Seventh Grade: Choice and Changing the World
Hi families!
Our second week of Yachad was terrific. In our first class, we discussed a theme that was perhaps close the hearts of our seventh graders: to what extent do we have a choice to be Jewish? Students looked at passages of Torah and Talmud to evaluate whether Moses had a choice at the burning bush and whether the Jewish people had a choice at Mt. Sinai. During our Tefillah time, students recited the blessing and Abel volunteered to sound the shofar in front of the whole grade (and he did a great job!)
During our second class, we talked about teens around the world who have made a difference, and many of our Yachad students were especially inspired by Greta Thunberg (and some of them even said they are participating in the Climate Strike this Friday!) As I mentioned in last week’s post, all of the seventh graders will be completing a community service project this year (that we are fondly calling Tikkun Olam-A-Thon) as part of the preparation for their B’Nei Mitzvah. The kids all completed surveys about what kind of project they are interested in working on for their Tikkun Olam-A-Thon, and based on their input, we will set up a few classes that focuses on their kinds of projects the kids are interested in. Over the next few weeks, they will have a chance to meet with the teachers leading each of the project categories, and by the end of October, they will submit their preferences for which project they want to focus on this year. Starting in early November, they will spend time each week at Yachad in a group of other students who are working on a similar project so that they can collaborate and learn together. You can find more details about the Tikkun Olam-A-Thon here.
Some questions that you can ask your child about to reinforce our learning at Yachad this week are:
Do they think Moses had a choice at the Burning Bush, or do they think the Jewish people had a choice at Mt. Sinai? Why or why not?
What teens around the world right now inspire them and why?
What do they think is broken in the world that they hope to help fix?
One last thing: Just as an FYI, each Thursday, Cantor Josh will be pulling a small group of students who have upcoming B’Nei Mitzvah during dinner to practice Torah chanting. Please have your child plan to bring their B’Nei Mitzvah binder to Yachad during the weeks that they are working with Josh. (I will try to send you a reminder the week of, since some of these are many months away!) You’ll find the schedule at the bottom of this post.
Hope you have a great week and Shabbat Shalom!
Schedule for Small Group Pull-outs with Cantor Josh During Dinner
(please have kids bring their B’Nei Mitzvah binders when it’s their turn)
9/12, 9/19, 9/26
Sasha Chajet-Wides
Donovan Milstein
James Andersen
Henry Steckman
Leo Duhl
Samuel Swartz
10/3 , 10/17, 10/24,
Kaya Costom
Liam Renaud-Levine
Alexander Gordon
Hannah Borisoff
Gabriel Entes
Julia Gross
Sophia Dorogusker
11/7, 11/14, 11/21,
Luke Mintzer
Charlotte Beier
Benjamin Stroud
Jonathan Schlossberg
Sydney Levy
Gabriel Rosenberg
Zoey Berlin
12/5, 12/19, 1/9
Lissa Davis-Sigall
Griffin Krombach
Dylan Hunter
Benjamin Tripp
Micah Finkelstein
Rebecca Davis
Eloise White
1/16, 1/23, 1/30
Fiona Cohen
Georgia Rothfeld
Maya Levy
Iris Kennedy
Emmett Arberman
Molly Rosenfeld
Madeleine Meyers-Kane
2/6, 2/13, 2/27
Anna Kustal
Cameron Britton
Ruby Foster
Tess Greenberg
Lily Borstein
Isabel Geller
3/5, 3/12, 3/19
Ben McGee
Ben Israel
Laila Copeland
Julian Joseloff
Norah Mintzer
Hannah Kass
Dasha Shvets
3/26, 4/2, 4/23
Aaron Adams Miller
Samuel Mayhew Miller
Harper Draut-Fink
Alexa Lasky
Bailey Lasky
Benjamin Landfield