Kindergarten
Today we learned about Yom Kippur. We learned that it is the day of atonement where we ask God forgiveness for our sins. We talked about what we could ask God for forgiveness for and made a class list. Then we colored a sheet with Rabbi on it blowing a shofar at the end of service.
Ask your child: 1. What is Yom Kippur? 2. How many hours do we fast?
1st Grade
We continued our discussion of what mitzvot are. We made mitzvah leaves for our mitzvah tree, and started really talking about why doing mitzvot is so important.
Ask your child: 1. What did you write on your mitzvah leaf? 2. What is a mitzvah you did today?
2nd Grade
This week we learned about Yom Kippur, an important Jewish holiday following Rosh Hashana. We learned by reading the story of Jonah and the Whale that we cannot run away from our mistakes. We then shared our family traditions and what we plan to ask forgiveness for.
Ask your child: 1. Why do we celebrate Yom Kippur? 2. Why is the story of Jonah and the whale important?
3rd Grade
Judaics - Students will be introduced to Sandy Koufax who was considered the finest left hand pitcher that ever played baseball. He was respected by all. Today, 50 years later Koufax is remembered, not for what he had accomplished, but for what he didn't do. He refused to play on Yom Kippur. Through class, students will learn how making a tough decision always comes with a price but can also make an impact for year to come
Ask your child: 1. Do you think not playing on Yom Kippur was an easy decision for Sandy Koufax? 2. Have you ever had to make a tough decision? What was the outcome of your decisiion?
Hebrew
To start off the lesson, each child will open up their Siddur and go over familiar prayers in search of words that are used to describe God. After writing down 10 words on the whiteboard, we will narrow the list down to 5. Each student will choose 3-4 words from the remaining list that they believe applies to themselves, and explain why they chose those words. After a classroom discussion about how we are all similar to God in different ways, we will talk about Rosh Hashanah and how it is the celebration of God's creation of the world.
Ask your child: 1. Why do we eat apples and honey on Rosh Hashanah? 2. What is the name of the Hebrew month that Rosh Hashanah is celebrated in?
4th Grade
Judaics
I was actually quite surprised on how many calming techniques the students came up on their own. We talked about some additional ones. But the best part was learning to recognize the signs of frustrations turning into anger and how to 'slow it down' . We talked about examples of seeing the build up in others and trying not to add to the situation. We learned that fear of the unknown can manifest as anger, and in our setting it is certainly ok not to understand and ask questions. Anger is a normal emotion and it's ok to be angry, it how we handle our anger that counts.
Ask your child: Students can be asked about techniques to calm themselves down. They can be asked how it feels to become frustrated when they aren't understood, or to witness a friend's or family member's frustration.
Hebrew
We are continuing with the lows this time - being sensitive to the poor, widows, orphans etc. and the important of true justice.
Ask your child: 1. Do you think the Israelites took Moses' suggestions about the lows? why? 2. How would you react to that if you were on of them?
5th Grade
Judaics
This week we discussed the story of Noah and the Flood! Students took turns reading the portion (in English). We focused on how this story portrays God and Noah as complex characters.
Ask your child: 1. What did they think of Noah the person? 2. Were they surprised to learn about Noah's role in allowing us to eat meat and in justifying slavery?
Hebrew
We will look together at the Hebrew calendar to find how unique is the Hebrew calendar. We will find together all the special holidays, months and Sabbath. We will also learn the Hebrew months and how they related to Israel and create our own Hebrew month calendar.
Ask your child: 1. How do we know which month is it thorough the Hebrew calendar? 2. What is your favorite month and why?
6th Grade
Today the students learned about the first three groups that made Aliyah to Israel, understandably named: 1st aliyah, 2nd aliyah, and 3rd aliyah. Ask your child which aliyah they were a part of (they were split into groups and assigned an aliyah to learn about). When did they leave their countries? Where did they come from? Why did they leave? What were they hoping for in Israel?
Students were also introduced to the 1917 Balfour Declaration, but we’ll talk more about that important decree in later weeks!
7th Grade
This week we learned about the importance of the Talmud. We also continued our lessons on friendship in Judaism and learned how important it is to make friends and about the value they can bring to our lives. The students deepened their learning with projects. Please ask them what they did to connect deeper to the texts.
Ask your child: 1. How is friendship a value in Judaism? 2. How did you connect to the texts in a deeper way?
8th-10th Grade - Confirmation Academy
Hi parents,
Today we delved into Jewish Spirituality, and how stories are the modality of choice in Judaism to convey values and truths.
Two stories, the Seer of Lublin and R’ Zusya, were told and worked through in hevrutah (partnerships) to lift up what it means to place yourself into a space to realize your very best self, and how self-realization must be an active pursuit to see success. This was, of course, put into context of our Confirmation Academy study, Temple Emanu-El, and the upcoming High Holidays.
Thanks for sending us your kids.
Shavuah Tov,
-S
