Jan 10
Here is the Torah text that children are exploring during Week 1 of our Yosef (Joseph) theme. בְּרֵאשִׁית לז.א-יא Genesis 37:1-11 א) וַיֵּשֶׁב יַעֲקֹב בְּאֶרֶץ מְגוּרֵי אָבִיו–בְּאֶרֶץ כְּנָעַן Ya’akov lived in the land of Cana’an. This is the story of Ya’akov and all his family. ב) אֵלֶּה תֹּלְדוֹת יַעֲקֹב, יוֹסֵף בֶּן-שְׁבַע-עֶשְׂרֵה שָׁנָה הָיָה רֹעֶה אֶת-אֶחָיו …
Jan 09
We’re exploring Shabbat in Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!” for infants and toddlers with a grown-up). Our favorite ways to play yesterday included shaping challah from brown, cinnamon-scented playdoh; exploring Shabbat pictures in the rice table; and painting Shabbat candleholders. We also sang a silly Shabbat song where we added chocolate chips, broccoli, carrots, cheese, and …
Dec 12
What a gift to be able to celebrate our Teshuvah (Return) theme in community yesterday! Children in nursery and kindergarten told teshuvah stories with their grown-ups, choosing at least two different kinds of teshuvah to help make the situation better. 1st-3rd grade teshuvah specialists offered recommendations for how to do teshuvah in various situations. Finally, …
Dec 06
What a joyous final Chanukah session in Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!”) for infants and toddlers! We stamped the Hebrew otiot (letters) נ nun, ג gimmel, ה hey, ש shin onto sevivonim (dreidels); practiced our skills for taking toys out of the bin and putting them back in; and tried on sevivon (dreidel) costumes while we …
Nov 14
We’re getting ready for Chanukah in Shalom Chaverim! As always, children in Shalom Chaverim explore the Jewish holidays in ways that are just right for their development. That means our older and younger friends often play in different ways! Our younger friends, who explore everything with their mouths, did lots of mouthing to find out …
Nov 07
We wrapped up our final week of Torah exploration by writing like a sofer (scribe). Last week, when we opened up the Torah, we found all of the Hebrew letters inside. This week, we found out that the letters of a Torah are handwritten with a special tool. Our older friends tried out writing with …
Oct 31
This week, children in Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!”) for infants and toddlers, got to visit the Torah up close! There’s so much to see, touch, and even hear (lots of twinkly bells!) when we explore the Torah! We started by undressing the Torah and unscrolling it so that we could all see the Hebrew letters. …
Oct 24
To conclude our exploration of the fall chagim (holidays), children in Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!”) explored Simchat Torah. (Check out this article to learn more about Simchat Torah). This friend pulled himself all the way up to stand at the sticky paper and put foam Torahs onto the wall. He enjoyed the feel of foam …
Oct 19
At our second Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!”) session, we continued our exploration of the fall holidays with Sukkot! (Click here for more information about the holiday of Sukkot). There were so many ways to play! Our youngest friends enjoyed tasting Sukkot puzzle pieces, pulling board books out of the basket, and squishing around Sukkot pictures …
Oct 02
Shanah Tovah! (Literally, “good year” but usually translated as “Happy New Year!”) Our very first session of Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!”) for infants and toddlers plus a grown-up was all about Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year! In our NEW Jewish year we had so many NEW faces, NEW ways to explore, and NEW skills …
