Making Menena

This week, we focused our efforts on preparing Menena (or, as it's known in Arabic, Ma'amoul) pastries. Jews in Iraq, as well as in other middle eastern countries, traditionally eat menena filled with nut fillings on Purim, and with date fillings on Rosh Ha'shana and Hanuka. Since we are a nut-free zone at Isaiah, we filled our menena pastries with blended dates. It's traditional for Iraqi Jews to include menena pastries in their Mishlo'ach Manot Purim baskets. Since Purim is the next major Jewish holiday that we celebrate (on March 24th this year), we'll be giving each family in our Edot class an early Purim treat!

I prepared the dough before class began. Students at each table found a large ball of dough, bowls of blended date filling, a large bowl of water to rinse their fingers in from the sticky date filling, and lots of paper towel sheets to dry their hands on before working the dough again.

One group on Wednesday prepared a gluten-free version of the pastry (a bit harder to get the dough to roll into a ball...

...but not impossible!).

Students rolled a walnut-sized piece of dough into a ball...

...then pushing down in the middle of the ball with their thumb, created a well.

After thinning the walls around the well as much as possible, they filled the well 3/4 full with the date filling.

At this point, a dip of the fingers in the warm water was necessary to get the sticky date filling off.

Then the date filling is covered by the dough remaining at the top, and the dough is gently rolled into a ball again.

Finally, the filled ball is placed on the cookie sheet and is gently pressed down a bit with the heel of the hand. And now it's ready to bake in the oven.

After the first 10 minutes or so of getting used to working with the dough and the date filling, and figuring out how to make the well and thin the sides, the students began to produce the menena fairly quickly, and finished up all the dough and date filling with time left to spare, even after cleaning up. I used the remaining time to continue reading from "The Storyteller's Beads," the story about "Operation Moses" in 1984, which helped bring thousands of Beta Yisrael (Ethiopian Jews) to Israel.

I'm looking forward to seeing most of our Edot families this coming Sunday at our Chamsa Family Workshop. 

Final Preparations for Chamsa Workshop

We've had a busy week in our Edot class preparing for the Chamsa workshop this coming Sunday. During the weekday sessions, the students worked in small groups, as they had the previous week, writing the final drafts of the skits they'll be presenting during the workshop.

They used the worksheet they had filled in the previous week as an information outline

Each group chose a recorder - the student with the neatest handwriting, since I had to type up the scripts when they were completed.

Some groups were given additional information to help write their skits.

Dialogue ideas were shared out loud, to see if they sounded right, then recorded if everyone agreed to use them.

Checking out the Book of Daniel to find Babylonian sounding names for the skit.

Once the skits were completed, we focused on creating backdrops for each skit in the form of posters. Yesterday, the students designed 8 posters depicting scenes from Babylonian Jewish history which we had studied in previous weeks.

The results were very impressive!

The conquest of Jerusalem and fiery destruction of Solomon's Temple

The siege of Jerusalem by Nebuchadnezzar's army - hard to see here, but that's hot oil being poured on Babylonian soldiers from the ramparts on an otherwise beautiful day.

Al Naharot Bavel - By the Rivers of Babylon we sat and wept when we remembered Zion.

During our music session with Maya this week, we learned two songs - "Goleil Or Mip'nei Choshech" (from the Ma'areev Araveem prayer, describing how God separates Light from Darkness):

And "Or Zarua La'tzadeek" (Light is Sown for the Righteous):

I'm so glad that our assigned time for music with Maya every other week is during the final 15 minutes of our weekday sessions, so we can be dismissed with the most wonderful melodies still ringing in our ears. 

Translating History into Skits

We used our weekday sessions this past week to begin writing skits for our upcoming Family Chamsa Workshop. Sharing a good portion of the 2,500 year history of the Babylonian/Iraqi edah was quite a challenge, so writing skits about the major eras and events in the history will hopefully help the students become more familiar with the era or event their group was assigned. This week, students filled out a worksheet, which questions helped them recall specific facts relating to their assigned era and which also gave them an opportunity to create fictional characters to help relate the history in a dramatic form.

