Catching Up

After 2 snow days, I'm trying to get everything finished that I had planned for the last weeks of December in half the time.

Today we read about King Solomon and the Holy Temple. We read a poem describing the holiness of the Kodesh Kodashim, the Holy of Holies, which stood in the heart of the Temple. We talked about what it means for a place to be holy in our day and age, and what places are holy to each of us. Students either wrote about or illustrated a place that they consider to be holy.

We're about halfway through the Ashrei, and overall about halfway through the Torah service.

Thanks to everyone who joined us for latkes, and especially to those who helped put the event together at the last minute.

King David, Hanukkah

Last week we read the story of David and Batsheva. We see some of the less noble sides of the King, as he takes a fancy to a woman he spies bathing, gets her pregnant, and sends her husband off to the front lines of a battle in order to marry her himself. Students wrote divrei torah (plural of dvar torah!) in which they retold the highlights of the story, identified a lesson, and related it to their own lives. These essays, and many others, are in your students folders, which I hope to send home today. For those of you able to come to our Hanukkah gathering, you'll get a chance to look at the work with your child while munching on delicious latkes.

On Sunday our Tzedek lesson looked at begging, and whether there is a Jewish approach towards giving to panhandlers. We talked about the complexity of the issue, and students studied traditional texts to craft responses to the following questions: How should I behave towards a beggar? Am I obligated to give something? What if I'm afraid they'll use the money for something like drugs or alcohol?

As a reminder, we are gathering in the social hall at 4:45. Thanks to Jane and Leslie for making this happen!

What's New

This week we began to study the Ashrei. We looked at the structure of the prayer (an alphabetic acrostic) and I challenged students to write their own prayers in English, following the same structure. These were a lot of fun, and some are quite beautiful. I'll be posting them on our bulletin board this week.

In our Prophets book, we're up to the period of the Kings who ruled Israel. We've read about Saul, the first King, and his successor, David. On Thursday the students drew comic strips of the story of David and Goliath. These too will be up on the bulletin board.

We've also begun a new read aloud - The King of Mulberry Street:

From Booklist
Gr. 6-9. Drawing on her grandfather's experience, Napoli dramatizes a seldom-told bit of American history in this story of Italian Jewish young people in the 1890s. Beniamino, who lives in Napoli, is only nine years old when his beloved, poverty-stricken Mama bribes someone to hide him away on a cargo ship to America. His lively, immediate first-person narrative recalls the trauma of separation and the brutal struggle on the New York streets, where, renamed "Dom," he makes two Italian friends, and they start a business selling sandwiches. He keeps his Jewish identity secret, even as he tries to follow kosher rules. Always his dream is to return home. The characters are drawn with depth, especially the three kids, and the unsentimental story is honest about the grinding poverty and the prejudice among various immigrant groups. Most moving is the story of letting go, as Dom confronts the fact that Mama sent him away, and America is now his home. Connect this with Mary Auch's Ashes of Roses (2002), about Irish kids left alone in New York. Hazel Rochman

Surprise Visitor

On Sunday, our class had a visitor from my brother, Tom Meltzer, who wrote the chanuka song we learned last year, "They Would Not Bow Down." He played the song for the class, and as an added bonus, performed a few vocabulary songs that her wrote for a podcast he writes for the Princeton Review. See if any of your children remember what the prefix "poly" means.....

Our Videos

Here are two stories from the life of Samuel, presented here in reverse chronological order, for no reason other than I haven't learned how to edit video. I'll publish a summary of the stories in the near future. Enjoy!

So long

It's been so long since I've updated the blog. Don't confuse the lack of posts with inactivity in the classroom. We've been busy studying stories of the prophets, and doing some creative projects. Students made some wonderful collages of the story of Samson, and last week we set up an ad hoc studio and made videos of 2 stories of Samuel. I hope to get those uploaded today so that you can watch them on line.

I was absent this past Sunday because of a book engagement, and will be absent once again on the last day before Thanksgiving. Gili is a fantastic and reliable sub. I predict that my 'book tour' will be over by the end of November. If anyone gets Hadassah Magazine, you'll notice that my book is recommended in this month's issue.

Wow!

First of all, thanks to everyone (but especially Jane and Joan) today for their tremendous support in making my book party such a success.

But one of my favorite memories of today was actually earlier this morning, when parents and students sat around the table analyzing a page of Talmud together. I hope that we can find more opportunities this year for some intergenerational text study.

I'm exhausted!

Amy

The Judges

As we continue our study of the Prophets, we read stories of the Judges, who ruled Canaan after the death of Joshua. On Tuesday we read the story of Deborah, and the murder of Sisera by Jael (with a tent stake.) Today we read about Gideon, who defeated several armies with....some pitchers. And some trumpets. Students are beginning to get some practice with writing a dvar torah by writing about lessons learned from the prophets and how they relate to their own lives.

Remember that Sunday is Open House. And a great book party to follow!

Managing a budget

Today, as part of our Judaism and Poverty curriculum, students were given the difficult task of deciding how to manage a budget on, or slightly above, the current poverty line. Students had $700 to cover their biweekly expenses, and had to make some tough choices about what to do with their money.

I would encourage you to help bring these numbers to life for your child. Here's a link to a sample budget for a family of four living at the poverty line. Can you compare some of these expenditures with your own family's budget?

Amy

Joshua fit de battle of Jericho, revisited

In our study of the prophets, we're reviewing some of the major figures from last year's study of Israel. Yesterday we read some excerpts from the book of Joshua and looked at how God prepared him to lead the Israelites into their conquest of the Promised Land. I'd like to say I was delighted by how much the class remembered, but I'm afraid they were hard pressed to recall much more than the song. When asked to complete the sentence "and Joshua led them across the Jordan and into......." one of our brightest stars enthusiastically replied "Lebanon!"

We've started working on the Torah service. Students who usually arrive late are missing a lot of independent practice time. If this applies to your family, let me know if you would like a cd to take home.

Thanks for including us in the potluck and bonfire. Can you believe Zoe didn't like marshmallows?

Amy

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.

Our New Blog

The first day of school is rapidly approaching, like it or not. A new year calls for a new blog.