From Purim to Pesach!

During our final weekday session before our spring break, we continued to have fun with Purim (which began Wednesday evening right after JQuest classes were dismissed!), but we also began to explore both the Pesach (Passover) holiday which follows exactly one lunar month after Purim, and how the Crypto-Jews of Spain observed it.

First, we began the session with a Purim Hangman Game, in which the students had to figure out which Jewish value the Roman-era Rabbis saw embedded in the Purim story. (The one in the photo above is "Sharing with the less fortunate.")

These were quite challenging to figure out, since they were phrases and not single words.

And in a few cases, the students had to figure out entire sentences. ("Jews need each other in times of trouble.")

All the students became involved, which is precisely what we want to achieve during our community activity time.

We also had fun during our Edot Hebrew Through Movement session. After a brief review of all the foundational vocabulary we had learned during the year, I introduced the first part of a children's song in Israel which teaches the Hebrew words for right, left, forward and back.

By introducing the words y'meena (to the right) and s'mola (to the left) as well as l'faneem (forward) and achora (backward) in a song, the students learned the words much faster than had I simply spoken them, and so I was able to quickly move on to giving commands using the words:

Ella, la'lechet y'meena la'meela "chalon," v'leen'goa ba'meela. (Ella, walk to the right to the word "window," and touch the word.)

After tefilla (prayer session) and hafsaka (recess), we came back to our classroom, at which point I reviewed how we had learned in our previous Edot session that Pesach was the favorite holiday of the Crypto-Jews. Why? Because just as God had heard the cries of the ancient Israelite slaves in Egypt and had sent Moses to lead them to freedom, so, too, did the Crypto-Jews in Spain dream of the day that God would free them from the slavery of having to outwardly behave as Christians even as they desperately tried to recall the prayers, blessings, and rituals of the Judaic faith of their ancestors without being accused of doing so by the Inquisition. 

I then introduced the class to the 15 parts of the Pesach seder ceremony, developed by Roman-era Rabbis, and as we read about the prescribed ritual for each step, I shared with the class how the Crypto-Jews either performed the ritual if they recalled it, or the ritual they replaced for the original which they had forgotten.

Just as I was introducing the very last song we sing at the seder - "Chad Gadya" (One Kid), Maya, our music director, came into our classroom to teach us "Un Cavritico," the Ladino (Judeo-Spanish) version of the song. You can hear Yehoram Ga'on, the Israeli singer and actor who narrated and sang on the "From Toledo to Jerusalem" video I shared with the students a couple of weeks ago, singing "Un Cavritico" here.

And here is Maya teaching us the chorus to the song:

And Maya teaching us the Sephardic (Spanish-Jewish) melody to the parts of the seder ceremony - "Kadesh U'r'chatz"

As I mentioned, we are now on a two-week spring break. We return to JQuest classes on Sunday, April 10th, at which time we'll be continuing to explore the Crypto-Jewish experience in Spain, leading up to a Crypto-Jewish Seder which we'll be conducting in our classroom on Sunday, April 17th. This seder will be the culminating event for our exploration into Spanish Jewish history and culture, and will be a student-only event.

LAFTY Purim Carnival

The weather report for the day of our Purim Carnival yesterday warned there might be showers in the morning and throughout the day. Indeed, some showers did appear, but not until after the better part of the Carnival was over. For most of the morning the sun shone - so brightly, in fact, that many participants swarmed outside to the lawn outside the Sanctuary, where the Jump House and Dunk Tank were set up.

We started the morning in our Edot classroom, where I greeted the students as a nutty professor. After reading a chapter out loud from the novel, "A Shout in the Sunshine" as more and more students began to gather, we played a "Purim Shekel Game" where the categories were devoted to each of the 5 major characters in the Purim story. 

In between mouthfuls of hamantashen and Goldfish crackers, students showed that they knew the details of the Purim story backwards and forwards, and could recognize which Jewish values were apparent in different parts of the story.

Occasionally, a question might result in some head scratching...

...but when heads came together, the answers were quickly determined...

...and the reporter in the group answered within the allotted 15 seconds (occasionally while still chomping away on a hamantashen)!

Our T.A., Brian, was kept very busy paying out the money won by each group - in fact, the bets grew larger and larger, so confident were the students that they could answer correctly!

By the time the game was over, we were all in the proper mood for the Carnival...

...and so we headed upstairs to the Sanctuary for the Purim assembly and costume parades.

