A GOOD NAME...

There are three crowns.  The crown of Torah

The crown of priesthood, and the crown of kingship.

But the crown of a good name excels them all. 

(Ethics of the Fathers 4:17)

Before too much time passes, and your children are officially 5th graders, and off to camp for the summer, I wanted to take one minute to thank you for welcoming me into your family, and allowing me to learn with your children.  As the year quickly came to an end, I wanted one to share one more life lesson.  To end the year, our students were asked to think about the many lessons we learned this year, and the importance of building a relationship with others by following the commandments.  These relationships are nurtured through Jewish values, and our commitment to making the world a better place.  We shared our thoughts and ideas about our reputations, and how others view us.  We also talked about what we want others to say about us, and how we are the gatekeepers to our legacy.  

We twisted and turned the ideas in this phrase, and talked about what the three crowns were. Were they really crowns, or were they just symbols for royalty or riches?  After some poking and prodding, we thought about how one receives these crowns.  The crown of Torah, priesthood and kingship are all titles bestowed upon someone with little rhyme or reason.  Someone may have a lot of money or a famous family, and subsequently, they are looked to as heroes. However, the crown of a good name exceeds all the other crowns because a good name must be earned.  

Students were asked to think about the many ways we earn our good name.  We talked about what our teachers, neighbors, friends, and family think of us, and how important it is to protect our name.  Students created name posters with their personality traits, and rest assured, many do indeed have a good name.  Our students see themselves as funny, happy, good, nice, kind, and respectful.  They are empathetic, brave, smart, athletic, special, and strong.  Most importantly, they are Super Heroes in their own right, and each has earned their good name.  

By now you probably know we wrote Mother's Day wishes to end the year, keeping in mind that everyday in Mother's Day when you are Jewish.  Students were asked to  think about the things they appreciate about you, and create their own Eishet Chayil Blessing, the traditional blessing a family sings to their mother every Shabbat.  As a little gift, students tied tzitzit, as reminder to always follow the commandments.  

Thank you thank you for welcoming me into you Shaarey Zedek family.  It has been a pleasure getting to know you and your children, and I look forward to seeing you next year.  Finally, thank you for the most generous end of the year gifts.  I truly appreciate your kindness. 

Enjoy the Shavuot Holiday, and have a wonderful, safe summer,  Barbara  

STRONG AND POWERFUL LEADERS

WOW! It sure was good to be back in class after our long Passover break. After spending a little bit of time talking about our family Seders, and the importance of sharing our family traditions from one generation to another, we settled down to review the many lessons presented in each Torah portion. We talked about how GOD gave the Torah to the Jewish People with the expectation that we turn the words over and over again, learning new and different things every time we read a passage. We talked about finding meaning in the words of Torah at different stages in our lives, and how even as adults, there are new things to learn, and different ways to interpret the words of Torah to meet our needs. 

During our discussion, we decided that GOD spent a tremendous amount of time teaching us about creation, and how to live a Jewish life. We have the ability to think and make individual choices, and we are expected to take responsibility for the choices we make. We are partners and rulers, and we are the caretakers for all living things. In the first two chapters of the the Torah, GOD fails to create moral and ethical leaders able to carry on the traditions of Torah, and so we begin to see a new wave of leadership.   Unlike the individuals Adam and Noah, GOD  now decides to build a community of people with common values to lay the foundation for living a Jewish life, and chooses Abraham and Sarah to fulfill this mission.   

In our Taste of Torah, we began to explore the journey of Abraham and Sarah, and we talked about what it means to carry the future of Judaism on our shoulders.  Abraham was chosen by GOD to be the leader of the Jewish people. GOD told Abraham to pack his bags and move to a place he did not know, and with this commandment, Abraham was promised that he would become a great nation. 

Our Tuesday afternoon we had a brief discussion about Yom Ha Shoah and Holocaust Remembrance Day. We read the book The Yellow Star by Carmen Deedy and we talked about standing up for what you believe in, and supporting the underdog, or a victim.  We then explored what brought about the establishment of a Jewish state, and why as Jews in particular, it is so important to defend human rights and values both home and abroad.   

Please take a few minutes and ask your children what it means to follow in GOD's footsteps, and the importance of challenging those that make decisions that are not fair or just.  Next week we celebrate Israel's 70th birthday.  

Enjoy the Weekend, and we will see you Sunday.  

