Dear parents and students,
What a wonderful session we had
today! Thank you all for so much—for being
flexible about our shortened session and working well together.
First we discussed the redemption
of the Israelites from slavery in Egypt, to go along with the parasha of the
week. We discussed slavery, the plagues,
crossing the Red Sea (or Sea of Reeds), and G-d providing manna in the desert
for the Hebrews to eat. Miriam and the
women sang the Song of the Sea accompanied by timbrels. Every student
decorated his/her own tambourine with an illustration of how G-d saved us. I collected them, to be used at the Synaplex
Shabbat service on Saturday, January 30.
The children can then bring them home.
Monday is Tu B’Shevat, the New Year for the trees. We talked about why trees are important, what they give us, and how we can take care of the trees. I showed pictures of recycling, including a dress created by my granddaughter of napkins, spoons, and cups. Then we had our class Tu B’Shevat Seder. I took a few pictures, which I will send to you directly.
Thank you to Samantha Goldenblatt
for organizing the parents, and thank you to everyone who supplied plates,
white and purple grape juice, and many fruits for us to enjoy—plums and
nectarines with one big seed (to represent the great leaders like Abraham,
Sarah, Moses, and Herzl); strawberries and bananas with many small seeds (to
show how we can all do little things to improve the world); white grape juice
to represent the winter, and purple grape juice which we added for spring,
summer, and fall. We also had dates and
figs, native to Israel. Then we
symbolically planted seeds—raisins and chocolate chips in crushed graham
cracker “dirt.” This was “watered” with chocolate
syrup. The children enjoyed eating this mixture. This Seder was based on a
Babaganewz Tu B’Shevat Seder which Robin found for us. It was a busy, fun-filled morning.
A big thank you to
Cheryl and Ariel who cut up and distributed the foods while we conducted the
Seder.
We closed with songs led by
Cantor Ken and Robin.
Shavua tov—have a great
week. See you on Saturday morning, for
the Synaplex and our tambourine activity.
Judy and Cheryl (Esther and Tzipporah)
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