Priorities

Thanks to Mikaela for filling in for Jack and leading tefillah today; she was the first student to lead from the bimah, and handled it with confidence.

After tefillah, we discussed a quote from sefer hasidim:

If a community lacks a synagogue and a shelter for the poor, it is first obligated to build a shelter for the poor.

We talked about how many different parts of a community can either lead to, or help prevent, poverty. The students drew connections between such elements as education, employment, shelter, nutrition, child care, and health care, and how a defecit in only one area can lead to problems in many other areas.

We spent the last half hour with Pam Schwartz, Isaiah's mom, who spoke about the work of the National Priorities Project. She led the students through a fascinating activity in which they considered how to allocate one tax dollar. Afterwards, students compared their distribution with that of the federal government. What a shame that there were only 4 students present for this wonderful presentation!

Morah Amy

Sukkot

The first thing we did on Tuesday was to help carry almost 5,000 pounds of food over to the survival center next door. While students shlepped, over a dozen clients of the survival center lined up waiting to receive assistance. When the class gathered in the classroom, I asked them what they thought it might have felt like to be on line waiting for aid while watching a group of children deliver groceries. The thoughtful answers ranged from "grateful", "excited" to "embarrassed" and "humiliated."

For the rest of the day we did our part to make the CBI sukkah look a little more festive. The class worked in groups of 2 or 3 to decorate baskets with a range of materials, with the goal of representing the themes of the holiday. I hope they survived the downpour Thursday night.

Amy

Paul Cezanne

This is a video my brother's band made in college over 20 years ago. It was on MTV, back when MTV used to show videos.

My first review (not written by friends and family)!

Kirkus Reviews

Meltzer and Fried demonstrate the practice of dedicating a new Jewish home in this sweet and gentle story of a boy and his family leaving a city apartment for a house in the suburbs. Like most children in a move situation, Noah is anxious and worries about missing all the familiar sounds of his building: Mr. Gollis's allergic sneezes, Maya's violin practice, the clanking of Mrs. Feldman's dishwashing. It's very quiet in the new house, but Noah and his parents get busy shopping for a mezuzah (the traditional doorpost case holding a small parchment prayer scroll) for Noah's bedroom and invite all their old neighbors to a "Hanukkat Habayit," the dedication open house. After mezuzahs are hung for each room, the noise of guests mingling, eating and listening to Maya's violin helps Noah appreciate the quiet when all the guests leave. Yet he is grateful for their presence on this special day, because it solved his loneliness. Simply drawn and intricately designed illustrations in soft colors done in a multimedia style with watercolors, pencils, collage, pen/ink and a scratching technique round out this informative story that effectively brings closure to one little boy's concerns. Concise explanation of the custom and prayer appended. (Picture book. 5-8)

Julia's Kitchen

Today the class voted on our first read aloud of the year, and selected Julia's Kitchen. I wanted to alert all of you that this award winning book deals with the disturbing issue of the death of a parent and a sibling. The book is age-appropriate and highly lauded, but I'm sorry that I didn't give you a chance to weigh-in before I began the story.

Here are two reviews/synopses:

From School Library Journal
Grade 4-6-The night her mother and sister die in a house fire, 11-year-old Cara is sleeping over at her friend Marlee's. As she gradually tries to adjust to life without them, she struggles with a sense of disbelief at her loss, her anger at her father for his reluctance to discuss the details of the fire and for hiding himself in his work, and her feelings of isolation from her classmates. She questions God's lack of power to keep her family safe, finally realizing that she cannot live without her Jewish faith. Cara takes strength from her beloved Bubbe and Zayde-her mother's parents-and from creating a family scrapbook. But healing and self-assurance finally come with her decision to continue her mother's home-based baking business-Julia's Kitchen. Ferber's characterization of suburban Cara is accurate and believable, although other characters are not as fully developed. A short glossary of Hebrew terminology and a recipe for chocolate chip cookies are appended. The novel's brevity and honesty will appeal to both Jewish and non-Jewish girls.-Susan Scheps, Shaker Heights Public Library, OH
Copyright © Reed Business Information, a division of Reed Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

From Booklist
Gr. 5-8. Eleven-year old Cara Segal regularly floats prayers up to God, nudging him to protect her family. This changes when Cara's mother, Julia, and sister die in a fire at their home, while Cara is at a sleepover. A few items survive the fire, including Julia's recipes and the several Jewish mezuzahs that once hung in their doorways. With her father lost in grief and unavailable to answer her questions, Cara wrestles with a range of emotions, mostly by herself. Relationships with grandparents and best friend, Marlee, are touching and authentic. After 41 days of being the only one who can make Cara smile, Marlee admits that she misses "the old Cara." Cara boosts her own faith and healing by secretly reviving her mother's home-based cookie business, Julia's Kitchen. The story may be too intense for some readers who are Cara's age, and a few plot details are confusing, but major themes about grief and healing are beautifully addressed in what turns out to be a strong debut novel. Nancy Kim
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Best wishes for an easy fast and a g'mar chatima tova-
Amy

Saving one life....

Today our class began our new routine of having one student lead the entire prayer service. Yasher Koach (great job!) to our first volunteer, Isaiah Feldman Schwartz, who did a spectacular job.

After tefillah, I asked students to share stories of people they considered a tzaddik and why. I then wrote the following quote from the Mishna on the board:

שכל המאבד נפש אחד מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו איבד עולם מלא
וכל המקיים נפש אחת מעלה עליו הכתוב כאילו קיים עולם מלא
Whoever destroys a single life, it is as if s/he has destroyed an entire universe
Whoever saves a single life, it is as if s/he has saved an entire universe

I was hoping to encourage students to interpret this teaching. They needed no encouragement; instead I had to reluctantly cut off their insightful conversation after nearly half an hour. I wish I had a transcript to share with you.

Sadly, I need to travel to Baltimore for a funeral tomorrow. Gili Kofler will be subbing for me on Tuesday and I will be back on Thursday.

Our First Day, Our Last Day

On Tuesday, Kitah Vav met for the first time in 2007, and the last time in 5767. How did we celebrate this momentous occasion?

Students filled out a summer survey to help give everyone a focused way to catch up on all that had happened since graduating Kitah Hay. We loved hearing about each other's trips and adventures, and found out what students thought was Jewish about their summer.

After an overview of the year ahead, we discussed the concept of tzedakah, and its root word tzedek, which translates to righteousness. To probe the meaning of this term, students worked in pairs to draw a tzaddik, a righteous person, and label how the tzaddik uses different parts of the body to engage in tzedakah, righteous acts. The diagrams are on display in our classroom.

After recess, we read When the Chickens Went on Strike, a wonderful book about the Rosh Hashana ritual of kapores (see right). We then went to the sanctuary to review the prayers we learned in Kitah Hay. (I'm proud and relieved to report that the retention rate was high.)

I hope to see you all at the picnic.