PASSPORT TO FREEDOM

Next week at this time all of us will have had our fill of matza and the memories of another Seder will be gently stored. However, we still have plenty of time to explore the many laws and traditions Passover in our classroom, and that is exactly what we have been doing. We know we are commanded to teach the story of our Exodus to our children, and all future generations. We also know we are not to eat any leavened bread for seven days. These are indeed biblical laws, and commandments from the Torah. Then, the story gets a bit more vague. Of course we have the haggadah, a rubric for the evening, but we are free to use it as we see fit. We are encouraged to waiver from the ordered pages in order to include our children, and make the experience meaningful for all of those at the table. So, this year, we encourage to ask the children as many questions as you can, put them on the hot seat and make them think. They are well prepared to participate and they have a wealth of information to share. 

Thank you to the parents who participated in our Family Program. Our students worked hard to solve the lock box clues as we escaped from Egypt, and we had a great time learning along the way. To review many of the main themes in the Haggadah, and as a source of inspiration, we wrote Passover poems and shared our thoughts with our classmates. 

Tuesday afternoon is our Chocolate Seder, and our last class before Passover Break.  Enjoy the holiday, and we will see you on Tuesday, April 10, 2018.

Thank you for my family

Food, peace, spring, candles,

Being fair with your family

Passover is fun.

Becky 

GOD saved us from Egypt

And now we are saved

The bread would not rise

So it is flat and turned into matzah

Becky

Life, good, 

Food, seasons, love

Family, dinner

prayers, food, freedom 

Passover

Arie

Thank you for life

Food, air

Friends and Freedom

Will

Thank you

Passover matzah

Family, books, maror

Egypt, GOD, seder

Passover

Sam

Food, matzah, people

Family, screams, freedom

Family, freedom, food, fun. faithful

Passover

Levi

Roses are red

Violets are blue

I hate Pharaoh, 

How about you?

Roses are blue

Violets are red

I love Passover 

How about Hugh? 

Hugh

Thank you for our house

Good, sour, food,

Laughter

Freedom, food,

Fun, family, friends, 

Faithful, family

Hayden

PASSING THROUGH PASSOVER

We have been working like slaves in Kitah Dalet.  Using the Haggadah as our text book, we have been brushing up on our Seder skills. With a little bit of practice, I am sure all of our students will do a great job asking the four questions at your family Seder. In our classroom discussions, we talked about the fifteen steps to the Seder, and asked our students to look for the evolution from slavery to freedom in each of the steps. We talked about Moses being born a slave, being raised as royalty, and then joining his people as an adult. We talked about making this choice to help his community, and the sacrifices he made for the good of others.  

The Passover Seder is about arousing the senses of our children, and engaging them in a discussion about our Jewish identity.  In the Torah, we are commanded to teach our children the story of our Exodus from Egypt, so that every generation will know we were slaves and GOD set us free.  The Seder provides a stage for our families to share the journey from slavery to freedom and demands we meet our children at the developmental stage they are in.  In class today, we traveled through the Haggadah, and looked at the many different ways our story entices our children to ask questions, so we may have meaningful conversations.    

As a way to engage our students in our shared history, we created a list of questions to share at your Seder. Please use this list as a guide to engage your children, and encourage them to share they ideas with you. They are quite knowledgeable, and they are more than capable of participating in a meaningful and insightful way.  

PASSOVER

Why do we eat matza?

Why do we eat bitter herbs?

What does the egg symbolize?

What do the 14 steps represent?

What does the word Seder mean?

Why do we wash our hands twice?

Why are there 14 steps to the Seder?

What two things does the charosis represent?

What two ways does the matza represent the Jews life?

How is matza both the food of slavery and the food of freedom?

How do the items on the Seder plate represent both our time as slaves, and our path to freedom?

What does Dayenu teach us? 

What was the tenth plague?

Why do we have a mezuzah on our door?

What would some modern day plagues be?  

What body part did GOD use to free us from slavery?

Why did GOD send ten plagues rather than just one big one?

Why did GOD kill all the Egyptians rather than just Pharaoh?

What number repeats itself over and over again in the Haggadah?

What main character is missing in the story of our passage to freedom?

Why was GOD angry with the Israelites when we crossed the Reed sea?

Why do we use our pinky rather than our pointer finger to represent the ten plagues?