Each group was given an outline of the major events and eras in Babylonian/Iraqi Jewish history to which they could refer when answering the questions.

A recorder in each group wrote down the agreed upon answers.

During our next weekday sessions, the students will use the information they collected on the worksheets to write their skits.

I continued to introduce new Tu Bish'vat vocabulary this week during our Hebrew Through Movement session:

Grace, l'kachat pri banan mee'toch sal ha'peirot... (Grace, take a banana fruit from inside the fruit basket...)

...v'la'seem et ha'banan al ha'rosh. (...and put the banana on the head.)

Seth, la'seem et sal ha'peirot al ha'rosh. (Seth, put the fruit basket on the head.)

Emily S., la'seem et ha'banan al ha'rosh eem ha'yad ha'y'meenee, v'la'seem yad s'molee al ha'rosh shel Emily F.; Emily F., la'seem pri agas al ha'beten. (Emily S., put the banana on the head with the right hand, and put the left hand on the head of Emily F.; Emily F., put the pear fruit on the stomach.)

Charlotte, leetfos et pri he'agas! (Charlotte, catch the pear fruit!)

Ariston, l'galgel et pri he'agas al ha'reetzpa. (Ariston, roll the pear fruit on the floor.)

Peter, la'seem et pri he'agas al ha'rosh v'lalechet mee'saveev la'shoolchan; Leo, la'seem et pri ha'leemon al ha'rosh shel Peter, v'lalechet eem Peter mee'saveev la'shoolchan. (Peter, put the pear fruit on the head and walk around the table; Leo, put the lemon fruit on Peter's head and walk with Peter around the table.)

During our community activity time at the beginning of each session this week, our seventh grade coordinator and youth group leader Jory visited us in the Beit Knesset, and shared a video he put together to introduce the next Simcha Youth Group activity coming up on Saturday, January 23rd - a visit to the Exploratorium and Tactile Dome in San Francisco. We want to encourage our fifth and sixth graders to participate in as many Simcha Youth Group activities as possible during the year. The Simcha activities give the children a wonderful opportunity to get to know each other outside of the classroom, and to hopefully form a tight-knit community - one which they'll feel a special part of throughout their JQuest experience and on into their teenage years at Noar Night. And that's all while they're having a fun experience!

Here's part of the video that Jory shared:

Since the lawn outside the Sanctuary where we spend our recess (hafsaka) time each weekday session was soaking wet on Wednesday, we decided to use the 10 minutes back in the Beit Knesset with a community activity which our Y'tzira teacher, Maimone, put together. It's a drama game where two volunteers draw a slip of paper with a Jewish value written on it from a basket, then decide how to act out the value for the audience to guess from a list of acting options such as a Shakespearean tragedy, slow-motion, a musical, etc. 

In the video segment below, our two Edot students, Aaron and Tobias are acting out the Jewish value of studying Torah as a detective mystery:

On Tuesday, the Round Table pizza delivery was delayed, and by the time the deliveryman arrived, a very long line had formed. No one was going anywhere without their pizza!!! 

Kudos to Daniella for staying calm and focused during the crisis!

The Jews of Babylonia/Iraq

After a 3-week break from our studies, we're back in full swing in our Edot class. Just before vacation began, I introduced the earliest history of the very first edah (Jewish Diaspora community) - that of the Babylonian Jews (see December 17th post). During the past week, I shared two important eras of the Babylonian Jewish experience: (1) the growth of the two great Babylonian Talmudic Academies in Sura and Pumbedita under the Babylonian Jewish leaders referred to as Gaoneem, during the first half of the first millenium C.E. and, (2) the birth and spread of Islam during the 7th century C.E., and its influence on the Jews of Iraq.

