Sunday, October 26th

Parents!  Another Sunday with your kids! Everyday I appreciate them more and more.  Last week we began to explore Jewish immigration to the US at the turn of the century.  As a follow-up to that lesson, today we had a special guest speaker! The synagogue's Executive Director, Barry Nove, came and spent an hour with us sharing his family's own immigration story.  Barry has researched the immigration process in depth and has even written a book about the Jewish Ellis Island experience.  He came loaded with photos, original documents and  anecdotes.  Ask your kids about the immigrants and bananas!

We left Barry to join Chef Elliot in the kitchen for cooking.  Today we made butternut squash and apple soup. It was warm and delicious.  Check out the pictures below! 

Here are some Hebrew words we learned today in case you want to follow-up at home: kitchen (mitbach), strength (oz), none (eyn) , like you (camocha), sovereignty (malchutecha),  generation (dor), forever and ever (l'olam v'ed).  

See you Wednesday!

L'hitraot,

Morah Mikey

 
 

 

Sunday, October 19, 2014

Shalom l'kulam!

I would first like to shout a hearty MAZEL TOV to Dylan Holzman!  His Bar Mitzvah was Saturday...marking the first in the class! Yasher Koach Dylan!

Now to this Sunday...a whirlwind!

Our day started with Hebrew.  The holidays are over and its time to start rolling with our Saturday Morning Service prayers.  This week's focus:  Ein Kamocha. We recite Ein Kamocha to mark the beginning of the Saturday morning Torah service.  This prayer is meant to build congregational anticipation for the Torah reading.  For the Bar/Bat Mitzvah the prayer is meant to prepare our hearts and our minds for the coming reading.  Much like we anticipate our B'nai Mitzvah with study and preparation, so we anticipate the Torah reading with Ein Kamocha.

We moved from tefillah into judaics as we began to explore the great migration of Eastern European Jews to the United States - the Land of Opportunity.  What was pushing us away from Europe and what was pulling us toward the US?  What challenges did we face? What was the journey like?  Once we arrived, where did we go and what did we do?  Next week our very own Barry Nove will come and present to the class about his family's immigration experience.  He has written a book about this story and it is a treat to hear his retelling of the story.  He even comes in costume!

I have sent the kids home with a mission.  I want your families to discuss your individual immigration stories. When did your family arrive?  From where did you come?  What drove your family to leave home for a far-away land?    

We closed our day in the kitchen with Chef Elliot.  We made caramel apples to celebrate the new year and the fall harvest!  The kids loved it!  The apples were delicious and the company sweet.

REMINDER! Our next TeenConnect event will be this Saturday, October 25th from 7-9pm.  The kids should meet at Monster Mini-Golf in Jessup, MD for pizza and putt putt!  Costumes are encouraged! $12 per attendee!

Have a wonderful week! Shavua Tov!
Morah Mikey

Sukkot!

Today was our sukkah party!  It was REALLY fun.  I may have over-sugared your children and, for that, I am so sorry. 

We began class by talking about Sukkot.  Why do we celebrate?  How do we celebrate?  We learned how to shake the lulav and etrog.  We learned the proper building dimensions and qualifications for the sukkah structure.   We learned the prayer that we recite when we sit in the sukkah and we talked about the tradition of ushpizin (the Aramaic word for "guests").  

Then the real fun began! Using graham crackers, pretzels, frosting, and LOTS of candy the kids each constructed their very own sukkah.  SO MUCH SUGAR.  It was so cool to see the finished projects. Everyone came at the project a little differently and everyone was really proud of their creations...even our madrichot participated. Just like a true sukkah, intended for impermanence, so were our little edible edifications.  As quickly as they went up...they came down...because we ate them. 

To close, we enjoyed a meal of falafel in the synagogue sukkah while we played Sukkot Jewpardy.  We had a blast!


Here is the evidence of what once was...

  

 

  

 

 

https://drive.google.com/folderview?id=0B30gfYBvbYfGamNxTGtzY05EZXM&usp=sharing

For those of you whose kids attended our first TeenConnect event on Saturday...thank you! It was wonderful. It was great to spend quality time together outside of the classroom!  Our next event is October 25th! Monster Mini-Golf!

Sunday, September 28

Shaloooom Parents! Today we dove head first into our Jewish history!  

In class we talked about turning points.  What turning points can we identify in our own lives.  A Bar or Bat Mitzvah! A birth or a death? What are turning points in Jewish history? Moses receiving the Ten Commandments?  The Holocaust?  Jews coming to America? 

The turning point that was our focus today was the wave of antisemitic riots, or pogroms, that took hold of Russia in the 19th century.  During this time, the Jewish population of Russia was the largest in the world - numbering 5 million.  Jews lived in shtetls, tiny bubbles of thriving Jewish culture.  We talked about how these attacks shook the foundations of Jewish life. 

Jews responded to the deteriorating conditions and harsh realities in three primary ways. Some Jews stayed in Russia and tried to make reality better for themselves . Others moved to Palestine and reinvented the Hebrew language. Others found hope in the dream of America, the Land of Opportunity. We discussed how these different responses helped to shape the Jewish world we know today.  We also discussed how the students would have responded if they had been living in Russia at the time. 

After this intense day of discussion, a breather was needed.  We closed our day in the gaga pit having fun together (pictures below).

I invite you to begin discussing your individual family histories.  How and when did your family come to the United States?  Was there a turning point that helped your family make this big decision?  What was left behind and what was gained?  In the coming weeks we will be talking about immigration to America and I would love for the kids to have stories to share.  

Reminders:  -No Hebrew School next Sunday! 

                   -TeenConnect Kick-off Event: Saturday, October 11th at 7pm.

                   -Simchat Torah B'Yachad: Wednesday, October 15th.

See you Wednesday!  Shavuah tov v'shana tova.

Morah Mikey

Meet Our Madricha: Heather Friedman

Hi, my name is Heather Friedman.  I'm Grade 7's class Madricha. I just had my Bat Mitzvah in May.  In my free time I like to read, play piano and guitar, practice Torah, watch Netflix, act, and sing. I am very excited to work with the students and help them prepare for their Bar and Bat Mitzvahs. 

Wednesday, September 16th.

Some photos taken during a break from our class Hebrew Assessment...

Eliyahu is our own walking and talking Office Depot. 

Ya'akov looking two places at once. 

"Ezra the Explainer" (title coined by Dovev Zolt) making loon-y sounds. 

Also...two Rosh Hashanah videos that Tvi'ah Booher shared with the class:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FlcxEDy-lr0

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6ZLq_JB8H44

SHANA TOVA!