If it's Purim, it must be Hamantashen!

Tuesday and Wednesday were our final weekday sessions before Purim this coming Sunday. What better way to start our final six sessions of the Hebrew Cooking Elective, than with a wild and crazy half hour of preparing Hamantashen.  The flour was flying everywhere and the dough was sticking to everything, but amazingly, our Purim pastry mission was accomplished.

The Hebrew name for Hamantashen is "Oznei Haman" - literally, the ears of Haman. This is interesting because the Yiddish name, "Hamantashen," means the pocket of Haman. Which makes more sense to you?

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

Achshav, l'arbev et ha'kol b'yacahad eem ha'kaf. (Now, stir everything together with the spoon.) So far, so good - pretty simple recipe...

Oy vey - batzek al ha'yada'eem! (Oh,oh - dough on the hands!) Very, very, very sticky dough!

La'seem kemach al ha'shoolchan, v'az la'avor et ha'batzek me'ha'ke'ara ha'g'dola la'shoolchan. (Put flour on the table, and then transfer the dough from the big bowl to the table.)

L'galgel et ha'batzek al ha'shoolchan (Roll the dough on the table)...

...l'galgel, v'l'galgel (...roll and roll). Keep rolling until the dough is just 1/8" thick.

Achshav, leechrot eegool me'ha'batzek eem ha'kos he'adom. (Now, cut out a circle from the dough with the red cup.)

Leechrot 24 eegooleem, v'la'seem otam al ha'tavneet.  Az la'seem kapeet shel reebah ba'emtza shel kol eegool. (Cut out 24 circles, and put them on the cookie sheet. Then put a teaspoon of (strawberry) preserves in the middle of each circle.)

L'kapel v'leetzvot et kol eegool l'tzoora eem shalosh peenot. (Fold and pinch each circle into a 3-cornered shape.)

L'hamsheech l'galgel et ha'batzek, leechrot et ha'batzek l'geelgooleem, la'seem reeba ba'emtza shel kol eegool, v'l'kapel v'leetzvot et kol eegol l'tzoora eem shalosh peenot, ad she'eyn yoter batzek. (Continue to roll the dough, cut the dough into circles, put preserves in the middle of each circle, and fold and pinch each circle into a 3-cornered shape, until there's no more dough left.)  We had mini-hamantashen factories at each table, with every student involved in one or more activities in order to get it all done in time.

V'acharei asara dakot ba'tanoor, zeh moochan le'echol. (And after 10 minutes in the oven, it's ready to eat.)

B'TEYAVON! (BON APETIT!)  CHAG PURIM SAMEACH! (HAPPY PURIM!)

Purim's A-Comin'!

Each successive Sunday during this month of Adar Bet, we've been working hard to get sillier and sillier in preparation for that silliest of Jewish holidays - Purim. Last week we had a crazy hair day, and yesterday we had a crazy hat/pajama day. Our Edot students also had a chance to act "out of the ordinary" by breaking out into silly walks (a la Monty Python!).

While working on some very serious posters relating to the Jewish values which Roman-era Rabbis determined were present in the Book of Esther, the children began to exhibit "silly walk" tendencies whenever a Purim song began to play. As soon as the music stopped, they went right back to working in a very serious manner on the posters.  Check it out:

 

In between the silly walk episodes (and there were several during each session!), the students worked diligently on their posters, with (as always!) amazing results. During the previous weekday sessions, we had discussed why scholars were puzzled as to why the Book of Esther was included as one of the 39 books in the Hebrew Bible (Tana'ch), while the Books of the Maccabees, detailing the history of the Hanuka story, were not. While the Books of the Maccabees share (for the most part) historical events which took place in the Land of Israel, and refer to God countless times, most scholars agree that the events detailed in the Book of Esther did not occur, the story doesn't take place even partially in the Land of Israel, and the name of God does not appear even once in the entire story. On top of that, the names of the major characters, Esther and Mordechai, are directly related to the names of the chief Babylonian god and his consort - Marduk and Astarte (also known as Ishtar). The story itself is reminiscent of the Thousand and One Arabian Nights tales, most of which find their roots in ancient Mesopotamian and Persian mythology, as well as from during the Muslim Caliphate era. And the Book of Esther is the only Biblical book not found among the Dead Sea Scrolls (at least not yet!).

What very likely helped the Roman era Rabbis decide to include the story, was the fact that it reflects very important Jewish ideas which helped the nation to maintain its identity and to thrive, even during times of persecution. 

Below are photos of the students working on the posters, along with photos of  the completed posters hanging on the bulletin board in the hallway.

As always, starting out with a blank "canvass"

Brainstorming ideas

Josh in his "Lyle, Lyle Crocodile" crazy hat

I'll never get over the amazing view we have from our window!

It's hard to see from this angle, but that's a Persian cat on the tree limb!

 Stay tuned for the photo of the finished product below to see what this material turns into under Spencer's magic fingers!

Am I the only one who notices the color coordination between Mia's pj's and the poster?

And between Stephen's pj bottoms and his sneakers?

Lots and lots of materials to use

And finally, the finished posters:

Though God's Name is never mentioned in the story, the Rabbis believed God was "behind the scenes."

Tahini Cookies

The last recipe that we prepared for our third round of the Hebrew cooking elective was one that I found online for Tahini Cookies. The recipe is very simple, very quick to prepare (just 15 minutes preparation time, and 10 minutes to bake), and the result is very delicious.

Since this was the final cooking session for this group, I put the vocabulary on the whiteboard as usual, but did not put in the English translation for those words which we have used frequently. I did translate new words I was introducing.  See if you can translate the words most frequently used in our cooking sessions (you can refer to previous posts in this blog if you're not certain about any word):

We then began to prepare the cookies.