I shared the history of these eras using interactive maps, multimedia presentations and videos from the "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews" dvd-rom program. In order to help the students understand the development of the Talmud during the first era discussed above, we first took a look on the Heritage program at the compilation of the Mishnah (minutes 21:36 - 23:30), the first Jewish holy text to emerge following the Roman occupation of Judea. Once the students understood what the Mishnah was, we jumped back to Babylonia, and to the development of the Babylonian Talmud (minutes 37:21 - 41:40). We even had a chance to learn how to read a page of the Talmud, using one of the Heritage program's multimedia presentations. The Rabbinic commentary that we followed on the page was one that extended over 8 centuries, and dealt with the proper time we should recite the morning "Sh'ma" prayer.

Yesterday, I shared the birth of Islam and its spread throughout the Mediterranean world during the 7th century (Heritage program  - minutes 42:42 - 49:20). By the 8th century, 9 out of 10 Jews lived under Muslim rule, and the Islamic culture greatly influenced that of the Jews. I finished our historical studies of the Babylonian Jewish community by first sharing with the students the story behind a Muslim amulet referred to as the "Hand of Fatima" or, more commonly in the Jewish world, as the "Chamsa," and then by sharing how after centuries of mostly peaceful coexistence with their Arab neighbors in what came to be called Iraq, Jews of this oldest edah were forced to leave their Mesopotamian home (which many of them had called home for about 2,500 years), and seek refuge in Israel and other parts of the world because of political reasons   which were too complicated to explain in the little time we have together in our Edot class. I completed the session yesterday by asking the students to guess how many Jews were left in Iraq today. The answer, as far as we know, is none. Thankfully, the Iraqi Jewish culture has survived and has integrated itself over the past half century or more into the Israeli culture.

During the coming weekday sessions, the students will be translating what we learned about the major eras of Babylonian/Iraqi Jewish history into skits, which they will perform for families attending our "Chamsa" workshop on Sunday, January 31st. We've already learned to sing "Al Naharot Bavel" (Psalm 137 - "By the Rivers of Babylon") and another Iraqi Jewish song called "Hallelu Avdei Adonai" which is sung during their Simchat Torah celebrations. During our viewing of the Heritage program about the rise of Islam, we learned about Arabic calligraphy and the adherence of Muslim artists to geometric and floral art designs as they were prohibited by the Second Commandment from "creating graven images of God," a commandment they interpreted to mean that the drawing of human or even animal figures was forbidden, since we are created in God's image. We also listened to Arabic and to Muslim prayers being chanted, sounds the Babylonian/Iraqi Jews heard on a daily basis after the 7th century C.E.. In two weeks, we'll be painting posters to illustrate the skits, and we'll prepare an Iraqi Jewish Purim treat called Menena, which will be shared during the upcoming family workshop, during which all participants will create a Chamsa amulet constructed out of copper foil.

Aside from our Edot studies, this new semester has brought a few changes. We continue to meet together at the start of each weekday session with the other 5th and 6th grade tracks (Shira and Y'tzira), but this semester our games and activities are focused around Jewish values (middot) instead of around Jewish holidays and rituals. Also, our sixth graders have now joined the seventh graders up in the Sanctuary each weekday session, where Cantor Korn and Jory (the seventh grade coordinator) lead us in learning the Shabbat morning prayers, which the students will eventually be asked to lead at their Bar/Bat Mitzvah ceremonies.

Cantor Korn explaining to the Sixth Graders what they will be doing during Tefillah with the Seventh Graders this Semester:

 

During our music sessions with the other two tracks, Maya has begun to teach us Tu Bish'vat songs (the holiday begins Sunday evening, January 24th, this year), and she has also come into our Edot classroom to teach us the two Babylonian/Iraqi Jewish songs mentioned above.

Growing like a tree to the sounds of "Tu Tu Tu Bish'vat" in the Beit Knesset:

Learning the chorus to the Iraqi Song, "Hallelu Avdei Adonai" in our Edot classroom:

And, of course, we continue with our Hebrew Through Movement program, focusing for the next few weeks on Tu Bish'vat vocabulary.

