Kitah Vav Update

Hello There! We had a fantastic Sunday and Tuesday this week. On Sunday, we practiced our Hachnasat Orchim (welcoming guests) by inviting our kittah gan-katan friends to a play date. We did this to reinforce the value of welcoming guests, that we learned in our narrative for this semester, Vayera.  Here, Abraham, who is recovering from a bris at the age of 99 (oy!), opens up his home/tent to strangers.  He literally RUNS around to get food and water to comfort his guests. While we didn’t wash our friends’ feet, we did sanitize their hands upon entering the room J And we offered them food and lots of play. We met in the Youth Lounge, so the kids were able to use a bounce house, slides, climbing gym as well as paint and play games.  Our kids were champs. They were each paired up with a special 4-5 year old friend.  To mimic Abraham’s disability (he had to welcome his guests even though he was recovering from a bris), I  had our children eat pretzels for a snack, BUT they didn’t have a drink.  The lil people had pretzels and juice boxes.  Three of our kids asked for water, and I told them that they had to wait til class was over (there was only 20 minutes in class after we had snack).  It was a good lesson for our kiddos to be just a tad uncomfortable and yet have to stay with their special guest and make sure that their experience was perfect.  For tweens it is especially hard to put one’s needs aside to help someone else; this usually comes with age and maturity. However, our kids were fantastic. I am so proud of them.  They really rose to the occasion and helped their buddies. 

This lesson was particularly meaningful because literally the moment we were scheduled to meet our kittah gan katan buddies, their teacher received a call that there was a death in her family.  So, we swooped in and took over.  The lil ones never knew that anything was wrong nor did they feel any anxiety because our 6^th graders made them feel special and they lavished them with attention.

This then transferred over to Tuesday’s lesson where we learned about the Jewish response to mourning.  We talked at length about the mitzvah of comforting and visiting the sick and mourners and I discussed how in our portion God visits Abraham, who is recovering from his bris.  We actually ACT like God when we visit those who are sick or mourning.  We made cards for Morah Zerkel and the kids wrote appropriate Jewish mourning verses on the cards.

This Sunday we have Fall Fix up. Please sign up, if you have not already.  This is Not a regular Sunday school day, so please make sure that you come with your child to help winterize a home of an Elderly Jewish family. 

Have a great week,

Leah