Kitah Vav Update

HI, all. We had a fantastic Sunday! The kids got to fling chickens across their heads and toss garbage across the room. It was actually a very Jewish action... ask them WHY we did this!  We then went outside for our Torah Strong Games.  This is akin to Torah study having a baby with elementary school field day.  It is fun, but a bit more meaningful, and there are no popsicles. The kids began with their "CORE work" which is our Hillel pose. The children have to stand on one foot and suck their abs in. While on one foot, they must say "treat other people, the way you want to be treated."  There is a famous story about one of our great sages, Rabbi Hillel.  A sassy fellow came up to Hillel and tried to razz him by saying "tell me all that Torah says while I stand on one foot." (poorly paraphrased, but you get the idea). Anyway, instead of shooing away this person, Hillel said the Golden Rule.  Basically, Torah is summed up to treating others well.  And of course, since us Jews always need the last word... Hillel included a sidebar : " all the rest is commentary."  This year we will focus on the BIG stuff. I want the kids to see how Torah relates to their lives,  and by creating connections and memory connections, I hope to make it easier for them to see the relevance that Torah has to their lives TODAY!  We also learned our "Gun's Show" pose. This is where we make a big muscle (ok my bicep is not super impressive) and we say: " Chazak! Chazak! V'nit Chazek!"  (Be strong! Be strong! Be strengthened!) We say this line every time we finish reading one of the 5 books of Torah. I want the kids to realize that we strengthen ourselves and our community by studying Torah. Finally, we went outside for our big 5 Torah Strong activities: The Chumash Hold, Don't Miss the Mark, Learn From Your Mistakes, Hit it Out of the Ballpark and Torah learning is a Marathon, not a sprint.  The kids: did weight lifting with Torahs, shot arrows at a target, hit baseballs, ran with rocks and jump roped, ALL in the name of Torah.  Please take a second and ask them why we did all of this!  The kids were lovely, engaged and willing to "put it out there." I am excited to work with them. Please feel free to contact me anytime with thoughts, concerns, questions etc... Have a great week, Morah Leah