Abraham grade 1 alef

                                                                                                     February 7, 2016

Dear families:

It is invigorating being with so many children eager to share and to learn. During breakfast, we discussed being a stranger in a strange land, as Abraham was in Canaan, and as we all were as slaves in Egypt.  We talked about the need for kindness to strangers.   We always enjoy singing and praying together, led by Robin and Cantor Ken.  Morah Margie (grade 2) held the flag for Hatikvah because she is going to Israel tonight.  She received tzedakah from Robin and from one of our alef students to donate during her trip.

Back in class, the students chose the weather word, and we sang “shemesh, shemesh bahutz hayom,” (sunny, sunny outside today).  Looking at the Hebrew words yad (hand), regel (leg), and rosh (head), we sang a favorite“Here’s my yad,”  We enjoy making music together, and we usually close with singing.

Our Hebrew letter this week is ד, “dalet,” the first letter in “dag.”(fish), “degel”(flag), and “d’vash (honey).  Before dividing into our groups, we compared resh, vav, and dalet, noting similarities and differences.  Everyone had a chance to read lines and write dalet.  Then it was time for our review letter packs.  Ariel challenged the class to find previous letters.  Then snack, complete with brachot.

We read and discussed the Torah packet on Abraham.  With additional pictures, we learned about G-d’s command to Abram and Sarai to leave their homeland and move to Canaan.  In the covenant, G-d promised to make his descendants as many as the stars in the sky.  G-d also changed their names to Abraham (father of a nation), and Sarah (princess).  Abraham stood up for the good people in Sodom and Gomorrah, urging G-d not to destroy the cities if there were 50—40—or even just 10 good people there.  However, the only good people were Lot, his daughters, and his wife.  As G-d destroyed the cities, he urged them to flee, not looking back.  Lot’s wife disobeyed, and she became a pillar of salt.  I showed photos of the formation near the Dead Sea which is known as Lot’s Wife.

We also talked about sharing and hospitality in the desert.  Abraham took care of the three strangers, who predicted that Sarah would have a child, though she was about 90 years old.  She laughed.  Later, she had a son Isaac, Yitzhak, which comes from the Hebrew for “she laughed.”  More about Isaac in future weeks.

Our project was a depiction of this covenant scene.  Abraham was made from the shape of a “naal,” a shoe, because he traveled so much.  In the background students made their own idea of the land, with the stars in the sky.

We closed with one of my favorite songs, “Lechi lach” when G-d told Abraham to leave his homeland, “And you shall be a blessing . . .”

There is no Sunday class until February 28.  Happy vacation!

Judy and Cheryl—Esther and Zipporah