Shinshin Update

Hey everyone.

This week the kids learned about another place in Israel which is the Negev desert. They learned a few facts about the place, about the people and the animals that live there and more. The kids learned about the euro-vision contest and they listened to the songs that Israel sent to the competition in recent years.

Madrichim Update

The madricha have been meeting with their teachers to start planning their lesson that they will lead in the spring. The madricha is excited to take this on and show their leadership and creativity skills.

Sarah Wintman 

Grade 6/7 Update

This past week was a week full of learning and excitement in the 6th and 7th grade.

On Sunday, the 6th graders began to prepare for Passover, discussing the prophets of the Passover story, and discussing the ways the story is portrayed. We continued our Environment unit on Tuesday and Wednesday, learning about the concept of Eco-Kashrut. We discussed the differences between traditional Kashrut and Eco-Kashrut, exploring what we eat through an environmental lens.

Finally, we continued our Mezuza project from our Inclusion unit, writing our own "6 Word Memoirs" and Shema scrolls to put in our Mezuza's. We will hang the Mezuza's as a part of our next B'nai Telem service project, creating a tangible way of including all members of our community in our classroom space.

Thank you for the opportunity to continue learning and exploring with the 6th and 7th grade this week - I hope you have a wonderful, restful and meaningful Passover!

Grade 5 Update

Dear Kitah Hey families,

Another week has flown by! In class on Sunday, we spent the day learning more about the Passover holiday. The students discussed their prior knowledge of Passover and were able to share what they have been learning, about the holiday, in their electives over the past couple weeks. We continued our conversation about justice and how that value connects. The students listened to two stories; one about Miriam and one about Elijah (the prophet). The fifth graders had so much to say about these two stories and noted several lessons that could be learned from each. We were very impressed with their critical thinking. We will be taking a close look at the four questions next week.

We wish you a Happy Passover!

Diana and Tali

Grade 4 Update

Passover electives have been new and fun ways to learn about Passover. We concentrated on the 4 dilemmas. (Questions)

We had time, after electives, to sit and read the Ashrei as a group. We then took turns, asking for the group to locate a word, chosen at random from the prayer. The student who located the word first chose the next random word. It is a long prayer so this is a challenging game. 

Happy Passover!

Gimel Goings On

Shalom Gimel Families

Students are having a great time in their electives and we enjoy regrouping after to reflect on our elecrtives - something we did, our favorite part and something we learned.  Sunday's morning work was a journal entry giving students an opportunity to reflect on their electives.

In Hebrew students have learned up to Line 11 of Ashrei and are doing a great job mastering it.  Stations this past week included small group reading with a teacher, buddy reading and a roll and read game where students roll a dice and read the line corresponding to the number.

In our holiday block this past Sunday students were divided into groups to do a readers theater of the Passover story.  This was followed up by a fun game of To Tell the Truth.  Who was the real Moses?  Who was the real Pharaoh?  Ask your student!

Other activities this Sunday included Morning Meeting, Jewish Values with a focus on Chesed (Kindness) and Tefillah with the Dalet class where we enjoyed a visit with Rabbi Liben.

Upcoming This Week

1. No Hebrew School on Sunday, April 1 - second day of Chag.
2. Please do not send food during the week next week, April 3 and 4, during Passover.  We will have snacks for the students.
3. We will enjoy Week 4 of electives.

Wishing everyone a Chag Sameach!

L'hitraot

Elana

Second Grade Update

Second Grade has been immersed in Passover preparations.  On Sunday we reviewed the Four Questions and the  Steps of the Seder with Cantor Ken, we even added hand motions.  We continued this review in the classroom and everyone took home printed material to use during the Seders.  We had an interesting discussion, in which some kids said there aren't four questions, but rather one question with four statements or answers.  Or perhaps it's really a statement and not a question at all?  (The Hebrew can be translated to the Four Puzzlements.)

We also heard the story of Passover, the students were absolutely enthralled, adding in any details which were omitted.

In Hebrew we skipped ahead in our text a little bit, adding the letter "Zayin" to help us better read the Four Questions, and two components of the Seder Plate.  We also learned another way to pronounce the "silent vowel"-at the beginning a word it makes the a short i" sound like in the word "it". 
 
Happy Passover!

Grade 7-GESHER IS AMAZING!

