Sep 10
Shanah tovah u’metukah! (A happy and sweet new year)! I can’t think of a sweeter way to start the new Jewish year than by having children onsite for our FIRST in-person afterschool session since March 2020! One third grader looked around with eyes open wide and called the building, “the new old building.” How sweet …
May 13
Here is an update from the Family Program! We are getting ready for Shavuot, which begins on Sunday night. This is a group that really likes to be creative so we used our creativity to make flower crowns for Shavuot! One of the fabulous things that came out of our creative time together, is that …
Apr 01
It was so wonderful to see Anafim (“Branches” for 2nd-3rd grade) back together today after Spring Break! We had so much to catch up on, like visits with grandparents, travels to a cabin, eagle sightings, and first days back at in-person school. We celebrated being back together with a silly Pesach (Passover) Mad Libs and …
Mar 30
How do you make the second pandemic Pesach (Passover) feel fun and creative? With a socially-distant puppet show! Children who participate in Special Days at the Jewish Enrichment Center enjoy creating a video from a story. Previous examples include The Sabbath Lion, Benjamin of Tudela, The Magic Pomegranate, and the Purim story. To keep things …
Mar 12
Shabbat Shalom! We are just a few hours away from the beginning of shabbat and I hope you all are able to soak up some sun this weekend. Just two weeks ago we celebrated the fabulous ideas and projects children worked on during the שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ (Shehecheyanu) theme. Below are three different vases children made and …
Mar 11
In the maggid (narrate) section of the haggadah (“the telling,” the Seder text) we read a text from Mishnah Pesachim about Rabban Gamliel. Rabban Gamliel said that a Jewish person should talk about פֶּסַח (pesach – the Passover offering), מַצָּה (matzah – unleavened bread), and מָרוֹר (maror – bitter herbs) every year at the Seder. …
Mar 11
There is a lot of excitement about getting ready for Pesach (Passover) in שׁוֹרָשִׁים (Shorashim– ‘roots’ for nursery) and שְׁתִּילִים (Shteelim– ‘saplings’ for kindergarten). On Sunday, we met in person (outside). We brought out our super big seder plate, so we could work on remembering how to say the names of five main items that might be …
Mar 05
After wrapping up our שֶׁהֶחֱיָנוּ (Shehecheyanu) theme and celebrating Purim together, we have shifted into getting ready for Pesach (Passover) at the Enrichment Center! As we often do with holidays, we began our opening of Pesach by asking children what they remember. We might show them some pictures that have to do with Pesach and …
Feb 25
Chag Purim Sameach! Happy Purim! As we closed up our eight week Shehecheyanu theme, children in Anafim (“Branches” for 2nd-3rd) got to play Purim! We went on a Purim treasure hunt in the snow. Built (or rather, tried to build) Purim character snow people. Drew pictures of scenes from Megillat Esther (The Book of Esther) …
Feb 12
פּוּרִים (Purim) is coming! פּוּרִים (Purim) is a joyful and merry sort of holiday. In the Family Program for 3 – 5 year old children that meets on Tuesday mornings, we began to learn some פּוּרִים (Purim) vocabulary through story, game and songs. We sang the song Chag Purim and put on our מַסֵּכָוֹת (masechot– …
