Trees by Howard Nemerov

Trees

To be a giant and keep quiet about it,
To stay in one's own place;
To stand for the constant presence of process
And always to seem the same;
To be steady as a rock and always trembling,
Having the hard appearance of death
With the soft, fluent nature of growth,
One's Being deceptively armored,
One's Becoming deceptively vulnerable;
To be so tough, and take the light so well,
Freely providing forbidden knowledge
Of so many things about heaven and earth
For which we should otherwise have no word -----

Poems or people are rarely so lovely,
And even when they have great qualities
They tend to tell you rather than exemplify
What they believe themselves to be about,
While from the moving silence of trees,
Whether in storm or calm, in leaf and naked,
Night and day, we draw conclusions of our own,
Sustaining and unnoticed as our breath
And perilous also--though there has never been
A critical tree---about the nature of things.

Howard Nemerov

Sunday, February 8

Hello Parents!

Today, in Hebrew, we played dominoes!  This activity was meant to help the kids review our prayer vocabulary before we move into our next unit (Brachot HaTorah). On one end of each domino was a Hebrew word and on the other was an English meaning.  The class had to work as a team to create a chain of dominoes, matching the Hebrew word to its English equivalent. They did a great job and we are now ready to move forward.  This Wednesday, Kitah Zayin is going to meet with the Rabbi to review our processional prayers and put them into practice.  The class has expressed anxiety about carrying the Torah through the sanctuary so they will each get a chance to practice processing the Torah.  I hope this will relieve some worry.  

In Judaics, this week, we took a break from our Holocaust curriculum to celebrate Tu B'Shevat.  Together, we read Trees by Jewish Poet Laureate, Howard Nemerov.  We meditated on the message  and everyone had a chance to share some insight.  Then we played Tree-vial Pursuit.  During the game, the class had a chance to read passages from the Tanakh and Torah about each of the seven species.  They learned the correct prayers to say when eating each and then had the opportunity to taste all seven.  The kids loved the pomegranate seeds but steered clear of the figs and dates.  It was neat to see them try something new.  

We did not have cooking today, as was scheduled, because Chef Elliot was home with a sick baby.  Instead, we took the last twenty minutes of class outside.  We played Gaga together and the day ended on a positive and energetic note.  

Remember that we DO NOT have Hebrew School next Sunday! 

SAVE THE DATE! Saturday, February 28th, TeenConnect is going to SkyZone! 

See everybody Wednesday!

Mikey

Sunday, February 1

This Superbowl Sunday was full of action in Kitah Zayin!

We talked about propaganda.  What is it?  How does it work? What is its purpose? In pairs, the kids had the opportunity to look at and discuss examples of Nazi propaganda.  Together, they came to understand how Hitler used propaganda to create an environment of fear and distrust in Germany during the 1930s. They ended class looking deeper into our modern world and identifying current examples of propaganda.

Sunday's special was art with Morah Sonya.  In art, the kids have been working on Peter Max inspired judaica paintings.  For those of you are not familiar with Peter Max, he is the artist who created the Beatles' Yellow Submarine album cover!  These painting will hang in the religious school lobby until the end of the year.  Then they are all yours!  They look great!

The kids have homework this week...and will every Sunday from now on! This week's assignment is to read chapter one of Maus: A Survivor's Tale.

Tu B'Shevat Sameach l'Kulam!
Mikey