Pesach is the Hebrew word for Passover.  It is said that Pesach may be deconstructed into peh (mouth) and sach (discuss).  And it is possible that the seder experience happens at the intersection of peh—what the mouth experiences (the bitter herbs, matzah (the bread of freedom and the bread of affliction), the four cups of wine and sach—the personal experience of the Passover story through telling, hearing, wondering, discussing and questioning.  Peh-Sach was the foundation of our learning as we solved Wordlet Passover puzzles, learned about and told stories of Elijah the Prophet who attends Havdalah, the Brit Milah and the Passover seder and made three varieties of charoset each representing a different culture.

The following is a link to a beautiful story of Elijah the Prophet in which Elijah offers one wish to a man who is old, blind, penniless, and childless.  

• What did he do to merit a wish?  
• What should he wish for?  
• What would you wish for?

http://www.bibleandjewishstudies.net/stories/Elijah_and_the_Poor_Mans_Wish.pdf

A shorter Elijah story:

OPEN THE DOOR FOR ELIJAH…

A pious and wealthy Jew asked his rabbi, “For about forty years I have opened the door for Elijah every Seder night waiting for him to come, but he never does. What is the reason?”

The rabbi answered, “In your neighborhood there lives a very poor family with many children. Call on the man and propose to him that you and your family celebrate the next Passover in his house, and for this purpose provide him and his whole family with everything necessary for the eight Passover days. Then on the Seder night Elijah will certainly come.”

The man did as the rabbi told him, but after Passover he came to the rabbi and claimed that again he had waited in vain to see Elijah. The rabbi answered, “I know very well that Elijah came on the Seder night to the house of your poor neighbor. But of course you could not see him.” And the rabbi held a mirror before the face of the man and said, “Look, this was Elijah’s face that night.”

Charoset Recipes (nut-free)

California Charoset
1 large avocado, diced into cubes or mashed
1/4 cup golden raisins
1/4 cup pitted dates, chopped
1/8 cup figs, chopped
1/8 cup prunes, chopped
Juice of half a lemon
Grated peel of half an orange
1/8 cup orange juice, or to taste

New England Charoset
2 medium apples (peeled or not), grated
1/4 cup maple syrup
1/8 cup apple cider
1/2 cup Craisins
1/2 teaspoon cinnamon

Persian/Iranian Charoset
1 apple (peeled or not), chopped
1 pear (peeled or not), chopped
1/3 cup dates, chopped
1/3 cup raisins, chopped
3/4 teaspoon cinnamon
1 1/2 teaspoons ginger root, peeled and grated
1 tablespoon apple cider vinegar
1/4 cup purple grape juice

Grade K - Gan Class Update 3-25-18

Hello Gan Class Families,

It was so nice to share Shabbat with so many of you on Friday evening.  The frog centerpieces looked great on the tables and I am sure they will be an excellent addition to your seder table as well.

Cantor Ken was so helpful in getting us prepared for the seders.  We spent much of Tefliah practicing the 4 Questions, and reviewing the order of the seder. He taught us some new songs as well as new tunes specifically for Passover for some of the prayers we already know.  

Bar taught us about the different bodies of water in Israel.  We learned that there are four seas, the Mediterranean Sea, the Red Sea, the Dead Sea and the Sea of Galilee.  Today we focused on some of the main features of three of the four seas. We will spend some extra time learning about the Dead Sea because it is super special.  

In our new Torah story, we met Jacob and Esau.  They are twin brothers born to Isaac and Rebekkah.  We learned that Jacob steals two important things from Esau.  First he steals his birthright by trading it for some soup and then, with the help of his mother, he tricks his father into giving him a special blessing that was meant for Esau.  In our next story, we will meet the family that Jacob has when he grows up.

The rest of our class time was dedicated to preparing for Passover.  We reviewed the story of Passover and many of the customs that we observe.  We worked together to cut and glue the order of the seder, created afikomen holders that will keep crumbs all in one place and collected the necessary materials to count the Omer at home.  Directions for this project were sent to you via email.  Students will add one bead to a necklace for each day of the Omer.

There is no class on Sunday, April 1st. When we return in April we will learn our last few letters and enjoy two more Torah stories. 

I wish you all a wonderful Passover!  See you on April 8th.

Michelle

The Latest from Kitah Aleph

Kitah Aleph students did a fabulous job singing the four questions today! The children practiced singing the questions with Cantor Ken during our tefillah time and then later again in class. They sang them beautifully! Cheryl and I were very impressed with how much they know. The children also practiced singing the order of the seder and some fun Passover songs like Dayenu and Who Knows One.