Once we reached the Sanctuary and took our seats, we sang "Heenei Ma'tov" followed by several Purim songs.

Members of our LAFTY youth group performed a series of short skits.

And then, it was time for our costume parades. First, came the younger children:

And then came the older ones:

After the parades, Rabbi Greninger called all the teachers up to the bima, to show off our costumes. And then it was time for everyone to go into the Social Hall for the Carnival. This took some time as the two lines for buying Carnival tickets quickly grew in length!

Here are Matt and Daniel standing at the end of one of the lines.

Once inside the Social  Hall, there was so much to do and see - here's our Ninja Turtle T.A. Brian who was assigned to the Prize Booth - a very popular booth, indeed!

It was hard to keep track of all the Edot students with so many people at the Carnival, especially since many of them were very well-disguised! (It's Ariston inside the hammerhead shark outfit!)

Other times, it was much easier to spot one of ours - here's Charlotte looking like she's the last girl standing in the hoola hoop contest - GO CHARLOTTE!!!

And standing behind the big plate of hamantashen (can one ever have enough?!) are Joey and his Mom, Angie.

Cotton candy was definitely popular - here's Alex with friend Jackson and cousin Jacob (with his back showing).

And there's Ben with his Dad, Adam, waiting on line for the sponge toss game.

Kyra and friend Abi are enjoying the sunny day as they head to one of the outside booths. It was so warm that a lot of kids bought the shaved ice cups to keep cool!

Here's Aaron kicking a ball with his foot for as long as he can balance on the other foot. We've got talent in our class!

And as I kept going around the room and outside on the lawn searching out Edot students, I ran into a few colorful characters along the way!

I think it's safe to say that a good time was had by all at our 2016 LAFTY Purim Carnival. Yasher koach to Jory and our LAFTY teens for all the hard work and love they put into preparing a supercalifragilistic- expealidocious Carnival.

It left us all jumping for joy!!!

Purim Posters

During our weekday sessions, we continued exploring the Jewish values which the Roman-era Rabbis recognized in the Book of Esther, this time through the medium of art. Students each day were divided into four groups, each of which was assigned to find the part of the Purim story in which the Rabbis recognized a particular value. The group was then asked to create a poster, illustrating the part of the story where their assigned value could be found. As usual, students could choose any number of materials with which to create their illustrations:

The results, and their value message are as follows:

(If you look carefully at the above poster,  you'll see a man wearing a keepa, taleet (prayer shawl) with tzeetzeet, and t'feeleen (phylacteries)!)

These are all hanging on a bulletin board in the hallway, to share the important values the Roman-era Rabbis believed the Book of Esther could teach to countless generations of Jews after them. Now it's our turn to share these with our own generation in our Isaiah/JQuest community.

Prior to painting the posters, we used our community activity time with the Shira and Y'tzira classes to continue exploring what our students knew or didn't know about Israel. All this information will be used to help create a new Israel curriculum for JQuest. Below is a sample of how we explored what the students knew about Israel:

And, of course, I continued to build upon Hebrew foundational and holiday vocabulary during our Hebrew Through Movement session each day this past week:

Abi, leengo'a ba'meelah "delet." (Abi, touch the word "door.")

Ariston, l'hatzbee'a al ha'meelah "delet." (Ariston, point to the word "door.")

Alexia, leengo'a ba'meelah "loo'ach." (Alexia, touch the word "board.")

Emily, l'hatzbee'a al ha'meelah "keer." (Emily, point to the word "wall.")

Gabby, l'hatzbee'a al ha'meelah "chalon," v'az l'heestovev la'keeseh." (Gabby, point to the word "window," and then turn to the chair.)

Seth, leelbosh et ha' keter al ha'rosh shel Jake. (Seth, put the crown on Jake's head.)

Banot, l'hareem chaticha shel ozen haman. (Girls, pick up a piece of a hamantashen.)

Baneem, l'hareem chaticha shel ozen haman. (Boys, pick up a piece of a hamantashen.)

This coming Sunday is our LAFTY Purim Carnival. I'm looking forward to seeing all the Edot students at 9 a.m. in the classroom, where we'll have some Purim fun before heading up to the Sanctuary for a Purim assembly and costume parade for half an hour, then into the Social Hall for two hours of fun and frolic at the Carnival. Parents are invited to attend, though it's not required for 5th and 6th grade parents. Be sure to send about $20.00 with your child if s/he is coming alone!