Kitah Gan Katan Update

May 3, 2017

Happy Week to our Fabulous Parents:

Sunday, we reviewed about Mezuzahs for the kids that missed out last week. We went on another Mezuzah hunt through out the shul. We had a great time looking at all different types and shapes of Mezuzahs.  We finished our projects,  which are coming home Sunday. We hope that you will enjoy them as much as we learned and made them.

Have a wonderful rest of your week.

Morot Zoya and Alexis 

Kitah Hey Update

May 2, 2017

Dear Parents,

Our Torah study and Jewish Values continue with Jacob taking his mother Rivkah's advice and running away to Haran. He travels to his uncle Laban's house and on his way he finds himself on Mount Moriah, spending a night in the very same spot his grandfather Abraham connected with God and the spot the Holy Temple would be built in the future. Jacob declares this spot to be a holy spot where Jews can pray and bring sacrifices to God. God changes Jacobs name to Israel and he continues to journey to Haran and falls in love with Rachel. 

The story has many twists to it and Jacob ends up with two wives and works for Laban as a shepherd for 14 years. Rachel teaches us what a righteous person she is. She did not want to shame her sister Leah when her father tricked Jacob and how she compromised to avoid putting her embarrassing her sister Leah. The kids reviewed which of Jacob's names best fit each part of his life. We will continue the story and lessons we can learn on Sunday.

Your child has an opportunity to enter the Jeffrey Weinberg Memorial Creative Writing Contest. Please take a look at the letter brought home or on line. Their essays must be emailed by Wednesday. May 17. There are three categories to win.

Shabbat Shalom

Cillia Kleiman

Kitah Vav Update

May 2, 2017

Hi all –

We had a fantastic week this week.  The spring fever seemed to have subsided a bit. JOY!

On Sunday we had extended chugim for our Yom Ha’atzmaut celebrations to celebrate Israel’s 69^th birthday!  The kids made dead sea salt scrub, hamsas, and Israeli food.  Fun was had by all… and quite a mess. Whew! Clean up was brutal! J But, I hope your child had a great time!

In class, we did something a bit different to try and break things up.  I am trying to get the kids moving a bit to keep them engaged.  We discussed Jews in terms of being refugees since our unit on Moses leads us to the point where the Israelites are wandering for 40 years.  We spoke about why the Jewish people are always wandering (including some current Jewish pre-teens, who tend to wander the halls at CSZ J) and what makes them keep landing on their feet. We discussed how Jews are like a compass (the kind used in geometry, not a compass rose), and how one foot is fixed in Judaism and one foot – the one that moves – is your nationality.  That foot can move, but it always comes back to the fixed foot of Judaism.  Our true home is our religion, and this makes us portable and makes us suited and adaptable to move.  We then did an activity where we made a Jewish star with our bodies and then had to immediately move into a symbol that represented America.  The kids chose the 3 branches of government (I was impressed). The kids were really engaged and into the lesson.

On Tuesday we made our yads with Gail Kaplan. They are BEAUTIFUL!  I hope everyone uses them for their bar or bat mitzvah!

Have a wonderful week and only a few more weeks until our big Shavuot program on our last day of religious ed, May 21^st.  Please make sure to join your child from 11 – 12.  WE have lots of things for the older kids, including tying your own tzit tzit, writing with a sofer and much more!  It’s going to be great.

Have a good one,

Morah Leah

7th Grade Class Update

May 1, 2017

Dear Parents,

This Sunday we learned about the time period we are currently experiencing-- the Omer. We learned that the Omer leads from the second night of Passover up to the holiday of Shavuoth. We learned the details, basis, and method of counting the 49 days of the Omer and why we do it.

Then we learned about Rabbis Akiva and Shimon Bar Yochai and why this Omer time period is a time of modified communal morning, and what that means. We discussed how and why we mourn the loss of potential Torah knowledge and insights with the passing of Rabbi Akiva's 24,000 students prior to Lag Ba'Omer (when the epidemic stopped). We also learned about the importance of respecting one another and learning from every person with whom we interact.

Then we learned about the significance of Lag Ba'Omer (the 33rd day of the Omer) and how it is celebrated in Israel and throughout the world. We learned that children in Irsael set bon fires on Lab Ba'Omer. These fires commemorate the light Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai shed on hidden Torah knowledge when he revealed the Zohar (Kabbalah) on his deathbed, on Lag Ba'Omer.

After focusing on the Omer we learned about this week's Israeli National holidays of Yom Hazikaron and Yom Haatzmaut--Israel's Memorial Day and Israel's Independence Days. We discovered how they are commemorated/celebrated in Israel. We also spoke about the fact that all citizens must serve in the military in Israel and the impact that has on Israeli society.  

