tbhrich

Hello Everyone,

The big day is almost here.  We are all set to go on our second field trip of the year, this time to the Oakland Zoo, this upcoming Sunday, April 14.  We will meet at the Temple at our regular time at 9:30 for a brief Tefillah service that should last approximately 20 minutes.  We will then carpool to Oakland and arrive at the zoo at 10:30 a.m.  I will be able to take 7-8 people in my van and we have paid parking for 2 other cars.  Please let me know if you would like to volunteer to carpool as well.  We will spend approximately 2-3 hours at the Zoo where the kids will go on a scavenger hunt looking for different animals based on their Hebrew names.  Please make sure the kids wear their blue TBH shirts so we can keep track of everybody and that they bring water bottles to stay hydrated.

Also, our annual Passover Seder will be coming up on Saturday, April 27.  We are looking for volunteers to help with set up, clean up, and other assistance in preparation for the event.  Please let me know if you would like to volunteer.

And now for the recap.  Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney led us in our Tefillah service before each class started preparing for the upcoming field trip.  The kids learned the Hebrew names of the significant animals at the Oakland Zoo and will use their preparation for the upcoming scavenger hunt.  The B’nai Mitzvah class also did more work on their ancestry projects and are almost done with their research.  Soon they will be making initial drawings for a coat of arms and map detailing the journeys their ancestors took to get to California and the key features of their family history that symbolize who they are.

Thanks everyone and we’ll see you on Sunday!

P.S. Please take a moment to sign up for bringing snacks in March along with hosting an oneg in March, April, May, or June.  Thanks everyone!

Best,

David

Hello Everyone,

    I hope y’all had a nice weekend and the kids are enjoying Spring Break.  We will be resuming Religious School this Sunday, April 7, at our usual time at 9:30 a.m.  All grades will be practicing learning the Hebrew names of animals in preparation for our field trip to the Oakland Zoo on April 14.  I will provide more details when we meet on Sunday.

     Also, our annual Passover Seder will be coming up on Saturday, April 27.  We are looking for volunteers to help with set up, clean up, and other assistance in preparation for the event.  Please let me know if you would like to volunteer.

  Thanks everyone and we’ll see you on Sunday.

Best,

David

P.S. Please take a moment to sign up for bringing snacks in March along with hosting an oneg in March, April, May, or June.  Thanks everyone!

Hello Everyone,

We wanted to thank all our families for all their help and support for making the Purim Carnival such a success this year.  We especially appreciated all the efforts you made for manning the booths and helping with set up and clean up.  This upcoming Sunday is Spring Break so we will not have Religious School on the 31st.  Religious School will resume on April 7.  And please mark your calendars because on April 14 we have secured tickets for the kids to go on a field trip to the Oakland Zoo.  We have spots for 10 kids and 10 adults so any other family members will need to secure their own tickets (for 10:30 a.m.)  We will be having a scavenger hunt where all the kids will try to find the appropriate animals at the zoo based on their Hebrew names, which all classes will be working on in class on the 7th.  We are looking forward to the trip!

 And now for the recap.  Our special Tefillah service was led by Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney, both in amazing costumes!  It was also great to see all the teachers and kids in costume as well.  Rabbi Dean read the story of Purim and Cantor Marney chanted a few of the passages from the Book of Esther.  And of course all the kids provided the instrumental noise to drown out “Haman”.  The younger kids then spent an hour with Heather learning more about Purim.  The Bnai Mitzvah class learned about the different pieces of evidence for whether or not the Purim events could have happened as described.  We came to the consensus that it was unlikely but parts of the story could have happened.  The kids gave a lot of thought to the idea and came up with some persuasive arguments.

 And that about covers it for now.  Everyone have a great Spring Break and we’ll see y’all on the 7th of April!

P.S. Please take a moment to sign up for bringing snacks in March along with hosting an oneg in March, April, May, or June.  Thanks everyone!

Best,

David

Shalom Everyone,

  We have some exciting events coming up!  Next week, on March 24, we will all be meeting for our regular Tefillah service at 9:30 a.m.  All teachers will be dressed in costume and we encourage all students and parents to dress up as well.  Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney will be reading from the Megillah and lead us in singing Purim songs.  It will be so much fun!  We will then have regular class for about an hour and adjourn at 11:45 to get ready for the carnival, which will begin at noon.  Finally, please mark your calendars for April 14, which will be the date for our field trip to the Oakland Zoo.

