May 01
This past week Shorashim discovered a visitor in our space: Dubi the Bear! He is a staple at the Jewish Enrichment Center who lives in our סִפְרִיָה (sifriyah – library). He wasn’t feeling very well, and he heard that Shorashim was learning about showing חסד (chesed – kindness) to each other, so he decided to come on …
May 17
In Shorashim we have begun making “chessed cards”. In order to do this, the kids pick a shape, color it, and send it on a pretend “postcard” into their friend’s mailbox in Shorashim. Instead of a normal stamp, the kids get to stamp the first letter of their Hebrew name. Not only is it a …
May 10
On Tuesday, Nitzanim made cookies to give away to The Night Ministry, an organization that provides shelter, health and other support services. The Night Ministry serves cookies on its Health Outreach Bus because they discovered that folks were more likely to come for needed care if there were cookies involved. Nitzanim showed great חסד (chessed – …
May 02
This week in Shorashim we added “Chessed Jars”. With a huge pile of tzedakah, the Shorashimers each had a chance to pick which Chessed Jar to put their coins in. Each jar had a different picture on it representing a different act of Chessed: -giving food to people who need food -giving toys to kids …
Apr 18
There have been some changes to our learning environment in Beit Shorashim. We have added a Bikur Cholim area (taking care of the sick), and constructed Ohel Avraham v’Sarah (Tent of Avraham and Sarah) which is modeled after the Torah story of Genesis 18:1-8. In this story, Avraham and Sarah welcome passing visitors as guests …
Apr 17
Using hand-drawn pictures of each verse, we re-read the story of Avraham and Sarah’s חסד (chessed – acts of kindness). In each verse, we looked for ways that Avraham and Sarah showed חסד (chessed). Genesis 18:1-8 Children’s Ideas About Avraham & Sarah’s חסד (Chessed) 1) Adonai appeared to him near the trees of Mamre. He was sitting …
Apr 16
To do חסד (chessed), children need to grow in awareness of how their actions affect other people. Here are three things we did today to help children develop skills for doing חסד. 1. We played parachute games, mostly in Hebrew. It took all of us working together to have fun and play safely. 2. Later, when …
Apr 15
Today we started working on what חסד (chessed, sometimes translated as “lovingkindness”) means. We turned to the Torah and read Genesis 18:1-8. Here are a few snippets from our conversation after the story: “Why did Avraham call himself a servant?” “Who were the men who came? Were they strangers or not strangers?” “What if they were bad …
