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 …
Feb 05
What book is your copied page from? “This is a prayerbook. The Torah has stories. The Torah has prayers, but they’re in the story. There’s no stories here, so this is a prayerbook.” “If I say this prayer, I’m blessing the people on earth.” What are the rabbis doing on this page of Talmud? “Last year, …
Jan 30
First, we scanned the page for the words we were looking for. Every Nitzanimer is exploring a set of words from one of the morning ברכות (berakhot – blessings), e.g., poke’ach ivrim. We highlighted the words. Then we set out to figure out what book our copied page was from. ”This is the book our page …
Jan 25
(True story! It really happened this way on Tuesday!) If you give a kid a סדור (siddur – prayerbook), he’s going to want to read it. A lot. When he reads it with his friends, they’ll discover that the very same ברכות (berakhot - blessings) we have listed on the wall, are in the siddur. …
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 …
Jan 16
Long ago, the early rabbis said ברכות (berakhot – blessings) as they rose, got dressed, and ready for their day. Today, these ברכות are part of a Jewish morning prayer service. We’ve chosen a few of the ברכות to focus on. How do these ברכות relate to the things you do בבקר (baboker – in the morning)? Ask …
Nov 15
We’re learning what the ancient rabbis say about the flood story. One of the rabbis says that there was a miracle to fit all of the animals and food onto the ark. Rabbi Rebecca: What’s a miracle? Boy 1: Well, I can’t explain that! Rabbi Rebecca: Let’s see if we can find some words… …
Nov 10
Here a Nitzanimer shows her final painting in comparison to her draft done last week. Many challenges were overcome: visualizing text and ideas, progressing from a draft to a final work and switching media from pencil and toosheem (markers) to painting in pointillism. These art works show her thought that Noach’s family helped him build …
May 24
What we deem “Jewish” and how we act as Jews is strongly influenced by teachings from the first several generations of rabbis, those rabbis who wrote the Mishnah (c. 220 CE) and the Talmud (c. 400-600 CE). By exploring foundational ideas from what’s known as this “Rabbinic Period,” our children grow into knowledgeable members of …
Jan 15
Today the Nitzanimers made their very own mezuzot. Part of this process meant being introduced to the discussion that Rabbis long ago had about how a mezuzah should look on the door. Should it lie flat, slant towards the left, slant towards the right, or go straight up? The Nitzanimers then, in pairs, discussed what …