    And now for the recap.  As always, Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney led us in our Tefillah service before we headed to our classes.  The younger grades all learned the traditions and rituals of Purim.  In the B’nai Mitzvah, we did a deeper dive into the meanings of Purim.  Students learned about the extent of the Persian Empire of the time, what it means to draw lots (in their case choosing the date of Purim by rolling dice), and the unique features of the Book of Esther.  Specifically, the fact that one verse contains all the letters of the Hebrew alphabet (one of only a few in the Tanach), the longest verse in the entire Tanach (clocking in at 43 Hebrew words when most average around 20 or so) and the fact that G-d is never mentioned in the entire book.  We then read through the Book of Esther and discussed the sections that are not often told in the Purim tale.  The kids were quite engaged and enjoyed learning more about Purim.

    And that about covers it for now.  We look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday for the festivity of Purim!

Best,

David

P.S. Please take a moment to sign up for bringing snacks in March along with hosting an oneg in March, April, May, or June.  Thanks everyone!

Hello Everyone,

Our next session will be held on March 17 and our lessons will focus on the traditions of Purim.  The following week will be our fun Purim carnival on March 24.  On that day all the teachers will be in costume and we encourage all our kids to be in costume as well.  We also wanted to thank all of our families who volunteered their time to make this event a success.  Jane told me we now have enough volunteers so well done everyone!  And I will be finalizing the details in the next week but it appears we will have our field trip to the Oakland Zoo on April 14 so please mark your calendars (and I will let you know if there are any changes).  Finally, our next Family Shabbat will take place this Friday, March 15, at 6:15 p.m.  We will be doing Purim activities and enjoying hamentashens so please come and enjoy the fun!

And now for the recap.  As always, Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney led us in our Tefillah service before we headed to our classes.  Because it was Daylight Saving Time, we had the annual tradition of families coming in individually as we sprang forward!

In the Bnai Mitzvah class, we once again invited the middle grades in for a joint session.  All the kids are now able to chant the Ain Camocha, are learning the Ki Mitzion prayer, and will continue reviewing the Before and After Torah prayers.  For the second half of class, we continued our exploration into gematriyah by looking at family members.  One major theme we found was that the female counterpart of each pair (mother/father, brother/sister, grandpa/grandma, etc) always had the higher gematriyah value.  And in a huge surprise, the family member with the highest gematriayah value was the female cousin while the lowest was the father.  Discussing the meaning of these patterns will likely take years!  Students in the Bnai Mitzvah class also started putting together key facts from their family histories in preparation for the end of year project.

  And that about covers it for now.  We will see everyone next week!

Best,

David

P.S. Please take a moment to sign up for bringing snacks in March along with hosting an oneg in March, April, May, or June.  Thanks everyone!

Hello Everyone,

    As a reminder, we are still looking for volunteers from all our families to assist with the Purim Carnival, which will take place on March 24 from 12:00-2:00 p.m.  We especially need help with set-up on the 23rd from 1:00-3:00 p.m. and overseeing the booths and bake sale the day of the event.   Let’s all strive to have 100% participation from the Religious School to show our dedication to the community of TBH! The B’nai Mitzvah class will actually be running the popcorn machine at the Carnival and the kids are excited!  To volunteer, please reach out to Wendy and Jane at purim@tbhrichmond.org.

       And now for the recap.  Cantor Marney and Rabbi Dean led our Tefillah Services as always before heading to the classroom.  For the B’nai Mitzvah class, we welcomed the middle grades to collectively work on the Ain Camocha and Ki Mitzeeon prayers.  The kids worked hard and were starting to master both prayers even after only just one session.  For the second half of class, we continued our gematriyah study by looking at the months of the year along with the seasons.  No surprise, the highest valued month was Tishrei, with all the High Holidays, although there were some surprises that appeared.  All of the spring months ended up being 6th, 7th, and 8th in value while spring itself was the lowest value among the seasons.  It is amazing the different patterns that emerge with gematriyah!

  And that about covers it for now.  We look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday.

Best,

David

P.S. Please take a moment to sign up for bringing snacks in March along with hosting an oneg in March, April, May, or June.  Thanks everyone!