Please be sure to let me know, if you haven't already, whether your family can join us for our Family Chamsa Workshop, which will be held during both regular sessions on Sunday, January 31st. I look forward to seeing you all there!

The First Edah

Now that Hanuka is behind us (it seems to go faster every year for me!), we turned our attention during the final weekday session of our first semester to our next major unit of study - that of the Iraqi Jews, or, as they refer to themselves, the Babylonian Jews. This was the very first edah in Jewish history. It was the edah which developed the earliest form of Judaism, and which established the pattern of existence for Jewish Diaspora communities to follow. It was the first edah whose members could truly be called "Jews," and not ancient Israelites.

Historians are pretty much in the dark as to the origins of the Beta Yisrael community in Ethiopia. But when it comes to the origins of the Iraqi/Babylonian Jewish community, the opposite is true. We have an enormous volume of documentation, not only from our own Hebrew Bible, but from archaeological finds and historical documents left by the Babylonians and Persians (who conquered the Babylonians and whose king, Cyrus, allowed the exiled peoples in Babylon to return to their homes again in 537 B.C.E., including the Judeans).

In order to truly understand how momentous an event the establishment of the Babylonian exile community was in Jewish history, I had to first review with the students the earliest history of the ancient Israelites. Using interactive maps on the "Heritage: Civilization and the Jews" dvd-rom program, we reviewed what the students had learned beginning in third grade about Abraham's journey to Canaan from the Sumerian city-state of Ur (according to the Book of Genesis). We followed the successive journeys of the ancient Israelites on the map from Canaan to Egypt and back to Canaan under the leadership of Moses and then Joshua. Then I became a storyteller, sharing in as dramatic a way as possible how a simple, nomadic people became a nation when they left Egypt (according to the Book of Exodus), and eventually settled down as farmers and shepherds and tradespeople in Canaan's hill country. The ancient Israelites lived an egalitarian life under the leaders of their tribes called judges (Books of Joshua and Judges). But when the people demanded that one leader be appointed by God to unify them as they fought against the Phillistines (Book I of Samuel), their lives changed drastically. Suddenly, a noble, privileged class arose which became corrupt, and corruption spread to the merchant class. Men called prophets arose (Samuel was the first) in the 10th to 5th centuries B.C.E., who railed against the corruption of the upper classes - men like Isaiah and Amos. Kings David and Solomon had built and fortified a united kingdom of Israel, but following Solomon's death, ten of the twelve tribes separated and formed their own northern Kingdom of Israel, while the two tribes of Judah and Benjamin (the largest and smallest tribes, respectively), formed the southern Kingdom of Judah.

With the advent of the prophets, a moral concept of history began to develop, along with the beginnings of a new concept of a more powerful God who could control mighty empires and send them to punish the Israelites if they rejected God's covenant made with Abraham and subsequently with all the Israelites at Mt. Sinai. No longer was their God - Yahweh - a local deity whose power faded outside the borders of their land.

At this point, I shared two video segments from the "Heritage" program with the students. The two segments tell the story of how the northern Kingdom of Israel was conquered by the Assyrians in 722 B.C.E. and how its inhabitants were exiled to Nineveh and Assur - two of Assyria's great city-states, never to be heard from again. They are referred to as "The Ten Lost Tribes of Israel." It's very likely that the inhabitants intermarried with the Assyrians, forgetting their history and laws - their very identity.  The story continues when, about 100 years later, King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia conquered the Kingdom of Judah and exiled about 10,000 Judeans. It's very likely that they remembered what had become of the inhabitants of the Kingdom of Israel, and thus very consciously did what they had to in order to preserve their history and language and laws for future generations. The first video segment is from "A People is Born" chapter of the Heritage Program (begin with minute 49:18 and view to the end of the chapter). The second segment is from "The Power of the Word" chapter (view the beginning to minute 10:25).

