Beit Midrash

Shana Tova Everyone!

  It is so wonderful to see everyone return after our long hiatus.  We hope everyone had an easy fast this past Yom Kippur.  Continuing with our Holiday Rush, we will be celebrating Sukkot this coming Sunday, October 1, both during and after Religious School.  Rabbi Dean will be hosting a gathering along with a lecture from a representative from Urban Tith at 2:00 p.m., which is a great organization promoting agriculture and land management.  We encourage everyone to attend.  Also, if you have not already done so, please sign up to bring snacks sometime this month so our kiddos will have renewed energy for the second part of the day.

  And now for the recap.  We restarted our Tefillah Service with Rabbi Dean leading us in prayer.  The rest of the day was largely spent getting ready for Sukkot.  Thank you to all the parents who stayed to help put up the Sukkah.  And a special shoutout to Sam for her skills in putting the pieces together.  The younger grades created lanterns and decorations and then helped put them up in the Sukkah.  They also learned about the rituals of Sukkot.

  For the B’nai Mitzvah class, we spent the first hour helping to put up the Sukkah.  The second hour was spent kicking off our main project for the year: Building Our Family Trees.  Each student brought in information on their immediate families (thank you to all the parents who helped them find the information) and we then put that information into their personalized family tree on the ancestry website.  Over the course of the year we will use this website to build out their family trees and then tell the story of their families stretching as far back as we can.  There are already plenty of hints to explore!

     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

Shalom Everyone!

Thanks to everyone who assisted at our booth at the Solano Stroll this past Sunday.  It is always so nice to see our families contribute to our broader community.  As a reminder, this upcoming Sunday we will not have Religious School because of Rosh Hashanah.  We will be restarting our regular classes on Sunday, September 24, at 9:30 a.m.  Also, the Hebrew School started off well this week and will continue through September and October each Tuesday at 5:00 p.m.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks everyone!

Best,

David

Shalom Everyone!

We hope everyone had a great Labor Day weekend.  As a reminder, this upcoming Sunday we will not have Religious School because TBH will be hosting a booth at the Solano Stroll.  We hope to see everyone there and please let us know if you would like to volunteer.  Also, the Hebrew School started off well this week and will continue through September and October each Tuesday at 5:00 p.m.  Please let me know if you have any questions.  Thanks everyone!

Best,

David

Religious School Update:

Shalom Everyone!

We have now entered the crazy part of our schedule.  Thank you to everyone who made the first two weeks of Religious School an excellent start for the year.  There will be no Religious School next week on September 4 because of Labor Day.  In two weeks, on September 10, we will all be meeting at the Solano Stroll to assist at the TBH booth.  A huge thanks to everyone who has signed up and there are still plenty of opportunities to volunteer if you wish.  The following week, September 17, we will have no school because it is the second day of Rosh Hashana.  We will return to Religious School on September 24 and resume our regular schedule.  However, I am pleased to announce that midweek Hebrew School will begin this Tuesday, September 5, at 5:00 p.m.  I look forward to see all the kids who have signed up!

  And now for the recap.  As always, Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney led us in the Tefillah Service before we adjourned to our classes.  All the classes were concentrating on the theme of the High Holidays.  The younger kids continued their art projects and the middle grades built plaques with their Hebrew names.

  In the Bnai Mitzvah class, for the first hour we learned the critical prayers for Rosh Hashana, including the Candle Blessings, Shechechianu, and the Blessing for Apples and Honey.  We also dived into the deeper meaning of these blessings and how they relate to the past, present and future (all themes of the High Holidays).  For the second hour, we conducted a Tashlich ritual,; pondered the dilemma of what to do if we found money on the street;, and considered what we want to do with the rest of our lives.  All the kids were happily engaged and came up with creative ideas for life-long projects, including skydiving and traveling the world.  Next time we will be covering the other major holiday of Yom Kippur.

  And that about covers it for now.  We look forward to seeing everyone at the Solano Stroll.  Thanks everyone!

Best,

David

Religious School Update:

Shalom Everyone!

  And we have begun!  It was so wonderful seeing everyone together again after our summer break.  It is so amazing how much all the kids have grown!  We started off the year with Tefillah service hosted by Rabbi Dean and Cantor Marney.  I think everyone got back into the rhythm of the prayers quite well!  Our next class will be next week on August 27 at 9:30 a.m.

     For the first hour all the classes engaged in introductory exercises and “Getting to Know You” games.  Jenny’s class worked on art projects while Heather’s class learned some key parts of the prayers (including in ASL!)  In the Bnai Mitzvah class, we mainly went over the class rules, the key virtues for pursuing a Jewish life, and setting up the work cubbies.  All the students then thought about what would be the most useless present anyone could receive at a Bnai Mitzvah along with what excuse they would use if they had to miss class (there were some pretty funny ones!)  Finally, we went over the big project for the year, which will be putting together family histories.  Parents of the Bnai Mitzvah class can help their children fill in the initial Family Tree sheets that will get us started.  Please have your child fill them in by September 24.

     For the second hour of school, we all gathered for a fun party of bubble toys, pizza, cupcakes, and socializing.  Several members of the community joined us and there was a lot of fun all around.  Overall, the kids had a great first day!

     And that about covers it for now.  As a reminder, please sign up for bringing snacks, hosting one Oneg for the year, and adding midweek Hebrew School if you would like your child to participate.  We will see everyone next week on August 27.  Thank you everyone!

