Beit Midrash

Shalom Everyone!

After our series of breaks over the last few weeks, we are now set for a more regular schedule for the next month.  We will be having religious classes for the next three weeks into February.  We also encourage all of our families to attend the New Member Shabbat on February 16.  And thank you to all the families who brought in fruit for our Tu B’shvat celebration!  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.  We also had the pleasure of having Scarlet assist in leading the service in preparation for her upcoming Bat Mitzvah in February.

   Afterwards, all the kids engaged in Tu B’shvat activities.  Heather’s and my class together prepared the 7 species along with the fruit brought in by the families and teachers.  We ended up with 16 fruits to sample along with all 7 species.  As in years past, the kids got to taste fruits they had everyday along with a few they had never tried before, expanding their palates.  Afterwards, everyone went to the meditation garden to help plant fava beans.  Finally, the kids got to watch a video about Tu B’shvat before assisting the teachers in cleaning up.  

    And that about wraps it up for now.  We look forward to seeing all our families this upcoming Sunday, January 28.  Thanks everyone!

Best,

David

Hello Everyone,

We hope your families had a nice MLK Jr. Day.  The Zimring-Lesch family spent the morning helping to weed and plant lavender at Unity Park in Richmond, a perfect example of Tikun Olam as well as the upcoming celebration of TuBshvat.  For this upcoming Sunday on January 21, we will be having a potluck seder for all the kids and parents featuring the 7 species and at least 15 different kinds of fruit, based on the TuBshvat tradition.  Please email me back which kind of fruit your family would like to contribute (either typical or exotic) and I can add it to the list.  We will also have the kids assist with tending and mulching the trees around the grounds.  It will be a solid day of preserving the earth! 

  Also, please remember to sign up to bring snacks in February and March (and thank you to those who have signed up for January!)  And the Zimring-Lesch family will be hosting Oneg this upcoming Shabbat on January 19 so please join us if you would like to see what will be involved for your own Oneg later in the year (please add your name to the sign-up sheet in the Religious School building).

   Thanks everyone and we’ll see you on Sunday!

Best,

David

Shalom Everyone!

And welcome back!  It was so wonderful to see all our families back together again after our long break.  As a reminder, we will not have Religious School on January 14 because of the MLK Jr. holiday weekend but we will return on January 21 and continue for four straight weeks afterward.  Also, please remember to sign up to bring snacks one week in January and February along with one Oneg for a Shabbat service between January and June.  My family will be hosting the upcoming Shabbat Oneg on January 19 so if you like you can attend this upcoming Shabbat service next week and see how it works.

And now for the recap.  Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney led us in our first Tefillah service of the secular year before the kids went to their classes.  In the lower grades, they started the day by thinking about a quote from Midrash Tanchuma Nitzavim: “A bundle of reeds cannot be broken by a person; but, taken one by one, even a child can break them.”  The class then talked about what this quote can mean and how it applies to us.  Later on, students continued learning about Kehillah (community); Tzedek (justice); Arevut (mutual responsibility); and Tikkun Olam (repairing the world).  Finally, for the second hour they learned about how Martin Luther King Jr. tried to heal the world, partly by working with Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heshel.

For the B’nai Mitzvah class, we spent the first hour continuing to practice the Torah Service prayers and have now moved on to learning the Haftarah prayers.  The kids are catching on very quickly to the melodies and can already chant the Blessing Before Haftarah and the first paragraph of the Blessing After Haftarah.  For the second hour, we continued our research into the students’ family trees, adding more relatives and archiving more documents.  We are planning to gather as much information as we can for everyone’s heritage up to great-grandparents before starting on the next phase of the project.  The kids are excited!

And that about covers it for now.  Since our next Religious School on January 21 will be celebrating Tu B’shvat, I will be sending a sign-up sheet next week for families to bring one fruit to share for a Tu B’shvat feast.  Thanks everyone!

Best,

David 

Hello Everyone,

      And a Happy New Year to you all!  We will resume our regular Religious School this upcoming Sunday, January 7.  Also, please remember to sign up to bring snacks one week in January and February along with one Oneg for a Shabbat service anytime between January and June.  Everyone, have a wonderful new year and we’ll see everyone on the 7th!

Best,

David

Hello Everyone,

       And here we come to the end of the secular year.  First of all, thank you to all the families for contributing nut butter for the Food for Thought Drive along with all those who volunteered to help make the boxes for delivery.  The teachers and I also wanted to thank all of the families for contributing to an amazing experience for the kids for the first half of religious school.  As it turns out, two of our teachers will not be able to attend this Sunday so we need to cancel the Religious School session on December 17.  We will resume our regular sessions on January 7.  In the meantime, please remember to sign up to bring snacks one week in January and February.

