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 …
Jun 01
Last week, we learned about how the story of Ruth that we read on Shavuot is about chessed — Ruth does chessed for Naomi by gathering barley for her. To act this out, we gathered our own “pretend” grain and ground it using a steel mill into coarse flour. This week we capped off the …
May 24
This week we continued our Shavuot learning by asking the question: what exactly is a “harvest”? First, we read the wonderful book “Pancakes, Pancakes!” by Eric Carle, which tells the story of all the work required to make a single pancake… (milking the cow, churning the butter, feeding the chicken so it lays an egg…) …
May 20
Shavuot, the Jewish spring agricultural holiday that celebrates the giving of the Torah, starts Saturday evening, May 26. It’s traditional for children to decorate baskets with flowers, fill the baskets with fruit, and parade around the synagogue. Long ago, farmers in the land of Israel would bring the first fruits of their harvest to the …
May 17
Shavuot is coming! On Shavuot, we read the Book of Ruth. In Shorashim, we have been reading a Shorashim-appropriate version of the story, with a focus through the lens of Tzedakah vaChessed. For example: ”Ruth shows so much chessed when she picks up all the leftover barley for Naomi,” and, “Boaz does chessed when he asks …
