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Bet Midrash November Newsletter

Bet Midrash November Newsletter

What have we been learning about?


A message from Rabbi Ariann

The year is now fully underway and we're ready to enjoy the beautiful fall weather after so many holiday celebrations.  We hope to bring you some highlights from our learning each month, please enjoy this first offering!  Please check the bottom of this e-mail for important upcoming dates!  And if you're enjoying the cover image of this e-mail, you can get your own Hebrew moods poster (with transliteration and translation!) here.

Kitah Dalet (4th Grade)

We opened the year with so many Jewish holidays!  We baked honey cake for Rosh Hashanah and sent greeting cards of Shanah Tovah to friends and family.  We learned about the ten days of repetenance as a connection to Yom Kippur.  On Sukkot, we had an amazing lesson in the sukkah, singing songs with Lincoln, shaking the arba’at haminim (four species – palm, myrtle, willow, and etrog/citron) with Rabbi Ariann which was so fun!  We ended the cycle of holidays celebrating Simchat Torah.  It’s not too late to make some honey cake!   - Zohar Katzav

Kitah Dalet's Honey Cake

Dalet Taking Down Sukkah Decorations

Gan/Alef (K/1)

We are fortunate to have three extremely creative and fun madrichot in Gan/Alef. Yes, Tal, Toni and Maya assist with tasks like pouring grape juice and distributing challah, but they also have been helping to plan parts of our lessons. Recently they created a sukkah in our classroom and led our class in a series of games. Everyone had a blast dancing and pretending to be different animals. Maya studied and prepared a lesson on how to shake the lulav and etrog. Toni read a book about sukkot to our class. I look forward to the three helpers continuing to lead our class a little each week. I think they have much to contribute and serve as awesome examples for our students.  - Pia Kutten
 

A message from Sara Hoizner, K/1/2/3 modern Hebrew teacher:

This year we were able to celebrate the high holidays in our Hebrew conversational class "Chalav U D'vash.”  The highlight was during Sukkot when we learned the names of the four species in Hebrew, followed by an Israeli game called "Piccolo" which helped memorize Sukkot vocabulary in Hebrew. The grand finale was singing "In My Sukkah" accompanied with my accordion.

Looking forward for a great Hebrew learning year!

 

Bet (2nd grade)

The Bet class has been off to a great start exploring Jewish values through food. We got the new (Jewish) new year (Rosh Hashanah) off to a sweet start with the tradition of dipping apples in honey and for Yom Kippur (Day of Atonement) we cut open a pomegranate (“rimon”) to try to count all 613 seeds, which represents the 613 commandments in the Torah.  For Sukkot we visited the pumpkin patch at St. Luke’s church.

               We made edible Torahs for Simchat Torah (literally Joy of Torah). We discussed why Halloween is not a Jewish holiday, but does have some Jewish values (hachnasat orchim – welcoming guests and showing hospitality). We read about the Golem – a Jewish folktale about a supernatural being made out of clay, to protect the Jewish people. We then each made a Golem out of play dough.

               We’re looking forward to a visit to Toni’s kitchen! - Ellen Goldsmith

 

Some of the Gan/Alef class enjoys a madrichot-made sukkah.

Bet class at the pumpkin patch!

Vav (6th grade)

We’re so proud of the Kitah Vav students who showed up on Halloween to bake cookies and prepare care packages for the guests of Toni's Soup Kitchen.  What a wonderful way to both give and take!  Last month, Morah Karen's and Moreh Guy's class toured Toni's Soup Kitchen with nutritious canned food in their hands.  Last Shabbat, we visited Kitah Bet to tell them about this wonderful place and let them know that they will act as "big brothers" and "big sisters" to the younger students, accompanying them to Toni's Soup Kitchen where they will all deliver toiletries and the snacks we baked Halloween and have a bit more of a tour. - Karen Eilenberg

 

Zayin (7th grade)

On this past Shabbat, our mindfulness lesson centered around test taking. When I did my weekly check in, a number of students mentioned having a mindful moment in relationship to testing. We had a rather lengthy conversation about the stress of test taking. One student mentioned at his old school, kids would get so stressed before a test, they would vomit.  This is a great(and sad) example of the mind-body connection. The kids seem to be really starting to understand the value of mindfulness and how using mindful tools like deep breathing can positively impact their lives and serve them everyday!  - Jen Levine

 

Our Zayin students share 6 b'nai mitzvah tutors on Monday evenings.  Cantor Ted Prosnitz had this to share about their learning:

 

“Let’s eat Grandma!” Our Zayin students are learning that proper chanting of Torah is not just about music but is based on a MAP of Meaning, Accentuation, and Punctuation.  Punctuation matters when reading Torah, and it matters to Grandma, too!

 

Gimmel Wimpel Making

Despite technical difficulties, the Hay class was riveted by the classic Israeli movie "Sallah Shabati" in preparation for family learning about Zionism.  A must see!

Gimmel (3rd grade)

The third grade had a great start of the year exploring their inner star by sharing their insights, knowledge, and friendships.  We have started to explore the Jewish Calendar, which is already providing us opportunities for self-exploration, ancient stories, and, hopefully, an understanding of our connection to our community and to the Jewish community in large.  On a large outline of individual figures, students expressed how they use parts of their body to do Mitzvot, such as using your hands to prepare meals for the poor, your mouth to praise and compliment, and feet for raising money through walkathons, and more!!!

In Hebrew we are learning how to recognize letters and vowels and how to decode familiar words such as Shabbat and Matza, and some new words such as Bayit and Yad. 

Our Torah learning is filled with lessons on our relationships with the world around us and weighing it all against the theme of B’tzelem Elohim – being made in God’s image.

  - Dina Bernheim

 

Hay (5th grade)

By far, our favorite holiday so far has been Sukkot. The Hay students loved smelling and feeling the four species used to celebrate the holiday and our classroom was fragrant with the fresh scent of the etrog, the citron. Each of our holiday studies has focused on the concept of “Midor L’dor” which translates to “from generation to generation.” Each of our holiday rituals represents a visit to our past, connecting us to the generations that preceded us. They are a statement of faith that we maintain the same ethical values and moral principles of Torah that have enabled us to be a beacon of justice and charity. As we continue our studies this year we will maintain our focus on “Midor L’dor” as we strive to emulate the best values of our tradition! – Shoshanna Hadef

 

                                       We're Always Singing!

Now that we are a couple of months into our Bet Midrash school year, the students in the Shabbat morning Tefillah services are very enthusiastically participating!  The kids have become very familiar with the melodies we use for the prayers and songs, and are singing along with great 'ruach!'  In each service several of the students take on leadership roles by coming up to the bima to help lead prayers like 'Esa Einai,' the 'Amidah,' and the 'Shema.'  And we're all very much looking forward to praying alongside Doni Zasloff and Eric Lindberg of Nefesh Mountain at the Friday night November 4th Shabbat service at Bnai Keshet.

Important Upcoming Dates


November 6, 9:30 Dalet Family Education, no Dalet class 11/5

November 12 - no Bet Midrash - Teachers' Convention Weekend

November 19-20 - Scholar-in-Residence Rabbi Laura Geller at BK

November 20 - BK Teens go to Skyzone

November 20, 9:30 - Vav Family Education, no Vav class 11/19

November 23, 26 -No Bet Midrash, Thanksgiving Weekend

December 2 - Gimmel Siddur Shabbat

December 10 - Zayin Class Service

Fri, March 29 2024 19 Adar II 5784