Jewish Studies

Tuesday/Wednesday Jewish Studies with Haley

This week, 2nd Graders learned the first story of the torah, B’reshit. This story tells us about the creation story and how the Torah explains creation to us as Jews. 2nd graders had insightful conversations about how God plays a role in each person’s life differently and how we as Jews grapple with religious text and what the Torah teaches us even though it is not a history book. We made bookmarks for the 7 days of creation and played creation charades to help us remember the details of the story. We had so much fun and our learners are so excited to keep reading more torah stories!

Questions to ask at home:

What is your relationship with God and where does God exist for you? (Parents, share your own thoughts, here too. Students were eager to hear different theories)
What are some relationships to God that you found surprising to hear in class?

 

Saturday Jewish Studies with Anat

This week in Morah Anat’s class, we celebrated Simchat Torah! We talked about writing Torahs and then created our own mini-Torahs. We also continued our work on getting to know the Hebrew alphabet and learning Hebrew Through Movement.

Questions to ask at home:

Why do we celebrate the torah on Simchat Torah?
What does the torah mean to us as a Jewish people?
What makes you excited to be Jewish?

Saturday Jewish Studies with Ashley

This week at Yachad we celebrated Simchat Torah together as a class. We learned from Julie Seltzer, a sofer, about how torahs are made. We made our own mini torahs which students proudly brought home. We also learned the hora, a traditional way of dancing on Simchat Torah and had a ton of fun dancing together to Jewish music.

Questions to ask at home:

Why do we celebrate the torah on Simchat Torah?
What does the torah mean to us as a Jewish people?
What makes you excited to be Jewish?

Hebrew Through Movement

2nd graders were introduced to different body parts – head, eyes, mouth, nose, ears, hands, belly and legs.

Shabbat Family Program

This week families focused on kavod for our stories and learning. Our personal stories, our family stories and our Jewish stories. Parents examined ancient and modern texts while children heard a story, used drama and song to explore the same theme. If you couldn’t make it, here is a text you can explore with your children: Once upon a time Rabbi Tarfon and some wise people were laying down in their friend’s house. Someone asked: Is study more important or is doing more important? Rabbi Tarfon answered, saying: “Doing is more important.” Rabbi Akiva was there too, he said “Learning is more important because it leads to doing.” All of his friends and wise people agreed and said: “Study is the best when it leads to doing.”

Announcements

Closures:

There are no Yachad classes on Tuesday Nov 5 for Election Day or on Monday Nov 11 for Veterans Day.

Camp Style Havdalah Pool Party, Saturday, Nov 16, 3-5pm:

Families that are already connected to URJ Camps will join with prospective campers and their families for a fun night with havdalah, swimming and camp-style games. We look forward to seeing you there! Register here by Nov. 8th. All welcome; 2nd – 6th grade focused.

Save the Date:

K-2 Kabbalat Shabbat B’Yachad (KSBY): Friday, November 22, 5:30-7pm. All K-2 families are invited to join for a joyous Friday night celebration with singing, praying and sharing a meal together!