We went over a new Hebrew letter today as well as a new vowel. The children learned the letter tet which makes a sound like the English letter T. They also learned the segol, the vowel with the three dots that makes the sound "eh."

Bar came into class today and taught the children a bit about three of the four seas in Israel. The four seas include: the Mediterranean, the Dead Sea, the Kinneret and the Red Sea. Bar shared pictures of each these and spoke about some of the animals that live in them. The children were especially interested in the possibility of swimming with dolphins in the Red Sea. We also talked a bit about how important water is in Israel and a number of innovations that Israelis have made to recycle water for multiple uses. Bar told us that 90 percent of the water used by Israelis each day is recycled to be used again for another purpose.

The children played a version of 20 questions with cards and a special "headband" today. We divided the children into two groups. One group with each teacher. The children then took turns wearing the headband with a picture of an item connected to Passover attached. The child wearing the headband had to ask yes or no questions to try and figure out what the object was on his/her head. Afterwards, the children worked on a Passover fun packet. We also read the book, Dayenu or How Uncle Murray Saved the Seder. 

Best wishes for a wonderful Passover! Joanne

Grade 3-5 Elective Update

Week #1 of the ART elective focused on exploring the idea that matzah is both a symbol of slavery and freedom and students sketched images that represented each of these.  The kids noted various connections with each other’s works of art. For one student the color green represents freedom and for another student the color green symbolizes slavery.  Students then used the texture of legos, crayons and watercolors to create a background of matzah for their freedom and slavery designs. Since matzah is made in under 18 minutes, this project was completed in under 18 minutes.  This project was one of 4 the will be used in a collage about the Arba Koshiyot/Four Questions.

Week #2 of the ART elective gave students the opportunity to use various kinds of maror in an abstract print.   Yes, the student made prints with romaine lettuce and red horseradish. By the way, did you know that the Hebrew word for romaine lettuce is hasa, which also means mercy.  The rabbi’s said that because of this, romaine lettuce is the “best” bitter herb since God showed mercy on the Israelites.  We also talk about the symbolism of a beet at the seder. Some people use is on their seder plate instead of a shankbone because it bleeds and the shankbone reminds us of the blood the Israelites put on their doorpost.  Since maror reminds us of the bitterness of she slaves who had no choice or freedom in their lives, the students did not have a lot of choice in this weeks section of the collage – despite that the kids told us they though this week’s project was fun!

Shinshin Update

Hello everyone!

We finally had our first full week since I came back from Israel!

This week the kids started their own journey in Israel. They learned about Mount Carmel, where I am from, and they also learned about the differences between having a Passover in Israel and Passover in the US. 

Gimel Goings On

Shalom Gimel Families

Students are making great progress with the Ashrei and are mastering the first nine lines.  Through whole group reading, partner reading and small group reading they are getting lots of practice!  Please continue to have them practice at home a few minutes a day.

The highlight of the week was our visit to the Model Matzah Bakery at Chabad this past Sunday.  Students learned that for matzah to be kosher for Passover it has to be baked in 18 minutes or less.  Students then got to make their own matzah and enjoyed tasting it!  Thank you to Rabbi Fogelman, Chanie and staff for a great program!

Students are enjoying their weekday electives and are learning new things all the time.  From asking the 4 questions in sign language, to an art project representing the Arba Koshiyot (4 challenges) to performing science experiments to find out why bread is puffy and matzah is flat, or what food would be the best to use as the bitter herb at the Seder, students are having a blast!  After each elective session third graders have an opportunity to reflect on their elective and their learning.

Upcoming this week

1. On Sunday students will learn two new lines of Ashrei.
2. Students will continue their exploration of the Jewish Value of Leadership in Exodus.
3. Electives continue next week!

L'hitraot

Elana

Grade 5 Update

Dear Kitah Hey families,

The kids have been working so hard in class! On Sunday, we had a special program called Understanding Our Differences. This program helped our class continue to build a positive classroom community. The students had some serious discussions about allergies and chronic diseases like diabetes. We even had some students in our class speak out to share their differences. After learning a bit about the challenges many people have to live with, the class had a chance to count carbohydrates and balance the number of carbohydrates they want to consume with the amount of insulin needed. The students were very engaged in this lesson and learned so much! We continued our discussion of differences and what it means to have empathy for others in several other activities during our values class.