Reisheet kol, la'seem et ha't'cheena l'toch ha'ke'ara (First of all, put the tahini into the bowl)

This proved to be a very slow-moving step considering how sticky the t'cheena is - some help from the spatula was in order

Achshav, l'hoseef et ha'd'vash v'ha'keenamon (Now, add in the honey and cinnamon)

Our students became very adept at using the spatula - this time to get the honey out of the cup

Az, l'hoseef et ha'sheebolet shoo'al v'et ha'tzeemookeem... (Then, add in the oatmeal and the raisins...)

...v'l'arbev et ha'kol b'yachad eem ha'kaf ha'g'dola (...and mix it all together with the big spoon)

La'seem et ha'eerboov al ha'kapeet... (Put the mixture on the teaspoon...)

...v'la'avor et ha'eerboov la'tavneet (...and transfer the mixture to the cookie sheet)

Press down on each cookie lightly, making a crisscross pattern with the fork

Achad esrei oogeeyot al kol tavneet...(18 cookies on each cookie sheet...)

La'afot et ha'oogeeyot asara dakot ba'tanoor, l'chakot asara dakot, v'az hem moochaneem le'echol - B'TEYAVON!  (Bake the cookies ten minutes in the oven, wait ten minutes, and then they are ready to eat - BON APETIT!)

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

The final five minutes were spent choosing an elective for the final 6 weeks of the school year - students were asked to note down their first, second, and third choices

They all take this activity very seriously...

...thinking it over and discussing it with friends

If anyone would like to get any or all of the recipes we prepared, get in touch with me and I'd be happy to send them to you. This would be a wonderful and fun way for you to practice Hebrew vocabulary at home.

Rosh Chodesh Adar Bet

Since 5774 is a leap year, we have two months of Adar. Yesterday, the 30th day of the first month of Adar (Adar Alef), we celebrated the start of the second month of Adar (Adar Bet). Traditionally, Jews all over the world celebrate the beginning of each month (Rosh Chodesh) both on the final day of the previous month and on the first day of the new month.

The wild and crazy holiday of Purim falls on the 14th day of Adar; during leap years, on the 14th day of Adar Bet. And because the Talmud tells us that our joy is increased when entering the month of Adar (meaning in expectation of the holiday of Purim), we decided that a "crazy  hair day" would set the right mood for the month. Purim is just two weeks away (Sunday, March 16th), so we'll do our best to build up the crazy atmosphere up through the Purim Carnival.

Hair ribbons could be seen everywhere in the school yesterday...

Along with outlandish wigs.

In our Edot class, I decided to start off the month with a game that can become quite silly - it's called "In the Manner of the Word."  It certainly proved to be a fun way for me to discover how much the Edot students could recall of the Purim story. We prepared for the game by having the students dictate to me ten complete sentences summarizing the Purim story, which I wrote on the whiteboard. (In the '70's, I actually spent a lot of money to get an "Afro-perm," when I could have just worn this wig!)

I then asked the students to give me 10-15 adverbs, which I also wrote on the board.

Now we were ready to play. A volunteer goes out of the room, and while he or she is outside, another volunteer chooses one of the adverbs. Once everyone in the classroom is sure they remember what the chosen adverb is, the volunteer who left the room is asked to return. He or she then chooses another volunteer to come to our "stage area" in the front of the room, to act out one of the sentences "in the manner of the word," in such a way that he or she can figure out which word was chosen.  The actor is not allowed to use any words, sounds, or props. We laughed our way through the half hour that we played the game.

Act out "Haman was hung on his own gallows" (happily?)

Esther participated in the King's beauty contests (evilly?)

Queen Esther approached the King (invisibly!)

Queen Esther participated in a beauty contest (anonymously - crazy hair day certainly had some practical uses!)

Haman had to lead Mordechai through the streets of Shushan (awkwardly!)

Haman plotted to kill the Jews (surprisingly!)

It was hard to stop playing the game, but more fun and silliness awaited us during our Hebrew Through Movement session following the game. This time, we focused on Purim vocabulary, introducing four new words:  megeelat Ester (the scroll of Esther), ra'ashan (a grogger), leekro (to read) and l'har'eesh (to make noise).

Introduction to megeelat ester

Introducing "ra'ashan" and "l'har'eesh

Jordan, l'har'eesh ra'ashan (a bit too noisy for Jennifer!)

Sophie, leekro megeelat ester, Maddie l'har'eesh ra'ashan

Robert, la'lechet eem megeelat ester al ha'rosh (Robert, walk with megeelat ester on the head)

Kyle, la'seem megeelat ester al ha'rosh shel Ian (Kyle, put megeelat ester on Ian's head)

And to finish off each of our sessions, a visit to Joel in Room 107, where we learned Purim songs (and drowned out the name of Haman quite a few times, making a lot of "ra'ash" (noise).  

Crazy-haired Joel - pink seemed to be the color and mood of the day

Pink song sheets with lots of joyous and crazy Purim songs, like "I Can't Get No Hamantaschen"

Both sessions participated in an unusual K-6 tefilla session in the Sanctuary. Rabbi Greninger and Joel led us in singing some Purim songs, after which Rabbi Greninger asked for volunteers to share what they liked best about our Temple Isaiah school and community. There were lots of responses:  friends, teachers (not T-shirts, but those are also nice!), art, singing, dancing, community, games...the list goes on and on. We then all filed, class by class, into the Social Hall, where our visiting scholar, Rabbi Larry Hoffman, was leading adult members of our congregation in a workshop about how to create a synagogue community for the 21st century. Since the children are the future of Temple Isaiah, all the children and teachers stood in a circle around the perimeter of the room, and again shared what they liked about Isaiah with the adults. To finish the session, we all sang "Am Yisrael Chai" led by Joel and Rabbi Greninger.