I used the time allotted for our Hebrew Through Movement Program this past week to review all the vocabulary I introduced over the past semester. I'm impressed at how much the students have learned from this program!

I'd like to wish all our Edot families a very enjoyable winter break. We return in 3 weeks (Tuesday, January 5th and Wednesday, January 6th), at which point we'll continue to investigate the history and culture of the Iraqi/Babylonian Jews. Please be sure to put Sunday, January 31st on your calendars for our Family Chamsa Workshop. This will be the culminating activity for our unit of study about the Iraqi/Babylonian Jews, and will take place during both Sunday sessions, at their regular time. 

HAVE A HAPPY AND HEALTHY 2016!

A Week of Fun and Games

During our past two weekday sessions, some of our Edot students took advantage of our annual "Bring-A-Friend Day" program to share JQuest with a Jewish or non-Jewish friend. This program is always associated with the Hanuka holiday, since it gives us a chance to "step out" of our normal curriculum for a day in order to plan fun Hanuka activities for the students and their friends. No prior knowledge of the holiday is necessary (though our Edot students did learn about the background and traditions associated with Hanuka over the past couple of weeks), in order to include all the friends in on the fun.

All three tracks (Edot, Shira and Y'tzira) participated in the first part of the session's activities. First, I read out loud a brief summary of the Hanuka story while all the children ate their snacks. Then it was time to divide up into four groups. Each group was assigned 1/4 of the Hanuka story summary I had just read, and was asked to perform it in a certain style. Each group found a private space in the classrooms or in the Beit Knesset to create and rehearse their skits, since the style in which they had to perform their skit had to remain a secret from the other groups, which were asked to guess the style when the skits were performed.
It was during this rehearsal period that friends and students had a chance to get to know each other.

 

Then, after 20 minutes of rehearsal time, it was time for all the groups to reassemble in the Beit Knesset for the skit presentations. The first group to perform was asked to perform its part of the story in the style of an American western movie; the second group in the style of Star Wars; third group in the style of a Harry Potter novel; and the last group, in the style of a Sesame Street episode.

Here's a video of the group presenting in the style of an American western:

 The audience had no trouble guessing the styles of each skit, and, even more importantly, a lot of fun was had both by performers and audience!

Each day, Rabbi Greninger joined us to welcome friends to JQuest.

 After all the skits had been performed, it was time for each track to return to its own classroom for more fun and games. Our Edot students were able to show their friends our Edot classroom and teach them how to play the dreydl game. Each student and friend received a dreydl to play with and a bag of Skittles candies to use for betting.

Some of the children had a chance to show off their dreydl spinning techniques, honed each year on Hanuka!

We ended each session up in the Sanctuary, where all the 3rd through 6th graders and their friends gathered for a special Hanuka candle lighting assembly. Rabbi Greninger introduced the friends who had never been in a synagogue before to the important elements in a synagogue, and asked them what they had learned during the session. Then she led us in saying the blessings over the Hanuka candles, and we finished off the session each day with Hanuka songs.

Lighting the 3rd candle on Tuesday:

Yesterday, our Edot students had a chance to share what they had learned during units of study we had just completed in our Edot and Holiday curricula during our Shekel Game. How can you not have fun while betting a certain number of sh'kaleem (Israeli currency) that your group can answer a review question correctly?!!

We also had a visit from our music director, Maya, each session yesterday. Now that we have completed our unit of study about the Beta Yisrael Jews of Ethiopia, we are beginning a new unit of study about the Jews of Babylonia/Iraq. To  help us get started, Maya taught us to sing two songs, the lyrics to both of which come from Psalm 137 - "Al Naharot Bavel" ("By the Rivers of Babylon"). In the Psalm, the Judeans forced into exile by King Nebuchadnezzar of Babylonia mourn the loss of their homeland and wonder how they can find comfort in the new and strange land to which they have been brought. Here are a couple of videos taken as Maya taught us each song: