Morah Gawel Update

 Hi All -

We had another fun, great class, albeit small. Where are all of you? I miss your smiling faces.

Yesterday during mifgash we did the wall sit.  These kids need to work on the squats. They were dying! I bet a few had some trouble getting out of bed this morning. I did too, but that had nothing to do with sore muscles. This "slog forward" is killing me. The kids also put their 2 cents in on  how they felt about Rabbi Green during tefillah.  They had a lot to say. I am glad that they are observant and thinking :)

We then transitioned to our lesson to the day, which was about the burning bush scene in the Torah.  Basically, God says "Moses, Moses" and Moses eventually says"Hineini" which means "I am here" But it means a bit more.. it means to TRULY be present. Not to be distracted, or there in body but not mind, but to be FULLY there. I have never quite experienced this. I told the kids how when my husband asked me to marry him my first thought was "boy.. I don't think I brushed my teeth after I ate lunch."  I am still working on the Hineini thing… let's just say that mediation is not my forte :)

Alas, my favorite part of the story is that God has to call Moses twice. It reminds me of being a mom.. the kids don't listen until you get to their full name on yell #4. 

Anyway, we talked about how God appears to Moses is a thorn bush. There is a wonderful quote from Talmud that Says "No place is devoid of God's presence, not even a thorn bush."  God could have appeared in a rose bush or in a field of lilies, but he picks a craggy, sharp, tough shrub close to the desert floor.  What does this mean?

the kids talked about turning lemons into lemon aid.. How do we make a bad situation good? How do we find light where things seem dark?  I had a sheet that had the word Hineini written in HEbrew in lemon juice. The kids could only read it with a flashlight. This started them thinking of the metaphor.

The kids then broke up into groups for: Hunger Games, Divergent, Harry Potter and The Hobbit. The kids had to pick a character who was a leader who turned a bad situation into something good. We then discussed how Moses did the same thing.  He was in the desert, he had a bunch of whining Jews who would not listen to him or follow the rules, (sound familiar ? :)) but he had to "slog on" so to say and make it work.

How? Belief in God and working as a team.  We then had a lemon toss game where the only way it could work would be to FOCUS and work together and finally we made some lemon aid. We tasted lemons (sour) smelled them (sweet) and talked about how sometimes life is both. 

Interestingly, native  Israelis are called Sabras.. that is the Hebrew word for cactus. Beautiful, sweet inside and filled with life saving water, but prickly and tough on the outside.

We discussed changing our perspective to look at the positive and even when we slog along, to think of how our experience can be positive.  This can help us all get through the days. It worked for Moses, why not for us?

so tell your kid to turn off his/her phone, to stop daydreaming and BE PRESENT. I promise he/she knows what it means!