Religious school update November 8, 2024

Hello Everyone!

 We will not be meeting this upcoming Sunday, November 10, because of the Veterans Day Holiday.  The following week, on November 17, we will have our first field trip to the Magnus Museum in Berkeley.  We are planning to meet for our regular Tefillah service at the Temple at 9:30 a.m. and then everyone will drive down to the Magnus Museum at 2121 Allston Way in Berkeley, where our tour will begin at 11:00 a.m.  Please let me know how many members of your family will be coming so I can get an accurate count to the tour leader.  It will be a fun trip!

 And now for the recap.  Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney led our Tefillah service as always before the kids adjourned to their classes.  In the Bnai Mitzvah class, we spent the first hour continuing our study of Genesis in Chapter 11, which deals with the story of the Tower of Babel and more genealogies between Noah and Abraham.  The kids once again had a lot of fun calculating the gematriyah of each name listed and comparing their values.  Just like with Adam and Noah, in this case both Noah and Abraham, the most important individuals in the chapter, had names that were among the lowest gematriyah values.  We all agreed that some of the names listed could have some hidden importance.  For the second hour, we learned about the Jewish community in Bolivia, which started off really small but then soared to nearly 10,000 during World War II because Bolivia was the only South American country to accept refugees.  However, the numbers dropped off again with more emigration after the war and today the community only consists of about 500, with questions whether it can survive another 20 years.  We decided Bolivia represents a missed opportunity for a vibrant Jewish community in the heart of South America.

 And that about covers it for now.  We hope everyone has a nice long weekend and we will see you on the 17th for our field trip!

 

Best,

David