In Hebrew, the class participated in a jeopardy game where they were able to work with team members to practice their reading. The jeopardy game was divided into four categories. Each category was a different prayer the students have been studying this year. On each card for the given category, students had to correctly read one line from the given prayer. They did such an amazing job! We were very impressed with their motivation and all they have learned in class.

Best,

Diana and Tali

6th and 7th Grade Update

This past week was an exciting, meaningful week of learning with the 6th and 7th Grades at Temple Israel of Natick. On Sunday, the 6th and 7th Grade joined together for their next B'nai Telem Service program, focusing on our last unit of "Connecting Generations." Together, we made videos for the Hebrew Senior Life's Rehabilitation Center, creating "Virtual Shabbats" for the residents. The organization is so large that residents are sometimes unable to get to Shabbat programming, so our Shabbat videos will help bring Shabbat to the residents. In doing so, we are helping to fill the need of the organization, as well as participate in tangible service relevant to our Connecting Generations Unit.

On Tuesday and Wednesday, we introduced our new unit: Judaism and the Environment. We began by creating our own "Tanach Sheets," reading different quotes and texts related to Judaism and the environment, and writing our own thoughts, questions, and commentaries. We then discussed the ways that Judaism engages with the Environment, ranging from creation to obligations to help the environment, to the environment as a space for prayer. The Rabbi came for the end of one of our discussions, and was really impressed by the quality and intentionality of everyone's comments! I was so moved by the seriousness of our students during these discussions, and was really impressed and inspired by their comments.

Thank you so much for the opportunity to learn with the 6th and 7th grade this week - looking forward to another meaningful week!

Grade 4 Update

We were excited to begin our Passover electives this week.

Science, art and sign language were the 3 electives. They all approached the 4 questions in different ways. Be sure to ask your child about their experience.

Passover is approaching quickly, so we have been discussing chamatz and cleaning the home before the holiday. Some do, others rid the home of all opened leavened products.

More snow on the way. Happy Spring!

Grade 2 Update

Kol Ha Kavod!  The "Betnikim" were fantastic on Shabbat!  Their excitement and joy of learning shone through during the Kabbalat Siduur celebration.  What a wonderful way to celebrate as a community.  Who knows, perhaps one day they will have the opportunity to travel together to Israel!

The excitement carried over to Sunday when we walked to the local "Matzah Factory" at the Natick Chabad.  There we watched a short video on making "Shmorat Matzah", matzah that is made according to the strictest guidelines from the time the wheat is harvested to the time it emerges from the oven.  The students then became Matzah Bakers, shaping the dough and making the tiny holes to ensure that it will not rise in the oven.  Be sure to ask your children what is the maximum amount of time allowed from the time that the water is added to the flour to the moment when the matzah comes out of the oven.

The next couple of sessions we will continue to prepare for Passover, reviewing the story, the Seder customs and of course practicing the Four Questions.  We might even think of a few extra questions for your Seders.

Gan Class Update 3-18-18

Hello Gan Class Families!

Our morning began at Tefillah in the Sanctuary with Cantor Ken.  We are super excited to start to use the siddurim on a regular basis.  This will give students the opportunity to become familiar with the orientation of the siddur, the pictures that accompany the prayers and finding the pages we are reading from.  Cantor Ken is also helping us practice the 4 Questions and learn the order of the seder so we can be prepared for Passover.

Bar joined us to help us discover how Passover is observed in Israel.  In Israel, students have a two week vacation from school during Passover.  Restaurants serve Kosher for Passover foods, they even have Kosher for Passover McDonalds!  Some grocery stores are not allowed to sell items that are not Kosher for Passover.  Aisles in the store are labeled "chametz" and covered with plastic so that you can't buy any food that is not Kosher for Passover.  Even Ben & Jerry's makes special Kosher for Passover ice cream.

Our new Torah story was about how a wife is chosen for Abraham and Sarah's son Isaac.  A servant is sent with 10 camels to a well.  He asks for water from the women that come to the well.  One woman offers to get the servant water and all the camels and she is chosen as the best wife for Isaac because she saw something that needed to be done and did it. Her name was Rebekkah and she and Isaac were married soon after. In our next story we will meet the twins that Isaac and Rebekkah have.

Today's letter was samech.  Samech makes the sound s- and begins the words sukkah and seder.

