Religious School Update – Oct. 13, 2023
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
Religious School Update – Oct. 19, 2023
October 19, 2023 by tbhrich • Beit Midrash
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