Who Were the Patriarchs and Matriarchs?
Saturday Jewish Studies
David’s Class
During our last class we learned about Jewish objects and devoted most of our time to preparing Torah Theater skits. In small groups, students studied Torah stories, created scripts, and drew scenery. Next class, they will present and discuss their theater skits!
Elie’s Class
This past week my second-grade class learned about Joseph’s dreams and how it led him to be in good standing with the Pharoah at the time. We then reviewed what they remembered about the Jews leaving Egypt. The students had to put slips of paper telling the story of the Exodus in the right order. Then each group got to act one part out.
Tuesday Jewish Studies
Lauren’s Class
This week we learned we reviewed what we learned about Abraham and Sarah before break. Then we learned that they had a son named Isaac and he and his wife Rebecca had twins named Jacob and Esau. We learned the story of Jacob and Esau and how Jacob tricked their father Isaac into giving him the special blessing meant for Esau. We had a discussion about how instead of fighting like Jacob and Esau, we can create Shalom Bayit (peace in our home). We also created hand puppets of Jacob and Esau to act out the story at home.
Wednesday Jewish Studies
Lauren’s Class
This week to learn about Jacob, Leah, and Rachel, we acted out a play. We learned that Jacob worked for 7 years so he could marry Rachel but on the wedding day was tricked and married her older sister, Leah. Jacob had to work an additional 7 years to also marry Rachel. We also started learning about the upcoming holiday, Tu B’Shevat, and put lima beans in ziplock bags to sprout. Next week we will be painting pots and once our pots are dry and our lima beans have sprouted, we will plant them and take them home.
David’s Class
I am happy to be in touch with you again, and to update you about the events in the class.
This week we discussed the story of Jacob and his love for Rachel and Leah. The story we had in the play, which the children performed in a very cute way. We then spoke about Yaakov’s problematic behavior, which did not always adhere to the truth, and the punishment he received when he was deceived [Laban, his father-in-law gave him Leah instead of Rachel, just as he pretended to be his brother, Eisav, when he stole his father’s blessing].
We also dealt with the family unit and its development, that it is forbidden to prefer or to show special love to one of the family members, which can lead to unpleasant tension and jealousy[שלום בית – shlom bait]..
At the end of the class, we prepared for Tu Bishvat and began a process of sprouting seeds, which we will continue next week.
Hebrew Through Movement
Tuesday
This week in HTM, we did a little yoga, reviewed some of the commands and nouns (classroom objects) from earier this year and each student gave their best effort to command another student in Hebrew.
We also learned the Hebrew word for bread, “lechem” and practiced saying the Motzi blessing over challah and a slice of bread. Next week, we will continue to learn some of the vocabulary words from the Motzi blessing while continuing to review.
Wednesday
This week we learned about Tu-Bishvat -ט”וּ בִּשְׁבָט ! We discussed the holiday’s customs, and learned the following words:
Tree – Etz – עֵץ
Flower – Perach – פֶּרַח
Fruit – Pri – פְּרִי
We then combined these words with the colors we have learned so far. For example,
A green tree – Etz betzeva tarok – עֵץ בַּצֶּבַע יָרֹק
Chag Sameach! – !חַג שָׂמֵחַ
Saturday
During the month of January CBE’s Shinshinit, Ofir, is subbing for HTM. You’ll get an update from Ofir starting next week!
Announcements
Just one brief announcement from Hannah Isaacs, Yachad Teen Educator & URJ Camp Liaison:
On February 9th the Director of URJ Crane Lake Camp, Debbie Shriber, will be coming to CBE to tell us all about Eisner, Crane Lake, and Sci-Tech! This is a great opportunity for students and parents to ask questions and learn about the URJ camping system. We will be providing lunch as the presentation will be directly after Yachad on Saturday February 9th in the Ballroom. Please email Hannah Isaacs at hisaacs@cbebk.org to let her know that you are attending!