Religious School Update – April 26, 2024
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
Religious School Update – May 2, 2024
May 2, 2024 by tbhrich • Beit Midrash
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