Religious School Update: Oct. 4, 2023

Chag Sukkot Everyone!

It was so much fun to have our Tefillah service in our sukkah last week!  And thank you to everyone who attended the Sukkot gathering last Sunday along with the Urban Tith presentation.  We also have all our slots signed up for bringing snacks for the rest of the month so a huge thank you to all the families!  Next week we will be celebrating Simchat Torah so it will be really fun!  And we will also be taking down the sukkah and storing it for next year so we would love to have the assistance of the parents again.  Thank you in advance!  

  And now for the recap.  We restarted our Tefillah Service with Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney leading us in prayer in the sukkah.  All the parents and kids got to practice shaking the lulav and etrog.  The younger classes then learned what Sukkot is and why we still celebrate. In Heather’s class, they reviewed the Ladder of Tzedakah, made tzedakah boxes for the kids’ homes and tried to decide what the class tzedakah project would be. It will either be the smile train (cleft palate charity) or IFCJ ( help needy Jews in Israel). The class will spend the week thinking about it. Please talk it over with your child and help them choose.

  For the B’nai Mitzvah class, we spent the first hour learning the special prayers said on Sukkot and contemplating stories related to the idea of perception.  Specifically, one story showed how two people with grandchildren had a positive or negative experience of seeing their grandkids once a week depending on how they looked at it.  For the second hour, the kids learned about the rules for making a proper sukkah (including the dimensions) and then proceeded to utilize materials like magnablox, chairs, branches and leaves to construct one to the exact size and specifications!  We ended the day by starting Sol’s family tree and there were a ton of hints to go through in the coming weeks for all the kids.  We’re all excited to see what we find!

     And that about covers it for now.  We look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday!  And please mark your calendars for November 19, when we will have our first field trip to the Contemporary Jewish Museum.

Best,

David