Dear 7^th grade families,

This past week we wrapped up our unit on B’tzelem Elohim. As we mentioned last week, our learners are participating in an Anti-Defamation League initiative called “No Place for Hate.” As part of this initiative, we will create three projects throughout the year that address inter-personal societal issues. Last week we spent time on our first project: filming short skits that show how hate has negative consequences. The students had a lot of fun making these videos that will be edited to form a public service announcement. We also came up with our other two projects and we look forward presenting our work to the community in the coming months.

This week we introduced our new unit, Tzaar Baalei Hayyim (literally, the suffering of animals) and began discussing the ethical treatment of animals in Judaism. We read about and discussed our responsibility toward animals in the contexts of animals we eat, animals that work for us, and animals in our possession. For example, not only are we commanded to rest on Shabbat, but we are required to allow our work animals to rest on Shabbat as well! Even though the students didn't love hearing about it, we also learned that animals killed for food according to the laws of kashrut are slaughtered in the fastest and most pain-free way possible. We finished the class with a debate about vegetarianism – if the first humans were given only vegetables to eat, does that mean that a vegetarian diet is the ideal? Students chose a side, researched their position and had a debate on the issue. Ask your kids about it!

As you may have heard, we are taking a field trip to the Detroit Zoo on Sunday, November 16. We are excited to learn about animal conservation and ethical treatment happening in our own city. See the flyer below with more details about our field trip.

Have a wonderful weekend and a Shabbat Shalom!

Rachel and David