Tag: Sukkot

Chag Sukkot Sameach! (Happy Sukkot!)

This week, children of all ages have been celebrating Sukkot at the Jewish Enrichment Center! In Nitzanim (“Buds” for 1st-2nd grade), we’ve been working on our Sukkot Ivrit (Hebrew) vocabularly: Explored the lulav and etrog (“what does it smell like?”): Baked special treats for the community to share in the sukkah: And even used dried …

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Building community

This week has been all about community in Beit Nitzanim v’Anafim (“Buds” for 1st and 2nd grades and “Branches” for 3rd grade)! As we welcomed the holiday of Sukkot, children reflected on what it means to be a community. On Sukkot, a Jewish community might build a sukkah, so we gave that a try! The …

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Shalom, Chaverim! (Welcome, Friends!)

Shalom Chaverim (“Welcome Friends!” for ages 0 – 3 and their grown-ups) began this week, and it was so much fun! We gathered in Harold Washington Park and explored the upcoming Jewish holiday of Sukkot. Children pretended to be inside sukkahs created from their grown-ups’ bodies. They looked at Sukkot books and pictures of sukkahs, examined …

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Sukkot in the School-Day Program

We are exploring the festive Jewish holiday of Sukkot this week in the School-Day Program at the Jewish Enrichment Center!  The children constructed an indoor sukkah out of PVC pipes. One child commented that he did not want to be transported back to ancient times while in the sukkah, and the concept of a sukkah …

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A Virtual Sukkot Celebration

We are nearing the end of the holiday of סוכות (Sukkot)! This week, groups of nursery aged children got to celebrate together virtually. If we had met in person, each child would have had the opportunity to shake the לולב (lulav) and אתרוג (etrog). This did not stop anyone from participating in experiencing the לולב (lulav) …

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Feeling at Home

In Shorashim (‘roots’ for nursery) and Shteelim (‘saplings’ kindergarten), we are starting to feel like a community. When someone is absent, other children ask, “when are they coming back?”, and say, “I wanted to play with them today”.  We introduced the various jobs that children might have, so they have started to work on caring for each other …

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Middle Schoolers Lead Our Sukkot Celebration

For the past month, our sixth and seventh graders have been planning a Sukkot celebration for the entire Jewish Enrichment Center. Finally, our big day arrived! What a scramble to get everything ready! After all of our prep work was done, our language for giving instructions to younger children rehearsed, we took some time to …

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Shorashim Builds a Sukkah!

Over the past two weeks, Shorashim has been learning about the holiday of Sukkot.  Sukkot is a fall harvest holiday that is traditionally celebrated in a hut outside called a סוכה (sukkah – a hut/tent).  In order to better understand how a sukkah is made (and how much fun it can be inside one), we …

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Recipe for an Anafim sukkah

One quick review of what the Early Rabbis thought a סוכה (sukkah) needed to include, drawing on several years of research and experience, Lots of long, straight sticks for the structure (expertly scavenged and stripped), and leafy branches to go on top,      A ball of twine, good lashing skills, and a few extra pairs of hands …

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Flowers for the Sukkah

  This week Shteelim (“saplings” for Kindergarten) made tissue paper flowers to decorate our סוּכָּה (sukkah)   We learned new techniques from each other “She used two colors! That’s cool!” “What? How did he make 3 layers?” We made so many in all different צְבָעִים (tzvaim– colors) “Which one should I- Oh! Red! Red! Red! I …

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