutes 1:36 to 13:07 with the students). This segment shares the history of Jewish settlement in the U.S. from 1654 to the end of the 18th century. The lesson brought home by this video segment was that we came to the land by accident, but once on its shores we were allowed to stay and fully participate in the unfolding of a uniquely democratic society. This society was not free of prejudices brought over from the "Old World," but since immigrants to the country during the 17th-18th centuries came from diverse ethnic and religious backgrounds, seeking refuge from persecution and economic opportunities, Jewish immigrants were no different. If you could carry your weight, you were accepted. Once Jewish communities established themselves in Newport, New York, Philadelphia, Charleston, and Savannah (commercial ports), they began to create uniquely American Jewish institutions such as the Sunday religious school.

During this same Sunday session, we prepared for the upcoming Simchat Torah holiday (which begins this Wednesday evening) by learning about the Jewish laws and customs which a Torah scribe must follow when copying a "sefer Torah" (a Torah scroll). With our very limited time, the simplest way to share all this information was to read from a wonderful book called "A Torah is Written" by Paul and Rachel Cowan.

The book follows a Brooklyn, New York scribe through all the steps necessary to copy a "sefer Torah," from choosing the proper kosher animal skin and stretching it on racks, choosing the proper goose or turkey feathers for the quills and preparing the ink (two teaspoons at a time!), to the very final process of proofreading the entire scroll three times and allowing members of the congregation to fill in letters at the very end of the scroll, to fulfill the Rabbinic dictum that whoever has copied even one letter of the Torah has personally received the Torah from God at Sinai.

Kimberly, my co-teacher second session (and our first grade teacher first session), reads "A Torah is Written" to the class

Hopefully, many of our Edot students will attend this coming Wednesday evening's Temple Isaiah celebration of Simchat Torah, when we completely unscroll not one, but two separate scrolls in the Sanctuary. When they view the scrolls, they will have a true appreciation for the time and effort, patience and skills required to produce each scroll. Our celebration begins with a free pizza and salad dinner at 6:15 p.m., then continues for about an hour with lots of dancing and singing and joy - the joy of the Torah! This holiday brings to a close the holidays of the Jewish month of Tishrei.

We had a lot of fun during our Hebrew Through Movement session on Sunday, reviewing vocabulary from previous sessions as well as learning new vocabulary relating to Simchat Torah.

L'hareem sefer torah (Lift up sefer Torah)

Leef'to'ach sefer torah (Open sefer Torah)  Note: We don't use the word "leef'to'ach" when we refer to unscrolling a Torah scroll, but I thought it would provide good review for the word "leef'to'ach" which we've already learned.

 I wish you all a CHAG SUKKOT SAMEACH and CHAG SIMCHAT TORAH SAMEACH which we can all openly and joyfully celebrate in this wonderful "Golden Land" that our Jewish community has been living in for 360 years!

Moadim L'Simcha

We focused our attention during the previous weekday sessions on one of the most joyous of Jewish holidays - Sukkot. Immediately following the more somber and contemplative High Holy Days, we are commanded to build a sukkah and to take the branches of the palm, myrtle, and willow trees, along with the fruit of the "etz hadar" (translated as the "goodly," "majestic" or  "splendid"  tree by various sources - Rashi, the 11th century scholar, insists this refers to the "etrog" or citron tree), and be joyous. What the commandment fails to tell us is how to be joyous using these symbols of the holiday.

Our Edot students had a lively discussion relating to how we could express joy using the lulav (the palm, myrtle and willow branches) and etrog. One student thought that we could use them to perform a hula dance, another that we could attach lights to them and create happy designs in the darkness of the night, under the full moon. The ideas kept coming. We finally took a look at a Torah Aura Instant Lesson entitled, "Palm, Willow, Myrtle" to learn how Talmudic era Rabbis interpreted the commandment. We discovered there were multiple Rabbinic interpretations, just as our own students had different ideas. For example, one Rabbi taught that the palm branch represented the human spine, the myrtle leaves were like the human eye, the willow leaves resembled the human mouth, and the etrog was like the human heart. We hold them together so that the entire body will praise God. Another Rabbi taught that each of the 4 species (as the 4 parts of the lulav are referred to) reminded us of the different parts of the Land of Israel - as we rejoice, we should never forget our connection to the Land of Israel. We concluded our discussion by learning the laws and blessings relating to the ritual of shaking the lulav and etrog. We also learned that it is during this holiday that we ask God to send us rain. The shaking of the lulav, some students noted, might sound like rain falling.

Immediately following t'fila, we went outside to the amphitheater area to visit the sukkah built by the 3rd and 4th graders in the Bonim track last week (very impressive!). We all managed to fit into the sukkah, and there we discussed the symbolism of the sukkah and its importance in helping us recall our nomadic roots before we settled in Canaan, as well as our farming roots in the Land of Canaan.

Hopefully our ancient ancestors had more room to move around in their sukkot than we did!

I also introduced Sukkot vocabulary to the students during our Hebrew Through Movement session.

