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 Update

Dear 7th grade parents,

This past week the students learned about community while relating it to the Super Bowl Public Service Announcements. The students chose a cause that they wanted to bring awareness about which was cyber bullying. The students then got out their director hats on and directed and wrote a PSAs on bullying. The students recorded it and watched it at Tuesday's class. After the video was created we talked about community and how we could help people by spreading awareness of a topic instead of just helping the community on a hands on level. After the video we created family trees and discussed our family generations. This leads us into our next unit which discusses respecting our elders.

As always, we love working with your children because they always have something amazing to share each week.

Please remember to RSVP to Allison regarding our March 8, field trip to the Repair the World House. 

Have a good break and we will see you Feb. 22

David and Erin

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