       And now for the recap.  We had another special Tefillah service in the Bnai Mitzvah classroom, with Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney leading the service and helping the kids practice Hannukah songs to sing at for their families.  For the rest of the day the younger grades worked on several art projects, watched some videos, played dreidel, and enjoyed special treats and gelt. 

      In the Bnai Mitzvah class, the students finished discussing the themes of “Light One Candle” and created a list of what they considered the most important of the themes to symbolize Hannukah.  We then listened to the Adam Sandler Hannukah songs and learned how many actors, musicians, and other famous figures celebrate Hannukah as well.  Finally, for the second hour we had our annual Bnai Mitzvah Class Dreidel Competition.  For the second year in a row, Sol emerged the winner after a lively game.  They’ll all be able to utilize their skills at the upcoming Dreidel Olympics at the Family Shabbat on Friday, December 15. 

      And that about covers for it now.  Everyone have a wonderful Hannukah and a Happy New Secular Year!  We will see everyone in January!

     Thank you everyone!

Best,

David

Hello Everyone,

And welcome back!  Thank you all so much for volunteering at the Hanukkah Fair this past Sunday, especially bringing all the sugar cookies for our kids to decorate.  Our Religious School contributes so much to the community every year and you should all be proud!  We will have our next session this Sunday, December 10, and one more on December 17.  After that, we will have a two week break and resume class in January.  In the meantime, please remember to bring in nut butter this Sunday for the final chance to donate to Food For Thought this year and sign up to bring snacks for the kids.

And now for the recap.  We had a special Tefillah service in the Bnai Mitzvah classroom, with Cantor Marney teaching the kids Hanukkah songs they were able to sing at the Hanukkah Fair.  For the rest of the day each class learned the rituals and stories of Hanukkah.  In the Bnai Mitzvah class, the students learned the proper way to set up a Hanukkah room, how to light a menorah, how long to let the candles burn, the melodies for the prayers, etc.  Each student will be leading the candle lighting for their families for one night this Hanukkah season.  Finally, we listened to the song “Light One Candle” and discussed the themes associated with Hanukkah, including children, pain, wisdom, strength, and many others.  We will continue exploring these themes when we return next week. 

And that about covers for it now.  We will see y’all on Sunday!

 Thank you everyone!

Best,

David

Hello Everyone!

   Can we believe it is now November??!  I hope everyone had a wonderful Halloween!  For the rest of the month, we will have a kind of back and forth schedule.  We will meet as usual this Sunday, November 5 at 9:30 a.m. (and remember to set your clocks back for DST!)  The next Sunday, November 12, we will have off for Veterans Day.  On November 19, we will all meet the Contemporary Jewish Museum for our tour.  And on November 26 we will have the day off for Thanksgiving.  Please mark your calendars.  Lasty, please remember to bring nut butter jars for our Food for Thought drive along with donations for the class tzedakah projects.

And now for the recap.  Cantor Marney helped lead us in our Tefillah service before the classes began (Rabbi Dean will be able to join us this upcoming Sunday as well when he gets back from his trip).  The younger kids are continuing their projects in Torah study, learning the Hebrew alphabet, and various art projects.  For the Bnai Mitzvah class, we were joined by Heather’s class for a special activity.  All the kids received a blank map showing the rivers and coastline of ancient Israel, Egypt and Syria.  Next, we looked at all the ancient 12 tribes of Israel, their characteristics, and their symbols.  Then each student drew borders on the maps showing where they would decide to give each tribe different territories (best places for agriculture, government, defense, etc).  Finally, each student showed their map and explained why they put the borders where they did.  This activity got them to think about why borders are drawn the way they are and how ancient Israel might have decided to utilize its resources based on its geography.  We can continue this activity for the modern borders of Israel at a later date.  For the second half of class, we continued our research into our family histories and found more exciting sources, including some great-great-great grandparents from Romania, Russia, and Austria.  We will pursue this research for the rest of 2023 and then start putting together our family tree projects beginning in 2024. 

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

Best,

David

Hello Everyone!

First of all, a huge thank you to Adam Bessie for his magnificent presentation last week about his new graphic novel on teaching during the Covid pandemic.  Everyone who attended had a lively conversation about the effects of the pandemic and what we can expect from our educators in the future.  We plan to have more events like this in the future.  Our next class session will be this Sunday, October 29, at our regular time of 9:30 a.m.  And please also mark your calendars for November 19, when we will have our first field trip of the year to the Contemporary Jewish Museum.  Lasty, please remember to bring nut butter jars for our Food for Thought drive along with donations for the class tzedakah projects.

