What's New B'Yachad

Hi 4th Grade families! We’ve been spending the last couple classes on the dramatic trickster stories of Jacob, Esau, Rebecca, and Isaac.  Our scholars have written and performed skits about these dramatic stories, often complete with costumes, and had various deep discussions about it.  I hear some of the students are retelling the stories to you at home, which is so awesome!   If you’d like a 5min rundown of the plot, here’s one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hGs1WfRKIoM .

And here are some quick pictures of some of the students hard at work on their scripts:

Happy MLK weekend! Safe travels to all who are out and about.  I’m looking forward to seeing many of you at our Kabbalat Shabbat B’Yachad tomorrow!

Here’s some cool modern history that I couldn’t cover within the scope of the course this year, so, feel free to explore together and converse about it at home: How were Jews helpful allies during the Civil Rights movement?  (Do your scholars know about Freedom Riders — there were Jewish lawyers who got the Freedom Riders out of jail, specifically so that the Riders could do it again! There were Jews who went to register Black voters, which was extremely dangerous! Etc!)  The real main heroes were the Black Americans, but Jews of all colors were important allies, too.  After all, we’re not free until everyone is free. How can we be allies, today?  But I digress.

We recently learned the Torah story of Rebecca at the Well. Our favorite part was the kindness to animals.