Thank you to Noah's dad and brother for reading us a great Passover story about cleaning to prepare for the holiday. 

Check out these centerpieces we made this morning!  They are the cutest plagues you ever saw. They will be on the tables on Friday night and then you can take them home and enjoy them during your seder.

As always, please let me know if you have any questions or concerns about the Gan Class.

Have a wonderful week!

Michelle

The Latest from Kitah Aleph

Our Passover centerpieces are done! The children did a fabulous job putting them together today. It took quite a bit of dexterity and PATIENCE to complete the construction of the centerpieces and the children demonstrated both of those skills in abundance! The centerpieces will be showcased on the tables at the upcoming family shabbat dinner. They depict the Jews crossing the Red Sea upon their escape from slavery in Egypt.

Today the children worked on learning the four questions. We practiced with Cantor Ken during tefillah and then again in class with a video. Here is the link to the video if you would like to help them practice at home: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zpxsH3i_zGc

The children also were introduced to one new Hebrew letter and one new vowel. The children learned the letter yud and the vowel cholam (in its various forms) that makes the "oh" sound. They played a Hebrew reading game with a partner to help practice their reading.

As always, Kitah Aleph students enjoyed their visit with our shinshin, Bar. Today Bar taught the children about some of the similarities and differences between our celebration of Passover here in the USA and customs in Israel. A highlight was a picture of a Ben and Jerry's ice cream container with Hebrew letters and the words explaining that it was a special edition just for Passover.

The children are doing a wonderful job learning some of the body parts in Hebrew when we play Shimon Omer. Ask them to share some of the words they know (hint: they should know the words for head, feet, stomach, nose, mouth, ears and bottom).

Next week we will learn another Hebrew letter and will continue to focus on customs for the Seder.

Shavua Tov,
Joanne

Grade 7-GESHER Wonders About the Rasha

Gesher has been wondering about the Haggadah’s four children (wise, wicked, simple and the one who does not know how to ask). We were troubled by the concept of a wicked child.  In an effort to understand what the rabbis meant when they labeled one child ‘wicked,’ we looked at four mishnayot from Pirkei Avot (5: 10-14) each of which examined personality types and each of which identified one personality type as a rasha or wicked person. Taken together, we now understand that the rabbis may have identified a rasha as person who is

• greedy (“what is yours is mine and what is mine is mine”),
• quick to anger and slow to appease,
• does not want to give Tzedakah nor does he/she want others to give,
• one who neither learns (Torah) nor does mitzvot. 

One student may have asked the most important question of all: Is the Rasha able to change his/her ways?

In our final session before Pesach, we will learn about Elijah the Prophet and why he attends our sedarim, entertain ourselves with Passover wordlets and make 3 different kinds of (nut-free) charoset.

Grade 6 Trope Update from Cantor Ken

First of all, I wanted to make sure that you would all be here for our end-of-year Torah reading celebration on Sunday, May 20, which is both the last day of Hebrew School and the first day of Shavuot.

Please send a quick reply back to confirm that you (and your 6th grader) will be here, as I will be giving each of them a short Torah reading for that day and I want to divide those up soon.

Given the snow days and the time of year, I wasn't necessarily planning to hand out more readings for junior congregation before then, though I can by request give you readings in the spring or fall for those who didn't get a chance to read yet or who wanted another chance.

For class, the kids should know the blessings before and after the haftarah and should work on it so that they can sing it for you at home.  The recordings are tracks 14, 16-21, and 37 on this page: https://tiofnatick.org/Torah.

They should also know the Torah trope (tracks 1-11) and be learning the haftarah trope (tracks 22-32) for working on their own Torah portions and the parts of the Haftarah for Shavuot.  On Shavuot, we'll plan for the class to chant together the Torah blessings, Haftarah blessings, and beginning and end of the Haftarah, in addition to their individual Torah portions.

Weather permitting, I'm looking forward to seeing the 6th graders again at trope class this Tuesday and Wednesday afternoon!

Hope to see you at Synaplex tomorrow-- the program will include a 6th-8th grade preteen program with Katie.

Best wishes, and Shabbat Shalom--

Cantor Ken

Madrichim Update

The learning never seems to stop in the Bet class, with very few letters yet to learn. I have had fun getting to know the individual students and how they learn and their learning styles. For example, some students will sound out a word, letter by letter, vowel by vowel, then put it together. Others will look at the word as a whole for a few seconds, and then say the word out loud once. I, or anyone else in the classroom will have to be able to work off of that to make sure that the read the word correctly. I have also started to brainstorm ideas for an activity to lead later this spring. 