Hello Everyone,

First of all, a huge shoutout for all the families who were able to attend Scarlet’s Bat Mitzvah this past weekend.  She did an amazing job and we are all so proud of her.  At our next session, this Sunday on March 3, let us all welcome our newest Jewish adult into our community.  Also, let’s all strive to have 100% participation from the Religious School for the Purim Carnival on March 24 to show our dedication to the community of TBH! The B’nai Mitzvah class will actually be running the popcorn machine at the Carnival and the kids are excited!

  And now for the recap.  Cantor Marney led our Tefillah Service and we also got to celebrate all our new families with certificates and gifts.  In the B’nai Mitzvah class, we combined with the middle grades to continue our discussion on the mysteries of gematria.  After practicing the Ain Camocah prayer, all the kids learned the gematria values of the days of the week and the colors of the rainbow.  No surprise that Shabbat ranked highest but incredibly Tuesday is the second highest value day while Wednesday is the least valued.  And after figuring out the values of the colors, all the kids drew a “Gematriyah rainbow” with the higher valued colors on top.  Such a rainbow has orange at the top, followed by green, and red at the very bottom.  Everyone had fun discussing these mysteries.

  And that about covers it for now.  We look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday.

Best,

David

P.S. Please take a moment to sign up for bringing snacks in March along with hosting an oneg in March, April, May, or June.  Thanks everyone!

Hello Everyone,

     First of all, we wanted to thank all our parents for braving the rain and wind to come to Religious School last week to fill up our classes.  Our next session will be this upcoming Sunday, February 11, and two weeks from now we will have a break on February 18.  As a reminder, the New Member Shabbat will take place on February 16 and we encourage all of our families to attend ( along with the Family Shabbat which will take place earlier that evening).  We will also be having our second field trip in April to the Oakland Zoo.  I will send out more details when I have the exact date.  And the big day is approaching when Scarlet will have her Bat Mitzvah on February 24 (all are welcome to come to the service).  Finally, please remember to sign up for bringing snacks one week for the kids along with one Oneg for a shabbat this year.  The sign-up sheets are in the Religious School hallway.

     And now for the recap.  We started off with our regular Tefillah service, led as always by our own Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney.  While the younger kids went to Jenny’s class, the middle and upper grades all gathered together with me for a special project.  Since we will be going to the Zoo in April, I wanted the kids to start learning the Hebrew names for all the animals.  We therefore spent our day playing a game of Guess the Animal.  The kids had a lot of fun with it and now have full lists of about two dozen animals with their Hebrew names.  They also utilized gematriyah to determine the values of each animal’s name according to Hebrew tradition.  Incredibly, the majestic swan had one of the highest gematriyah values!  We will be practicing saying the Hebrew animal names so we can identify them all when we get to the field trip.

    And that about wraps it up for now.  We look forward to seeing all our families this upcoming Sunday, February 11, after which we can all enjoy the Super Bowl.  Thanks everyone!

Best,

David

Hello Everyone,

     First of all, we wanted to thank all our parents for braving the rain and wind to come to Religious School last week to fill up our classes.  Our next session will be this upcoming Sunday, February 11, and two weeks from now we will have a break on February 18.  As a reminder, the New Member Shabbat will take place on February 16 and we encourage all of our families to attend ( along with the Family Shabbat which will take place earlier that evening).  We will also be having our second field trip in April to the Oakland Zoo.  I will send out more details when I have the exact date.  And the big day is approaching when Scarlet will have her Bat Mitzvah on February 24 (all are welcome to come to the service).  Finally, please remember to sign up for bringing snacks one week for the kids along with one Oneg for a shabbat this year.  The sign-up sheets are in the Religious School hallway.

     And now for the recap.  We started off with our regular Tefillah service, led as always by our own Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney.  While the younger kids went to Jenny’s class, the middle and upper grades all gathered together with me for a special project.  Since we will be going to the Zoo in April, I wanted the kids to start learning the Hebrew names for all the animals.  We therefore spent our day playing a game of Guess the Animal.  The kids had a lot of fun with it and now have full lists of about two dozen animals with their Hebrew names.  They also utilized gematriyah to determine the values of each animal’s name according to Hebrew tradition.  Incredibly, the majestic swan had one of the highest gematriyah values!  We will be practicing saying the Hebrew animal names so we can identify them all when we get to the field trip.

    And that about wraps it up for now.  We look forward to seeing all our families this upcoming Sunday, February 11, after which we can all enjoy the Super Bowl.  Thanks everyone!

Best,

David