Kitah Zayin Update

This week our 7th graders made matzoh ball soup from scratch (with the assistance of the wonderful Mrs. Sandra Gutman) nad delivered it to CSZ community members who are experiencing loss or illness. Here's a letter from a caretaker of one of the soup recipients.

Dear Mr. Lerner & 7th Grade Class,

There are times in life when your heart is so broken you feel as though you will never feel good or whole or happy again. Mrs. Perlman's husband of 68 years, Major Charles Perlman, a World War II hero and Silver Star recipient was called home to God on February 13th of this year. When Major Perlman was alive, I used to tell people I took care of a National Treasure because I was on a team of caregivers lucky enough to be assigned to the Perlman home.

Now I tell people I take care of one of our Nation's greatest Heroes. It is truly a privilege to serve a woman of such great character and strength. My time with Mrs. Perlman has taught me that it is the women and men who love and serve the men and women serving our country who are perhaps our greatest National Treasures.

It is in the service of others that God helps us all to heal. Of this I am certain. Because today, the gift of homemade chicken soup together with the power of your presence, instantly and unequivocally lifted Mrs. Perlman's spirits to Freedom Tower heights. Your Mitzvah helped to heal another piece of a broken heart today. And for that, we - the family and friends of Mrs. Elaine Perlman - are all truly thankful. Be proud and carry on!

Kathleen Daelemans 

Kitah Zayin Class Update

Hello 7th grade parents,

This Sunday we continued our learning with G’milut Chasadim and talked about friendship and the difference between true friends and cliques. The 7th grade boys were excited to learn about friendship in the Torah as we discussed David and Jonathan. The 7th graders learned how Jonathan stood up to his jealous father King Saul in order to save his best friend David’s life. Later on we continued our song session style T’filiah as the 7th graders learned the importance and significance of the main sanctuary. It was incredibly moving to see the students feel differently about the regular prayers we go over because they realized the holy surrounding they were praying in. We concluded class by channeling our own “Dear Nancy” as we made our own newspaper column and solved problems that peers were facing. It was a fun experience and although David was away and truly missed, Erin had a fun time working with the students this Sunday.

This coming Sunday we look forward to putting our Religious School lessons into practice. We have been examining the issue of hunger in our community and this Sunday we will be going to Yad Ezra to help pack food for the hungry. This ties up our lesson nicely and we hope your kids can join us Sunday.

Have a great rest of the week and a peaceful Shabbat.

David and Erin 

7th Grade Update

Dear 7^th grade Families:

We had a fantastic first week of Religious School! On opening day we did some icebreakers and teambuilding exercises which built connection and solidarity between the teens. We feel it is important to build community within the classroom especially this year, as we will be taking the students out into the broader Jewish community to do service projects. Community must start in the classroom, and we feel the first week of class was successful in this regard.

We also introduced the idea of social action as a Jewish value. We examined Jewish texts which emphasized the importance of “not standing idly by (Leviticus 19:16)” and that “all of Israel is responsible for one another (Shevuot 39a).” We watched a video about Jewish involvement in the Civil Rights Movement and did some reflective activities. What if you saw an injustice happen right in front of you? What would you do? What does our tradition teach us about what our responsibility is in the face of injustice? These were some of the questions we delved into this week.

Next week we will be getting into our first unit of study which is the ethical responsibility of “Shomrei Adamah” (protecting the earth/environmentalism). We will examine texts from the Torah and some Aggadah (traditional folklore). On Sunday, we will take the teens on a nature walk in Southfield to kick off our  "Shomrei Adamah”. On Tuesday a Jewish Detroit urban farmer, Scott Unger, owner of Beaverland and Farms will come in and speak to the class about the Jewish values that inspired him to start a farm in the City of Detroit. We look forward to connecting our learners with the land and with their Jewish heritage.

On Sunday, September 21 our class will travel to Eden Gardens , a grassroots project and collaboration between the Isaac Agree Downtown Synagogue and the African American neighborhood block club.

Eden Gardens is a place where local Detroiters can learn life skills such as eating healthy, cooking, sewing, farming, and canning. The community project is a place where youth can learn leadership skills and make decisions on what they would like in their neighborhood ultimately guiding them to make better decisions in their lives and in our world. Our teens will work alongside Detroit teens in the garden to learn abut the values of Shomrei Adamah. 

We joyfully anticipate all that lies ahead with our 7^th grade learning community.

Your 7^th grade teaching team,

David and Rachel