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 …
Apr 18
This week in Yetzirah the Nitzanimers focused on words to describe a feeling or mood and how we might interpret someone’s facial expression to conclude how they are feeling. First, our Nitzanimer panel generated synonyms for “Happy/Sameach” and “Sad/Atzuv” and I listed them on large paper. When someone ran out of ideas, another Nitzanimer would …
Mar 06
We have a new Mah Tovu tent in Beit Shteelim. Morah Miryam invited us in pairs to come to the Mah Tovu tent. When I stuck a יד (yad – hand) into the tent, I pulled out a surprise! It was a picture of a part of my גוף (guf - body)! Then I thought about how I …
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
The Starting Point: Children made the connection between ברכות (berakhot - blessings) we say in the morning and the actions of getting up and ready for our day. Here we are acting out our favorite ברכה (berakhah – blessing): הנותן ליעף כח (“Who gives strength to the weary:). We love to shout “koach (strength)!” Part 1 So…the …
Feb 28
As we wrap up our Boker Tov unit, the Shteelimers are hard at work creating the pieces of art that will combine to make their final Yetzirah project. It has proven to be a long journey with lots of questions, dialog and new exciting processes! For example, this week I was happy to discover that …
Feb 25
What a joyous Purim! Our children, ages 4 – 8, stood up in front of our community and READ MEGILLAH! Extraordinary. They’re so young, and already starting to learn Hebrew and lead our community from the bimah. Can you imagine what our children will be like in five years? Plus: this morning’s accomplishment was such …
Feb 22
With Purim happening on Sunday we wrapped up our exploration of Purim this past week. To conclude the holiday we decided to make/ bake hamantaschen cookies for our friends and family. This activity was not only fun but also educational as we learned about Haman and his three cornered hat. This is why we make Hamantaschen …
Jan 18
There’s a morning ברכה (berakhah – blessing) that says פוקח עורים (pokeach ivrim – open the eyes of the blind). We’re not blind. But as we learned in Yetzirah this week, there’s a lot we don’t see. How do we “open our own eyes” and those of our friends? Here, children… LISTEN LOOK CAREFULLY …
Jan 17
We begin our new unit, Boker Tov, and learn about the morning blessings the Rabbis used to recite (the Birchot HaShachar). One of them gives thanks for opening the eyes of the blind: “Pokeach Ivrim”. To explore this idea of seeing the unseen, in Yetzirah the Nitzanimers chose a small object (one that they had …