Best,

David

Hi Everyone,

   And so we have come to the end of the school year.  Our final session will take place this Sunday, June 11, starting at 9:30 a.m.  We will have our regular Tefillah Service and then we invite all the parents to remain for the Mensch Award ceremony.  Afterwards, we will end the year with a special ice cream/brownie/cookie treat for the kids along with some play time.  The teachers and I request that all parents please bring an ice cream treat or brownies or cookies for the kids (the teachers will bring something as well).  We will likely end school at around 11:30 a.m.  Finally, the annual membership meeting will take place 90 minutes later in the Sanctuary at 1:00 p.m. and we invite all the families to join us.

   And now for the recap.  Rabbi Dean led us in our regular Tefillah service before the kids went to their respective classes.  The younger grades had a great time painting a picture with their hands with Ms. Jenny.  For the middle grades, Heather reports that she introduced the kids to the concept of “Tikkun Olam,” or “Repairing the World”, a type of Jewish social justice.  She requested that all her students come up with a summer Tikkun Olam project they can do with their families over the summer break.  They also talked about making “Mensch Chronicles” that detail how to be a Mensch.  Finally, they reviewed the ideas and topics they have learned during the year and decided to donate their Tzedakah to the Milo Foundation.

   For the Bnai Mitzvah, we spent the first hour as always learning Torah and Haftorah prayers.  The students now have a good grasp of the Torah blessings and are currently on the Haftorah blessings, which we will pickup on once we return from summer break.  For the second hour, I had the students compare the observance of American Memorial Day with Israeli Yom Hazikaron, comparing and contrasting what each society values in its soldiers.  We also compared the exploits of Israeli soldiers who received the Medal of Valor (the highest military award in that nation) and Jewish soldiers who received the Medal of Honor in the American military.  The students debated what values each society reflected based on the deeds of these heroic soldiers.  They realized how much deeper meaning can go into something as simple as receiving an award for exploits on the battlefield.

  And that about covers it for now.  We look forward to seeing everyone on Sunday before heading off for summer break.  It has been a wonderful year!  Thank you to all the parents who helped make it happen.

Best,

David

Hello Everyone!

We hope y’all had a wonderful long weekend!  As we enter June, there will be two more sessions of Religious School for the year.  We will have our regular classes this Sunday, June 4, at the regular time of 9:30 a.m.  The following week, on June 11, we will have our annual Mensch Awards and ice cream treats.  We encourage all families to contribute an ice cream treat for the festivities, which will provide a variety of sweet send offs for the kids.  Thanks everyone and we’ll see you on Sunday!

Best,

David

Hello Everyone,

I can’t believe I am saying this but Religious School is nearing its completion for the year.  We will have the week off this coming Sunday, May 28, in celebration of Memorial Day.  We will then have two more sessions, one on June 4 and the final one on June 11.  For the last class, we will have our traditional Mensch awards along with special treats.  More details to come.

  And now for the recap.  Rabbi Dean led us in our Tefillah Service before all the kids adjourned to the kitchen for a special baking activity.  Teacher Jenny graciously provided her superb cooking skills to teach the kids how to make blintzes for Shavuot.  They were absolutely delicious!  And while they were baking, in celebration of Lag B’Omer, all the kids got to practice their archery skills with a toy bow and arrow set.  By the end of the hour, some of the kids were scoring bulls eyes with remarkable accuracy.  Afterwards, we all enjoyed blintzes along with a special cheesecake.

    For the last part of class, the younger kids finished their Lag B’Omer art projects while the older kids met in my classroom to learn about the Ten Commandments.  I had them read the text from Exodus and compared it to the text from Deuteronomy.  They found out there are subtle differences in the two different versions in the Fourth Fifth and Tenth Commandments, reflecting how the commandments changed between the wandering in the wilderness and the creation of the Jewish kingdom.  The Torah rarely fails to provide great insights when we look for them!

    And that about covers it for now.  Everyone have a wonderful long weekend and we will see y’all on June 4.

Best,

David 

Shalom Everyone!

We had an amazing time last Sunday at Urban Adamah! Thank you to all the families for their flexibility and making this remarkable field trip such an experience.  The kids all got to play with newborn goats, feed and care for chickens, help make butter from goat’s milk, and made corn tortillas from scratch.  They really enjoyed themselves and expressed a desire to return for another trip next year.  All in all, a very successful field trip.

Our regular Religious School will resume this Sunday, April 30, at our regular time at 9:30 a.m. for Tefillah service.  Our main theme will be Yom Haatzmaut, celebrating Israeli Independence Day.  We’ll see everyone there!

Best,

David

And now for the recap.  Thankfully, we were all able to meet for our regular Tefillah with Rabbi Dean leading us as usual.  Each class then held classes on the topic of Yom Hashoa.  In the middle grades, Heather’s students learned the story of Anne Frank and the meaning of Yom Hashoa.  They watched a “BrainPop” video on Anne Frank and talked about a few quotes from her diary.  Then they moved on to the different branches of Judaism, which include at least 10 different branches.  It made the students sad to learn that women are often “held back” in many of the branches.

  For the Bnai Mitzvah class, we spent the first hour practicing the Torah Service prayers and then started to learn the Haftorah prayers.  For the second hour, we looked at the topic of The Righteous Ones who assisted Jews during the Holocaust.  We read through a hypothetical scenario of having a friend who is in danger of being deported or killed during the Holocaust and whether we would have the courage to help them.  The students came up with different ideas, including sneaking food from their parents, escaping to Switzerland, etc.  We then learned about Raul Wallenberg, the Swedish diplomat who helped save thousands of Jews in Hungary at the close of the war.

  And that about does it for now.  We look forward to seeing everyone at Urban Adamah. It will be a blast!

Best,

David