Beit Midrash

Hello Everyone,

    And welcome back!  We had an amazing first day of Religious School and we were so glad everyone was able to come.  All of our teachers are so excited to be starting the year and all the projects and activities we have planned.  As a reminder, there will be no Religious School next Sunday, September 1 (because of Labor Day).  The following week on September 8 is the Solano Stroll so please remember to sign up for one shift at the Temple Booth that day to help spread the word about our community.  It will be an all-school project.  You can let either me or Larry know when you would like to volunteer.

   And now for the recap.  Cantor Marney led us through our Tefillah service to get us back into our groove.  In a twist this year, each student will get to help lead a Tefillah service later this year as practice for their Bnai Mitzvot.

   The younger grades spent their day talking about their summer activities, going over class rules and procedures, watching videos, seeing the projects they will do and the themes they will cover, etc.  In the Bnai Mitzvah class, we spent the first hour coming up with our collective class rules, picking the countries we want to study for our year-long Jewish Communities Around the World project, and previewing the prayers and Torah portions we will review this year.  For the second hour, the kids played Apples to Apples: The Judeaica version.  They all had a lot of fun!

        And that about covers it for now.  Please let me know if you have any questions.

Best,

David

Shalom Everyone!

 Our first session of Religious School is almost here.  It will take place on Sunday, August 25, starting at 9:30 a.m.  We will begin with our usual Tefillah Service and announcements.  As part of the announcements, I will be handing out sign-in sheets for Snack Volunteers and Oneg Hosts for the year.  This year, to provide more lead times, I will be sending out reminders in each weekly email about who will be bringing snacks that week and when your family will be hosting Oneg for a Shabbat service (only once for the year).  The rest of the day the kids will be sorted into their new classes and enjoy a day of introductions and games and projects.  We are so looking forward to seeing everyone!

 The beginning of the year is a little unusual for the schedule.  The following week, September 1, will be off because of the Labor Day weekend.  The week after that, September 8, will be the Solano Stroll.  SInce we are hosting a booth that day, the teachers and I decided that we will not hold class but instead have all the families come help spread the word about our temple at the booth and enjoy the festivities.  We will be passing out a sign-up sheet on the first day of class as well.  Starting on September 15, we will have a much more regular schedule all through October.

 Please let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks everyone!

Best,

David

Hi Everyone,

It was great to see everyone on Sunday.  Now that we are in the home stretch for the school year, we will have next week off because of Memorial Day, our final full session on June 2, and then our annual Mensch Ceremony/Ice Cream social on June 9.  For the last day, we will have our regular Tefillah service, an hour or so for the Mensch Ceremony, and then another half hour to an hour for the ice cream social.  We encourage all parents to stay for the ceremony and contribute one ice cream treat for the kids.  It will be an excellent finish for the year!  We also encourage everyone to stay for the membership meeting, which will start that day at 1:00 p.m.

 And now for the recap.  The younger grades were finishing up their lessons and completing end of year projects.  The B’nai Mitzvah class spent the first half of class learning about how Israel became a nation along with what was required to survive during the Israeli War for Independence in 1948.  We all agreed that cohesion, better planning, supplies from abroad, and division among the Arab combatants allowed Israel to win the war against long odds.  We then looked up fun facts about Israel and came up with a Top 10 list.  The list included that glue in Israel is Kosher, the largest sock mosaic (12,000 pairs) was created in Israel, and that at the Church of the Holy Sepulcher, a ladder has stood at a window for over 200 years because none of the six sects of Christianity that use the church have claimed it!  For the second half of class, the students worked on their Ancestry posters.  They will complete the posters on June 2 and be able to take them home to show their family symbols, roots, and history in visual form.  They will also be able to log into the ancestry site and show the family trees they created.  It should be quite illuminating.

 And that about covers it for now.  Everyone have a wonderful long weekend and we will see you in June!

Best,

David

Hello Everyone,

First of all, we wanted to thank all of our families who helped out and attended the Seder dinner this past Saturday.  The kids had a lot of fun finding the afikomen.  Our next Religious School session will be this Sunday, May 5, and then we will have a break the following week on May 12 for Mother’s Day.

   And now for the recap.  Rabbi Dean led our Tefillah service before the kids went to their separate classes.  The younger kids finished up their Passover packets and completed their matzah covers for their family Seders.  At the same time, the B’nai Mitzvah class explored how to modify Passover traditions to give them a 21st century twist.  The kids brainstormed what the 10 plagues would look like if they were based on disrupting life in urban areas dependent on technology (instead of rural areas dependent on agriculture).  The new plagues would include electrical power outages, device breakage, natural disasters, sun flares knocking out satellites, etc.  They also reimagined the lyrics to Chad Gadya.  For the second half of class, we reviewed the B’nai Mitzvah prayers and continued working on their ancestry projects. 

  And that is about all for now.  Please remember to sign up for bringing snacks for the kids along with hosting an Oneg if your family has not done so already.  We still have openings for one Shabbat in May and two Shabbats in June.  Thanks everyone and we’ll see you Sunday!

Best,

David

Hello Everyone,

It’s so amazing that Passover has finally arrived!  We encourage everyone who is able to come to the Temple Seder this Saturday, April 27, at 6:00 p.m.  We plan to have all the religious school families who are attending sitting at the same table so all the kids can play with each other during the service.  Our next Religious School session will be this Sunday, April 28, followed by another session on May 5 before taking a break on May 12 for Mother’s Day.  

And now for the recap.  As expected all the classes were working on Passover themed activities this past week.  The younger grades, led by Ms. Heather, were decorating seder plates and coverings for their families.  They also watched videos of the latest parody songs by 613, a great group of Orthodox students who sing about various Jewish holidays.  This year they have Passover songs sung to the tunes of ABBA, Lion King and Gilligan’s Island.  They’re really funny!

  Meanwhile, the Bnai Mitzvah class was delving deeply into the meanings of the 14 steps of the Seder.  They came up with themes of opposites: joy/bitterness, prepared/unprepared, etc.  They also realized so many of the steps could be up for interpretation, including the fact that the “Festive Meal” could technically be a dessert plate and the “songs” at the end of the Seder could be either joyful or sorrowful songs, depending on the mood of the table.  They all wrote down their thoughts for each step and will be ready to give their opinions at your family seders this year.  Finally, the students started making drawings of a proposed family coat of arms based on their research into their family histories.  By the end of the year, they will have completed a great visual project.  More details to come.

   Finally, please remember to sign up for bringing snacks for the kids along with hosting an Oneg if your family has not done so already.  We still have openings for two Shabbats in May and two Shabbats in June.  Thanks everyone and we’ll see you Sunday!

Best,

David

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!