Samantha, la'tet etrog l'Ian (Samantha, give etrog to Ian)

Ian, l'hareem etrog me'al ha'rosh  (Ian, raise the etrog over the head)

Ari, la'tet lulav l'Jason (Ari, give Jason lulav)

Jason, lee'tol lulav (Jason, shake lulav)

Finally, I thought I'd share with you a couple of photos I took during our hafsaka (recess). Fifth and sixth graders from all 3 tracks go upstairs to the lawn outside the Sanctuary for about 15 minutes each weekday session, where the children can run around to their hearts' content, usually playing ball games or standing around and shmoozing.

Climbing the stairs to the lawn

Enjoying a ball game under a clear, blue sky

Hopefully, you had a chance to see the beautiful, full moon which rose above the hills Wednesday evening, to welcome the Sukkot holiday. Be joyous during this "season of joy" - MOADIM L'SIMCHA!

G'mar Chatima Tova

During the past week, we continued to explore traditional Jewish beliefs about time and its purpose. This is a particularly important subject for our Edot studies, because it was this strong and unwavering belief in the purpose of time which allowed the members of each edah to maintain their Jewish identity and connection to other Jews around the world, even in the face of adversity.

On Sunday, we discussed the Jewish understanding of history, as propounded by the Biblical prophets and later by Talmudic era Rabbis. According to the Rabbis, time began with Creation and will end when the world is in "balance" - when justice has been achieved for all living things - and the Messianic Age will set in. In the Talmud, many Rabbis refer to this Age as 'Absolute Time', when the dimension of time as we know it will end, and we will begin a new existence in the dimension in which God exists - no past, no present, no future.

As we "balance on the timeline" (the metaphor I've introduced to Edot students), we move forward toward Absolute Time by following God's commandments, and doing whatever we can to help "repair the world" (tikkun olam) and bring justice to all living things. According to the teachings of the prophets, God will bless us when we follow the commandments, but will send our enemies upon us if we break them. Every historical event to them was a reflection of how well we "kept our balance." We learned that about 2,000 years ago, during the Roman occupation of Judea, a group of Jews who believed that the Messiah had finally arrived in the person of Jesus of Nazareth, believed that time had ended and stopped counting the years. When they realized that injustice still reigned, they developed the concept of the "Second Coming," believing that God had sent Jesus to earth to remind us to continue our efforts to bring justice and balance to the world, and that when Jesus came again, time would end. So they began counting the years from Jesus' birth. This led us to a discussion of the terms B.C. and A.D. (Before Christ and Anno Domini) and our Jewish use of the terms B.C.E. and C.E. (Before the Common Era and Common Era). As a closing activity, each student was given a piece of paper on which to create a timeline, beginning with Creation and ending with the Messianic Age. As we learn about specific edot and Jewish historical events over the course of the school year, we'll note these on the timelines.

During the weekday sessions, we continued the theme of "balancing on the timeline" by looking at what happens when we "fall off" and need to "return" in order to continue our individual and community efforts to effect tikkun olam. The Hebrew word for returning is "t'shuva" which we commonly translate as "atonement." Using a case study approach, students were divided into four small groups, each group being assigned one case study of a person who had made a mistake, hurting themselves and others. Each group was asked to consider if the person had "achieved full t'shuva" or not, and to prepare to defend their decision. From this activity, we determined during the ensuing class discussion that there are four steps which must be followed in order to achieve complete or full t'shuva. They are:

1. Realize you have made a mistake and what it is;
2. Apologize to yourself and to all others hurt by your mistake;
3. If possible, correct the immediate situation caused by the mistake; and
4. Make a plan for how to avoid making the same mistake again

To bring this lesson to our own classroom, I have shared with the students that if they "fall off the timeline" by acting inappropriately during class (i.e. talking at inappropriate times, hurting property, or in any way making anyone feel unsafe or unwelcome in our classroom community), I will give them two verbal warnings, after which, if the behavior still persists, I will ask them to write a "t'shuva essay." This involves writing one or two sentences for each of the above 4 steps of the t'shuva process. It will give the student a chance at home to reflect on what they did and how it affected others in the class, as well as giving them the opportunity to plan for how to avoid the behavior in the future.  I have a poster hanging in Room 201 to remind everyone of the four steps:

Here is a glimpse into our classroom during the past weekday sessions, as the students in one group were discussing their assigned t'shuva case study:

As a closing activity to this session, I gave each student a "T'Shuva Worksheet" which allowed them, using sentence starters, to make some reasonable goals for themselves for the coming school year.

Once they completed writing their goals on the worksheet, they were asked to fold the sheet in thirds, then put the worksheet into an envelope. After writing their full name on the envelope, the students were each given a sticker to "seal" their goals in the envelope. These will be returned to the students the final week of Religious School in May, at which time they can "break the seal" and see if they were able to achieve some, if not all of the goals they set for themselves.

During our Sunday Hebrew Through Movement sessions, I had a wonderful surprise. After our usual warm-up of review vocabulary, several students asked if they could give the commands. We only had enough time for two of the students, both of whom did a fantastic job!

This coming Tuesday evening we are holding our annual "Back-to-School" night for parents. I'm looking forward to seeing many of you, and to sharing the exciting year we have ahead of us and to answering any questions you may have about our Edot curriculum. In the meantime, I'd like to wish you and your families  G'MAR CHATIMA TOVA.  May you have been sealed in the Book of Life!