We look forward to learning together with you and your students at our Passover Family Program on Sunday, March 25, 2018.  Please RSVP to Julie, and let her know you will be participating.  It will be a never been seen program, and it should be a fun and interesting  morning for all.  

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Many of classroom units are woven into teaching everyday life lessons, and we constantly pull from a variety of resources to make sure we are giving our students many opportunities to understand how the Torah is relevant to our lives. In Bereshit we talked about how GOD created the world for man to take care of. We are commanded to care for all of the animals, birds, fish, and bugs, as well as the land, air and water. Most importantly, GOD commands us to take care of all living things. In Parshah Noach, again GOD teaches us to care for all the animals by telling Noah to save the animals before GOD destroys the world.

Furthermore, GOD commands Noah to take seeds from all of the trees and plants so he can care for them once the world is restored. This week we took these lessons one bit further and talked about the importance of being mindful of how we treat animals, plants, trees, and seeds. The Torah is very clear when talking about our responsibility for caring for all of GOD's creations. When GOD instructs Noah to build the ark, GOD is quite clear about what Noah's duties are.

In class we talked about being mindful of what we eat, and how we treat the food we have. Specifically, we talked about keeping kosher, and why we are commanded to observe the dietary laws. In the Torah, we learn Noah took seven pairs of kosher animals on the ark, and two of each non-kosher animal, one male and one female. We talked about what makes animals kosher, and how the definition of kosher is fit or proper. The most important reason for keeping kosher is to be mindful of what we eat, and the importance of thinking about being Jewish when we put food in our mouth. We need to have food to live, and being mindful of what we eat, makes us live a meaningful life.

On Tuesday, although our class was quite small, we had a lively discussion about using animals for research, and whether the Torah supports this cause. We talked about the ethical treatment of animals, and your children were really quite torn with this controversial topic. I encourage you to continue the discussion at home, as your children had some interesting opinions about this very relevant topic.

WORDS OF WISDOM

THE TORAH IS THE TREE OF LIFE TO THOSE WHO HOLD FAST TO IT....

GOD gave us the Torah.  God made trees.  The trees provide for us.  The Torah gives us commandments to follow.  Trees give us air, food, and shelter.  The trees have roots to hold it in the ground.  People have family to provide for them.  The Torah gives us Jewish rules. 

The Torah is the Tree of Life because if there is no trees there will be no people because trees give us oxygen.  If there is no Torah there will not be Jews anymore because the Torah is about being Jewish. 

If there was no Torah, then there would be no Jews.  The Torah is a big part of us.

The Tree of Life is the Torah.  We would not exist without oxygen.  We would not exist if there wasn’t the Torah.  We are connected the Torah like we are connected to the Trees.

The Jewish people need the Torah, they don’t need anything else.  

Without the Torah, they will not exist. 

We are like the trees.  We need the same things as the trees.  The Torah is the Jewish people’s roots.  Just like the tree has roots that hold to steady. 

The Torah gives us boundaries.  The Torah holds us all together. 

Without the Torah we wouldn’t know how to be Jewish. 

TORAH IS THE TREE OF LIFE

This week we began talking about our responsibility to care for everything GOD created. We talked about GOD commanding us to rule over everything and to also be a partner with GOD. Students were asked to identify ways they ruled over all living things, and how they were also servants. We talked about planting trees and flowers for our enjoyment, and our commitment to care for these living things once they are planted. We compared trees to the Torah, and students were asked to find ways to support the idea that the Torah was a Tree of Life. Students compared trees to people, as trees and people need the same things to live. Ultimately, our relationship with the trees is much like our relationship with the Torah. We can't live without the trees, trees can't live with people, and the the Jewish people cannot live without the Torah.

To bring our point a bit closer to home, we learned GOD intended for us to care for trees much like a parent cares for a child. We talked about what is expected of us as babies, and our responsibilities as children and young adults. Specifically, we learned that not everything we want is ours to do with as we please, and we often do things for the good of the greater community. Finally, after much debate, we learned that our roots are our family, and the values our family teaches us, help us build our relationship with GOD. 

On Tuesday afternoon, our Values and Ethics rotation took this discussion in another direction, and we began to explore the differences between nature and nurture. We talked about the moral and ethical dilemmas we face in our everyday life. We had a lively discussion about laws to protect personal property and the laws created for the good of the community. Ultimately, we learned that GOD commands us to work on building a relationship with our community and with GOD, by doing mitzvot.