Hi all! We had a GLORIOUS Sunday morning, although we were a
party of SIX! We missed you all! Yesterday, we were lucky enough to be
able to have a snack and spend some time in the sukkah. The kids shook
the lulav and smelled the etrog and we all said the prayers appropriate for the
holiday. We learned about some of the mitzvoth involved with Sukkot. Ask
your child about: ounces of grain, and if one needs to be IN or OUT of a sukkah
to shake the lulav.
Mifgash is going to run
a bit differently from now on; our famous Sam Squared Madrichim Dream Team will
be leading it from now on. They have some FANTASTIC ideas, and I think that
they will do a great job. I can't wait for next week, so that they can dazzle
us all. Yesterday in mifgash, we discussed Halloween and what the kids
think about celebrating it. All of the kids in the class celebrate
Halloween (my kids included), but we learned a bit about its Pagan and
Christian origins. We then discussed Valentine's Day and Christmas and
religious vs. "American" holidays. We talked about when does
something with religious origins spin into something totally secular, and does
it?! We had LOTS of good conversation on this issue. Like with most
things Jewish, we WRESTLED and we argued and we thought a lot. We did not have
any "answer," but many thoughts, and it got the ball rolling on
thinking about these issues. They are important issues. I did not
really think about them until I had children, and I wish I had started thinking
about them earlier. It might have made some things easier. I am so happy
that your kids are engaged and open to conversations and reflections and
thoughts and that NO JUDGEMENT entered our conversation ever. We are all trying
to make our own way in our Jewish journey.
I usually have a "deep thought" quote
for the day, but yesterday we did something different. We had one quote about
video games: " Some people say video games rot your brain, but I think
they work different muscles that maybe you don't normally use." - Ezra
Koenig and "I'm Jewish, I don't work out. If God had wanted us to bend
over, He would have put diamonds on the floor." - Joan Rivers
The kids had a good laugh over Joan's quote and a lot to say over the
video game one. They agreed that video games are actually good, but they
also could see their parents' point of view too!
We did a quick review of the Abraham story from
a few weeks ago. I told the kids to come up with ONE thing that is the MOST
important thing about the story and to text it to me. Answer: Abraham was
a man of ACTION. In turn, Jewish people should be people of action. Our
religion is one of movement and action: not stagnant inaction. And
luckily, the kids all lost my number. In the past, I have had a few days
or random texts from the shorties :)
The kids then were given farm animals written on
post it notes and put on their backs. They had to go around and ask
"yes" or "no" questions and figure out what their animal
was. The kids were really smart. Our "FARMER" even guessed what he
was. Why animals? We were discussing kashrut laws.
The kids revisited the text of Vayera, where
Abraham serves milk and meat at the same meal. They had to figure out in groups
what the mystery problem was. Their only clue was "Abraham was an
observant Jew who followed all the mitzvoth. " Both groups guessed
"Why is he eating milk and meat at the same time then?!"
We discussed the why. The rabbis say that
1) the Torah is not a linear text in terms of time. SO, Actually, even though
the laws of kashrut show in pages much later than the story of Vayera,
they all happen at the same time. So Abraham WOULD HAVE BEEN BOUND BY THE
LAWS OF KASHRUT. 2) so how do we make sense of this? The rabbis say that
Abraham was SUCH a good host, that enough hours went by that he served milk and
meat with the appropriate time in between.
I still wrestle with that one…. :)
More on kosher laws next week.
Have a great week,
Morah Leah
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