And now for the recap.  Cantor Marney helped lead us in our Tefillah service before the classes began.  The younger kids are continuing their projects in Torah study, learning the Hebrew alphabet, and various art projects.  For the Bnai Mitzvah class, we continued to practice the Before and After Torah prayers and just started reviewing the Haftorah prayers.  The kids also got to practice holding a mock Torah.  We will practice with a real Torah at a later date.  For the second half of class, we continued our research into our family histories and found some exciting sources, including wedding photos, world war draft cards, applications for citizenship, arrival records, etc.  We will pursue this research for the rest of 2023 and then start putting together our family tree projects beginning in 2024. 

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

Best,

David

Hello Everyone!

Now that the High Holidays are fully complete, we are entering our regular rhythm for the fall.  It is always so inspiring to see all the families come together every week to support our students.  And a huge thank you to all the parents who volunteered to serve on the Rabbi Search committee; we really appreciate it.  Also, this week our own Adam Bessie will be giving a presentation after Religious School on Sunday on his new book on teaching during Covid so we encourage everyone to attend and show their support for one of our parents!  

  And now for the recap.  We started our Tefillah Service with Cantor Marney leading us while Rabbi Dean is in Europe.  Afterwards, the younger kids went to start Torah learning.  They read The Song of Creation in Genesis 1:1-2:3 and then listened to the Shema by Anna Brooks and compared it to what we sing.  They also reviewed the Shema prayer in ASL!  To help the class understand the war in Israel, the class watched a video that explained the conflict in Israel.  The quote of the week for class was “There may be times when we are powerless to prevent injustice, but there must never be a time when we fail to protest.”  Finally, all the kids painted wooden Shalom signs to promote peace.

  For the B’nai Mitzvah class, we spent the first hour reviewing the Before and After Torah prayers along with discussing the situation in Israel.  We reviewed the history of conflict between Israelis and Palestinians along with their neighbors in the Middle East and the various attempts to secure peace in the region.  The kids did not have too many questions but I encouraged them to bring up any thoughts they might have in the future.  For the second hour, we started our Family History project in earnest.  All the students got to do some research into their family’s backgrounds on ancestry.com  We found records on great grandparents and even great great grandparents, including census data, draft cards, yearbook photos, etc.  There is so much more to explore and I’m sure we will find even more incredible information as we continue. 

     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

Hello Everyone,

First of all, a huge thank you to all who helped us take down and put away the sukkah this past Sunday along with attending the Urban Tith lecture in the sukkah.  As always, it is so wonderful to see our community come together for such a project.  And I know we shall all come together again as we process the ongoing tragedy in Israel.  We will have special prayers on Sunday for all the victims and their families so please bring your families and friends if they can come.

   Unfortunately, I myself was absent this past Sunday but the Foxes made our school run as smoothly as ever.  Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney led us in our Tefillah Service, as always.  Once all the kids got back to their classroom, all the teachers talked about the disturbing developments in Israel, some of the history of the conflict, and a few important ways to try to process these events.

  In the Bnai Mitzvah class, Larry went over the blessing before and after Torah before hosting a discussion of the last portion of Deuteronomy followed by the first portion of Genesis.  They compared the thoughts of the death of Moses and a description of the borders of Israel vs the creation story.  Next, the students spoke about cycles of death & life and beginnings & endings, touching on what it means to live as a human and as a Jew. The class discussed how important it is to keep re-reading and examining the parshats of the Torah because as we age our perspective changes and more and different meanings can be discerned. The class then watched a reel/video Larry put together of last week’s Sukkot celebration (Shaking the Lulav) They also had a brief music interlude and then discussed family histories and how we are connected to people all over the world.  Finally, the class spoke about the importance of names and honoring our family members who have passed to maintain that connection to our pasts and present.
In Kita Beit (Heather’s Class) We spoke about what is going on in Israel.  After doing that we determined that this year the class Tzedakah project will be to help the needy and elderly in Israel. We then worked on our Simchat Torah project and why we continue to study and read the Torah year after year.  We determined that we do so, in order to keep our culture and traditions alive.  Hoping that if we follow the examples we can be our better selves. We ended class by examining the famous quote by Rabbi Hillel – “If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am only for myself, what am I? And if not now, when?”

In Jenny’s class (Kita Alef) they talked about Simchat Torah, decorated flags for Simchat Torah and worked on the colors in Hebrew.

  And that about covers it for now.  On a final note, Rabbi Dean will be retiring next year and the TBH Board is currently putting together a search committee to look for his successor.  When we meet next Sunday, I will be asking for volunteers from parents who would be interested in joining the committee and assist in creating the next chapter of TBH’s history.  Thank you everyone!

Best,

David