Kadima Beth El

This is a project to do with your child at home. By February break, we’ll vote on where this year’s tzedakah money will go. We have the rest of the year to finish collecting it! Continue reading “KBE Tzedakah Plan” →

Morah Jodi’s recipe (dairy) – this is what you had if your dough had a “dairy” sticker, which is most of our students because Jodi and Amanda made pounds and pounds of dough! It’s a rich dough with butter and cream but you can use milk to make it lighter.

Morah Abby’s recipe (pareve) from Chocolate Chip Challah by Lisa Rauchwerger, and there are instructions for dairy or pareve versions.

Gluten-free: this is not what I used, but Zoe in the office tried it and they came out great! Good for you gluten free. She used Cup4Cup flour and canola oil.

When we enter the Hebrew month of Adar, we increase in happiness!

Starting in 3rd grade, our students spend quite a bit of time learning gematriya, the system of numbering using Hebrew letters. It’s the traditional way of numbering dates, chapters, and Torah verses, and it carries mystical significance, the most famous example being חיים (chaim) – life – which has the numerical value of 18.

We count our school years according to the Jewish year here at KBE. Right now it’s 5781. In Hebrew it’s written as תשפ”א (pronounced “tash-pa”).

ת=400

ש=300

פ=80

א=1

So where is the 5000? Nobody bothers with it, since it hasn’t changed in 781 years!

This week’s Torah portion is Beshallach, when the Israelites finally leave Egypt. The highlight of the portion is the Song of the Sea (Shirat Hayam) which the Israelites sing after crossing the Sea of Reeds, when they are finally, visibly free. “I will sing to God, who has redeemed us…Who is like you (‘Mi Chamocha‘) among the gods?” (By the way, if you don’t know the lovely When You Believe from The Prince of Egypt, take a listen!) This Shabbat is known as Shabbat Shirah, “Shabbat of Song,” after the Song of the Sea.

Meanwhile the 3rd and 4th grade students are learning the Mi Chamocha, a Shabbat morning prayer that, if we get into the right headspace, lets us relive the thrill of the Exodus and celebrate it together all over again. (Later on, during the Torah service, we’re meant to relive the revelation at Sinai.)

It got me thinking: music is for celebrating together! The one thing we can’t do right now! The whole purpose of Hebrew School is to learn the prayers so that when we celebrate together, we know what to sing and how. We don’t look around and wonder what song would be appropriate, trying to remember the words, and maybe even arguing about whose taste in music is better. Instead, we sing songs full of sacred resonance, chosen by the generations of wise men and women who came before us.

Elementary school students love the feeling of accomplishment, regardless, and they know as well as we do that the situation is temporary. Still, it would be nice to experience the power that singing has to set a mood and remind us of what’s important in life.

With that in mind I am so happy that we are hosting Karaoke-style Tefillot led by Camp Ramah on Sunday, February 7, at 9am. I’d like to encourage everyone with kids ages about 8-12 to participate as a family if possible. The format is accessible to all and will give you a chance to relax, sing along, and experience the joy of Tefillot together.

Morah Abby

Shalom families! It’s been a busy few weeks at KBE. We had some wonderful outdoor classes and Zoom classes as well. Since your children have their books at home, you can have them read to you for practice.

1st and 2nd grade

1st and 2nd grade reviewed the Noah’s Ark story, played Noah’s Ark dominos, and learned about the Tower of Babel. They discussed whether the flood was a fair punishment or if God could have chosen something else. They sang the Beresheet song (“in the beginning” – the first word in the Torah) and played Shimon Omer (Simon Says in Hebrew). In Hebrew the 1st and 2nd have made great progress working through their primer.

Next week we have a virtual tour of TBE on Sunday morning (Nov. 1) at 9:30. Look for the link in the weekly email.

3rd-6th grade

For our theme of Jews around the world, our 3rd-6th grade students identified Jewish communities on a map and put them in the context of Jewish history. They had just finished learning about Columbus Day / Indigenous People’s Day at public school and were amazed to know that 1492 was an important year for Jews too. The Jews were exiled from Spain (there is speculation that Columbus himself was a hidden Jew) and created new communities around the world, including new Jewish communities in Israel and North Africa, and the first Jews in the Americas.

Jews around the world have a special connection. Your students were asked, what does it mean to be Jewish? Ask them! It’s a great conversation starter. Here’s a link to the video “I am Jewish” that sparked discussion.

They started off the year in Hebrew class learning about the vocabulary and customs of Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, and Sukkot, and are now into their textbooks. 3rd and 4th grades are introducing themselves in Hebrew and learning the Jewish calendar and days of the week (Chapter 1 of Shalom Ivrit 1) and the 5th and 6th grades are reading and listening to simple Hebrew sentences with colors and body parts (Chapter 1 of Shalom Ivrit 2).