-Ari Klawans

Grade 5 Update

Fifth graders have been very busy!

Last week, we continued our community unit through activities that required teamwork and communication. One game required the class to work as a whole to problem solve their way into a small circle placed on the floor. In time, they concluded that the only way to get all members of the class to fit in the circle at the same time was if they each placed a finger inside. Great working as a community!

Later, students worked in partners and faced back-to-back. Each person had to describe his or her typical Seder table to his or her partner and both teammates had to draw it according to the description. With detailed descriptions and active listening, the pictures turned out very similar among partners. Fifth graders loved this activity! This also lends itself to a discussion on Passover traditions. 

This past Sunday, we started our unit on Justice and had the most thoughtful and interactive discussion of the year. First, we brainstormed different ways to define Justice and followed that by discussing injustices in the world. Students were impressive with what they said. For example: If we're all people, what would make one person a slave and another a slave owner? / Not only is war unjust because it's war, but also because innocent people have to live near bombs/ Some people are homeless and don't have food to eat. Fifth graders then worked with partners to think of a time they personally witnessed an injustice and had to describe what they think it felt like to be that person. The next step was to come up with a plan for how they could make a difference. We then linked this lesson to the Passover story. 

In Hebrew, students have been working in centers to practice reading fluency. Some of the centers included games like Hebrew Bingo with body part names and Hebrew reading pick-up sticks. Other centers offered reading about kashrut and practicing reading and singing prayers that we've learned. 

Gimel Goings On

Shalom Gimel Families,

It was great seeing everyone on Sunday after last weeks snow storm!  Hope everyone is keeping warm and safe.

Sunday was a busy day.  For morning work students wrote in their journals about what they are looking forward to about Passover.

After a few weeks break it was awesome to get back to morning meeting!  In Hebrew students worked on Lines 1-7 of Ashrei.  They are doing a great job mastering this!  During station time students had opportunities to further practice Ashrei by reading with a buddy and reading in a small group.  The third station was Hebrew Reading Games.

In Torah we continued our exploration of the value of leadership.  Students worked with a buddy to read 4 blurbs about 4 leaders today - Mark Zuckerberg, Drake, Sarah Silverman and Scarlett Johannsson.  After reading each pair discussed whether these 4 people are good leaders and did a great job explaining why or why not.  Students were then given index cards to write down 3 qualities they thought is good leadership and, as a class, drew up an extensive list!

Upcoming this week

1. On Wednesday, students will enjoy Week 1 of electives.
2. On Sunday, March 18, students will enjoy a field trip to Chabad's Model Matzah Bakery.
3. We will work on the next two lines of Ashrei (Lines 8&9).

L'hitraot

Elana

Science Elective

Shalom Temple Israel Families,

We had a great first week of electives!

After our Hevruta Study students in the Science Elective performed an experiment to see what would happen to a balloon when yeast and sugar are mixed with warm water.  The questions asked were as follows:

1. Why is matzah flat and bread puffy?
2. What will happen to the balloon when yeast and sugar are mixed with warm water?

Please click on the link below to read the students' predictions:

https://padlet.com/eberelowitz/q0t5hb89wdhu

Here is a picture of what happened to the balloon:

Students will make a slideshow of the experiments and activities in the Science Elective and began working on on it this week.  Each week they will add to it.

Looking forward to Week 2 next week!

Elana & Tali

Grade 7--GESHER IS AMAZING!

Our siyyum (commencement) is just two months away!  We discussed that while their Gesher commencement is a significant milestone marking the culmination of their Temple Israel Religious School education, it is also a fork in the road.  And of each student we ask, how will you continue to nourish your Jewish souls?  

We reviewed Pirkei Avot 4: 1

Who is wise?  One who learns from all people. 

Who is mighty?  One who overcomes his/her impulses. 

Who is rich?  One who is satisfied with his/her portion. 

Who is worthy of honor?  One who honors all people.

And we wondered about these as possible personality types like the four children in the Haggadah (wise, wicked, simple and the one who does not know how to ask).  If each of these (wise, mighty, rich and honorable) asked a question at the seder, what would he/she ask?

Gesher students worked in pairs to create video commentaries on Pirkei Avot 4:1 in which each pair focused on once personality type.