It’s been a tremendous year in Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!”) for infants/toddlers and their grown-ups. What fun we’ve had celebrating an entire year of Jewish holidays by baking, painting, building, playing, singing, dancing, and SO MUCH MORE! When I went to choose my favorite photos to post in today’s blog post, I was drawn to …
Category: Shalom Chaverim
May 08
More Shavuot in Shalom Chaverim
We continued our exploration of Shavuot (“Weeks”) this week in Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends” for infants/toddlers and a grown-up). We made flower crowns, built aronot (plural: aron, ark) for the Torah, and even tasted a dairy treat! What a sweet way to end our Shavuot exploration together!
May 02
Shavuot is coming!
Shavuot is coming in Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome, Friends!” for infants/toddlers)! We’re baking cheesecakes Building really tall aronot (plural: arks) for the Torah Investigating Torah objects like the choshen (breastplate) and rimon (crown) and painting petals to use for our flower crowns. I can’t wait to see how children explore next week!
Apr 26
Oh my, how we’ve grown!
Can you believe it’s the end of April?! Look at the many, many incredible ways our Shalom Chaverim children have grown! When this one-year-old started the year, she explored our Jewish topics while lying on her back or tummy. Now, at the end of the year, she can sit up, crawl, and pull herself to …
Apr 17
Hunting for Mezuzot
This week, families in Shalom Chaverim started our exploration of mezuzah. A mezuzah (literally, “doorpost”) is a small ritual object traditionally hung on the doorways of Jewish homes. Inside of the mezuzah is a parchment scroll, called a klaf, upon which are written biblical verses of the Shema (Deuteronomy 6:4-9, 11:13-21). For more information about …
Nov 07
Torah Writing
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
A Visit to the Torah
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. …
May 15
Chaverim Through the Year
The families of שָׁלוֹם חֲבֵרִים (Shalom, Chaverim! – Welcome, Friends! for ages 0 – 3 and their grown-ups) are wrapping up the school year by revisiting the חַגִים (chaggim, holidays) we explored. Children could color holiday images while examining holiday objects, or hunt for items in the sensory bin. We also introduced the upcoming Jewish holiday of …
May 01
Shalom Alef-Bet!
The families of שָׁלוֹם חֲבֵרִים (Shalom, Chaverim! – Welcome, Friends! for ages 0 – 3 and their grown-ups) are exploring the letters of the Hebrew alphabet. Explorations included decorating their Hebrew names, finding Hebrew-letter cards in the sensory bin, tracing Hebrew letters, building with blocks with Hebrew letters on them, Hebrew-letter floor puzzles, and making Hebrew-letter cookies! …
Apr 13
Shalom, Pesach! Part 2
The families of שָׁלוֹם חֲבֵרִים (Shalom, Chaverim! – Welcome, Friends! for ages 0 – 3 and their grown-ups) wrapped up their exploration of the upcoming Jewish holiday of פֶּסַח (Pesach, Passover). Children used their senses to experience the foods of פֶּסַח (Pesach, Passover). They cut apples and mixed charoset, kneaded and flattened dough into matzah, and used …