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!