In tefillot the 3rd and 4th grades learned Romemu and Lecha Dodi from the Shabbat Evening Service. 5th and 6th learned the start of the Torah service (Ein Kamocha). Here’s a quote from their book that I think you’ll enjoy: “Just before we take the Torah out of the ark and begin to make it our own, we share the hope that all people will join in its dream of peace and freedom, justice and kindness. When we take the Torah out of the ark we accept that hope for the future.” Your students should practice on Prayertech (15 minutes a week is enough).

Thank you to all the teachers and students for your hard work!

After a summer of drought, I’m sure I’m not alone in having a new appreciation for rain. We’re finally having deep, penetrating, water-table-raising rain. But it means we have to cancel outdoor events and limit ourselves to online meetings.

The traditional liturgy doesn’t call for us to pray for rain on Sukkot, which would ruin the holiday: only on Shmini Atzeret, which is sort of like the Sunday morning brunch after a wedding, do we pray for the winter rains to begin. That is, according to the Israeli dry season/wet season calendar, which is the benchmark for the Jewish holiday cycle.

An Israeli acquintance once told me that Jewish holidays in America were like Christmas in the Philippines: the weather was wrong, the customs were clearly foreign imports. No reindeer or fir trees in the jungle! So it feels a little funny to start praying for rain at an arbitrary date in October. Even more so in 2020, when indoor dining and events are forbidden, and many of us are wondering what bad news the winter may bring.

The sukkah is a symbol of God’s protection. This week, try to take as many ways as possible to feel grateful for God’s gifts to us. Pray for the blessing of rain no matter how inconvenient. And for an end to Coronavirus, so that we can celebrate properly next year.

• Adventure with Alef – Apple or Google Play – uses English mnemonics and pictures like “lamed is for lightning” with games to practice. Has 5 letters to try for free and costs $7.49 to buy
• Alef Bet Puzzle – Apple – contains cute animal puzzles with letters of the aleph-bet
• Aleph Bet Story – Apple – a story that teaches the letters of the aleph-bet by focusing on unique features to distinguish those letters that seem to look alike.
• Aleph Bet App – Apple – interactive games for letter recognition and basic vocabulary for ages 3-5
• Aleph Bet Schoolhouse Apple – (costs $3.99) ages 4+, for learning the aleph-bet
• Unlimited Aleph Bet – Amazon (download the Amazon app for Android) or Apple – for learning to decode Hebrew

• Gus on the Go – Apple (costs $3.99) – teaches vocabulary with fun interactive games and an adorable owl named Gus.
• Droplets – Google Play – for older kids (ages 7-16) – similar to the language-learning app Drops for adults, in a kid-friendly version.

• Ktav – Google Play – trace the aleph bet in print, cursive, or calligraphy. The menus are in Hebrew, but it’s a simple app so just click around until you get what you’d like. Click on a picture of the alphabet you’d like to practice writing. It’s a pretty simple app, so just click around and you should be able to use it. Good for older siblings too.
• Hebrew Alphabet Writing – Google Play. Menus are in English but it does contain ads that require clicking past.

This week is a review week! Practice any prayer you need or want. Below is a list of prayers we studied this year. Page numbers are for your Siddur, but as always, you have the option of using PrayerTech, recordings from my blog pages, and/or your Siddur.

Grades 3/4:

• romemu (p. 20)
• l’cha dodi (p. 23-25)
• barchu (p. 39a)
• ahavat olam (p. 40)
• shema/v’ahavta (p. 41)
• v’shamru (p. 46)
• amidah (avot and gevurot) (p. 47)
• oseh shalom (p. 52)

Grades 5/6:

• barchu (p. 149)
• yozer or (p. 150)
• ahava rabba (p. 154)
• shema/v’ahavta (p. 155)
• mi chamocha (p. 158)
• amidah (avot and gevurot) (p. 159-160)
• kedusha (p. 161)
• kedusha hayom (v’shamru/retzei) (p. 162-163)
• ein kamocha/av harachamim (p. 167)
• kiddush (p. 77)
• birkhat hamazon (p. 88)

Happy Mother’s Day!

Assignment for May 10:

3rd/4th grade:

• Review Avot and Gevurot sections of the Amidah
•  Practice Oseh Shalom
• Link to 3rd/4th grade Recordings and Text

5th/6th grade:

• Review Ein Kamokha/Av HaRahamim (It’s called Beginning of the Torah Service on PrayerTech) and Kiddush
•  Practice Birkhat Hamazon
• Link to 5th/6th grade Recordings and Text

Feel free to use the PrayerTech App, the link with prayers with recordings and text, or you can always use your Siddur. I will leave it up to you to choose a method for learning tefillot.