Kitah Vav Update

Hello All!  Hope you are having a wonderful November.  Someone told me the other day that Thanksgiving is in a week.  Just for the record: That CANNOT be true. I absolutely REFUSE to allow it. I mean WHAT?!  I literally packed up the sandals and swim goggles that were tossed about ( and I mean that quite literally.. it was quite the scene) the mudroom YESTERDAY.  In the Gawel house, we said our goodbyes to summer yesterday. I feel like I still have a season to get through before Thanksgiving.  And alas, the world moves on… So, a few helpful housekeeping dates to keep in mind:

We HAVE religious school on Tuesday November 15, Sunday November 20, Tuesday November 22.  Can’t wait to see you there.

 We are OFF – That is NO RELIGIOUS SCHOOL ON: November 27^th

 Regularly scheduled programming returns: Tuesday November 2^nd

Life at CSZ 6^th grade:

We are off and running and in the full swing of things.  Until the Winter Break, we will be running a dual curriculum.  On TUESDAYS we will study the Torah service during Tefillah with Rabbi Dahlen and our D’var Torah workshop will be with Rabbi Starr.  It is imperative that your children do everything possible to BE HERE ON TUESDAYS.  These lessons are going to prepare them for their bar/bat mitzvah dates and give them the skills they need to participate fully in Jewish synagogue life.  IT is also an hour and a half a week of UNDIVIDED attention from our fantastic rabbis, and that, my friends is truly amazing.  Those two men work their tushies off and both put in insane work weeks.  Personally, I cannot stress how much it says about CSZ and the value that we put on our youth, that both rabbis have dedicated this time to preparing our 6^th graders for their B’nai Mitvah and lifelong Jewish learning journeys. I also know from personal experience how important it is for your children to have a relationship with the Rabbis.  Both of my kids consider Rabbi Starr as one of their “Designated adults” that they trust and respect and look to for guidance.  It is invaluable.  The time that your children spend with Rabbi Dahlen and Rabbi Starr WILL help shape their Jewish futures, and I am so pleased that they get this opportunity. 

 It is also important for your child to be here Tuesdays, because the information that they receive those days IS NOT repeated on Sundays.  On Sundays we will continue with our study of the narrative strands in the parsha Vayera, and looking at the Jewish values, lessons, ethics and behaviors that stem from that parsha.  IF your child must miss a Tuesday session, please make sure that he/she emails me or talks to me ASAP, so that I can fill him/her in on what was missed.  This workshop will culminate at the end of December with a written D’var Torah that will be published for the class, and delivered in front of the class and their families.

On SUNDAYS, we are working on reading Vayera.  We are finishing up our lessons on visiting the sick and welcoming guests.  This past week we put both lessons to work and we helped out our kindergarten teacher, who is recovering from surgery.  This week she was unable to pick up children or get down and play with them, so we hosted her class and offered personal 1 on 1 play, learning and snack time.  Each 6^th grader was paired with  a 3-5 year old and was given the task of replicating Abraham’s behavior in the text we studied.  The kids had to visit with Morah Emma and inquire as to her health and recovery, welcome a preschooler guest into our indoor playroom, offer him/her food and drink, spend 20 minutes attending to his/her needs and then instilling 1 lesson that was gleaned from our reading of the text.  This could include: being kind to others, helping those who are sick, putting others’ needs before our own etc…  The kids were ROCKSTARS.  Our support staff and our early childhood staff sat and watched with their jaws open and they kept saying “those 6^th graders are INCREDIBLE… I CANNOT BELIEVE THIS… THIS IS SO GREAT.” The kids were kind, patient, attentive, helpful. They were rockstars.  I am so proud.

This upcoming Sunday we will continue with our Varyera learning and move into the laws of kashrut. This is one of my favorite lessons – we toss angry birds at plastic pigs.  More on this later.

Have a fantastic week and a meaningful Shabbos.

Warm regards,

Leah