We also took some time to begin writing our essays for the Weisberg Writing Award competition. Please make sure they are finished and submitted before the deadline.

I hope you had a meaningful Yom Hazikaron and a celebratory Yom Haatzmaut! Don't forget to count the Omer until Shavuot!

Best,

Morah Hollenberg

Kitah Hey Update

4/26/2017

Dear Parents,

Hope everyone had a great vacation and a wonderful Passover. It was nice welcoming back our students this week and hearing about their holiday and how the Seder was meaningful to them.

We continued our Torah study, discussing the relationship of Jacob and his brother Esau. The learners retold the story of Jacob receiving the blessing from Isaac and the birthright from Esau. The special blessing was Jacob's (and Jewish people's) family treasure. When asked to fill in blank "one of my family treasures is?" The students' answers were: 

                        Siblings getting along

                        Not fighting

                        Going on family vacation 

                        Shabbat dinner

                        Spending time with grandparents 

All really special things to treasure!

This week we commemorated Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Memorial Day) Our class visited "the Butterfly: An Art Exhibition in the new wing, off the main lobby at CSZ. Our class contributed a beautiful stained glass butterfly inspired by the poem "the Butterfly", written in 1942 by a child in Terezin Concentration Camp. Our butterfly represents endurance, change, hope, and life. 

Our lessons have focused on how small acts against injustice can ultimately create an environment where hate cannot flourish.

Shabbat Shalom

Cillia Kleiman

Kitah Vav Update

April 25, 2017

Hello all –

We are entering the home stretch of religious school. It is always difficult when we come back after Passover, as the kids are in Spring Mode.  I have am wondering if wearing a giant inflatable dinosaur costume at all times might help, and am willing to take that plunge, if need be.  We shall see. It is always good to keep a trick or two in your back pocket. J In the meantime, while I know that spring sports are here and the kids’ schedules are crazy, just a gentle reminder that they are in Judiacs class from 11:25 – 12:15, so if they leave at 11:30, they  miss all of their Judaics lesson… and my giant inflatable dinosaur costume. And that’s just tragic.  Please make sure if your child needs to leave early, that he/she circles back with me BEFORE or AFTER class the next week, so I can catch him/her up.  And, of course, there is always the blog.  This past Sunday we began with 15 kids and I had 4 by 11:45.  And such is spring.   So, as for Sunday, we don’t have much to report, as we REDID the lesson on Tuesday.

Since I am typing this Tuesday morning, let’s pretend that this class went as follows.  In my mind, this is EXACTLY what is going to happen, but who knows.  Usually I am at least 20% right. J But this is the lesson planned. First, I will look stunning in my inflatable T-Rex costume and the kids will ALL be there and then they will all leave to go on to play baseball AFTER religious ed and naturally, win their games.  They will then go home, eat all of their veggies without complaint, and their chicken (even without fried breading on it), not torture their siblings, do their homework, brush their teeth without leaving globs of toothpaste in the sink, and go to bed by 9:00 p.m. with the day’s clothing neatly tossed in the hamper.  Just so you know: this happened.  I guarantee it.

Tuesday plan:  We learn about Moses as an imperfect leader.  Why? One might ask… because I want the kids to know that YOU TOO can be like Moses.  You do NOT have to be PERFECT.  But you can have GIANT positive impacts on the world and on the Jewish people.  We discuss what it means to be a leader, what characteristics leaders hold – both positive and negative.  We then discuss in popular culture what the characteristics those leaders hold.  We see a short google slide show that Morah Leah made.. naturally, the internet does not go out and the Smartboard works perfectly.  Then, The kids do an activity that involves lemons and leadership (ask them about this… it’s a good one), and it ends by making homemade lemonade.  Yum.  On Sunday we will move on to discuss specific characteristics of Moses and tie them in to characteristics he shares with other leaders that they are familiar with.

Please mark May 2 as an important date – the kids are making their YADS with Gail Kaplan.  These are the ones that they use for their Bar/Bat mitzvahs!  They are BEAUTIFUL and are generously sponsored by CSZ. 

Please also mark May 21^st from 11- 12 in your calendar.  You will meet your children for the last day of religious school for the all school, family Shavuot program.  Looking forward to having you there.

Have a great weekend,

Leah

Kitah Gan Katan Update

April 24, 2017

Welcome Back! Hope everyone had a great Passover Holiday.  

Today we have learned a lot, very busy in our Gan Katan class.  We started learning about Mezzuah. We learned what goes in the Mezzuah, the Shema. We went on a hunt around the shul to look at how many different types of Mezzuahs we could find. We even went to Rabbi Starr's office and he showed us a Mezzuah that he brought from Israel. It was the stones of the Kotel, very cool to see.  

We are making our very own Mezzuahs to take home. Keep an eye out.

Hope you have a great week!!

Morot Zoya and Alexis