May 16
To celebrate Shavuot, Shteelim reenacted the story of Har Sinai (Mt. Sinai). A beautiful midrash (rabbinic tale/ interpretation) about the story of Sinai is that all Jewish people (past and future, young and old, Jew by birth and Jew by choice) were at Sinai together. We used our imaginations to travel out of Egypt, across …
May 15
In the right place at the right time. Rabbi Rebecca scored some beautiful branches of a blooming tree near Lab School. The Nitzanimers decorated them with ideas about Shavuot and Shteelim with ideas about the Torah. By the time the community was ready to celebrate, the עץ (ehtz- tree) was coved in insightful facts, Hebrew …
Apr 04
(Adapted from www.jewfaq.org) “You shall count for yourselves — from the day after the Shabbat, from the day when you bring the Omer of the waving — seven Shabbats, they shall be complete. Until the day after the seventh sabbath you shall count, fifty days…” (Leviticus 23:15-16) “You shall count for yourselves seven weeks, from when …
Mar 15
I missed getting pictures of some of the plagues, but Nitzanimers DID act out of the plagues!
Mar 15
Written 100% as dictated by Shteelim – We used the Torah, a Haggadah, and some children’s books to help us figure out the details. When we got stuck on why Moshe took Aaron with him, we got out a Tanach, and read the actual Torah text to see what it said. The 5773 Shteelim …
Mar 15
This year, I thought Nitzanimers were ready to understand the plagues not as cutesy little props to throw during the seder for entertainment, but as part of what took place for the Israelites to go free. I started by reminding children that the plagues happened to ALL of the Egyptians, and asked children if they …
Mar 15
Rabbi Rebecca: What are some things Jews might do on Pesach? {children had many ideas, and then…} Girl 1: We eat מרור (maror - bitter herb) because of the bitterness of being a slave. Boy 1: Why would they want to remind us about being a slave? ‘Cause that’s a bad thought. Girl 2: Yeah, maror …
Mar 15
Like Shteelim and Netzanim, Shorashim is helping to create our beautiful community Ma Tovu tent! (Check out this post to explore this incredible project). When the Shorashimers approached the white fabric and began to sponge on paint, they were excited to discover Morah Naomi had painted their שמות shemot (names) onto the cloth with a special paint …
Mar 04
To kick off our Passover exploration, the Shorashimers made all the parts of a seder plate. Then once our pretend matzah was made and our floor size seder plate set, we were ready for…an Afikomen hunt! At first the Shorashimers were excited and wanted to go searching alone. But soon we found new ways to …
Feb 28
Shteelim started talking about the upcoming holiday of Pesach today. We introduced the story, and began to form some questions we had about the story. Over the next few weeks, we will explore the Passover story in more detail, as well as understand some of the rituals and symbols, and also explore the Passover story …
