Great to see you today and yesterday. I just wanted to make sure that everyone had access to recordings of the blessings before and after the haftarah-- I am including links below. I wanted to make sure that the students were able to master these blessings over the next couple weeks, and wanted to request that you use the recordings as much as you can over this stay-at-home period to master the words and melodies. Please email me privately with any questions. Wishing you all health, and making the most of this difficult time.
Cantor Ken
- Blessing Before Haftarah Click here for words (Here is the Blessing Before Haftarah sung in a Lower Key)
- Blessing Before Haftarah for practice singing trope names
- Blessing After Haftarah 1 Click here for words
- Blessing After Haftarah 2
- Blessing After Haftarah 3
- Blessing After Haftarah 4
- Blessing After Haftarah 5
- Blessing After Haftarah 6
11-28-18
Both our Tuesday and Wednesday classes have finished
learning all of the Torah trope!
For the next couple weeks, we'll be practicing our trope
skills using the Maftir Torah portions from the earliest b'nai mitzvah from
each class.
Yesterday we practiced the beginning of Sam, Ella, and
Avi's (also Caleb's) portions, and today we'll look at the beginning of Madelyn,
Ava, and Molly's.
This practicing should help all the kids build their Torah
reading skills as they practice putting the words to the melodies of the trope,
and it will help those with a relatively early bar or bat mitzvah get a head
start on their portions.
For homework, they should review the first sentence of each
of the three portions that we worked on in class, and if possible, look ahead
to the second sentences too. Generally, they should read each word out
loud, say and then sing the trope name, and then put the word to the tune of
each trope.
They should also review trope, either/both by singing the
trope song (p. 7) and/or the trope combinations (p. 6) several times a week,
the first 11 recordings on this page: https://www.tiofnatick.org/Torah
Let me know if you have any questions--
Cantor Ken
11-18-18
A
quick pre-Thanksgiving update:
Trope
assignment:
We
are almost done with learning the trope! We've gone through the first
8 trope families (pages 3-6 in the packet) on both Tuesday and Wednesday, and
by the week after Thanksgiving, you should have flashcards for the first 9
trope families and listen to the first nine tracks of the recordings. Feel
free to go ahead and sing along with tracks 10 and 11 as well (track 11 is the
trope song, on page 7 of your packet). https://tiofnatick.org/Torah.
The students can use their bar or bat mitzvah Torah portions in your folders
for practice-- read each Hebrew word out loud, say and then sing the trope
name, and when you're ready, do your best to put the tune and the word
together.
Have
a happy Thanksgiving!
Cantor
Ken
11-4-18
Here's a similar update to last week, along with a reminder that in general, the 6th graders should keep reviewing the trope they've learning and looking ahead to the next family or two. And they should please bring their packet/binder to class each Tuesday or Wednesday, along with their highlighters (yellow, orange, green, blue, purple, and pink).
Trope assignment:
The 6th graders should make flashcards for the first 10 trope: on page 3 in the packet: mercha, tipcha, munach, etnachta, and sof pasuk, and on page 4: kadma, mapach, pashta, katon, yetiv. Put the trope symbol on one side of the flashcard, and the name (in English or Hebrew lettering) on the back side. The goal is to see the symbol, know the name, and then sing the tune. They should listen a lot to the first three tracks, and then get acquainted with the fourth and fifth tracks, on this page: https://tiofnatick.org/Torah. We'll introduce the fourth and probably fifth families this coming week on p. 5, involving revi'i and the kadma-v'azla combination; they can go ahead and make those flashcards if they get a chance.
Please let me know if you have questions!
Cantor Ken
10-23-18
Two dates to remind you about or ask you to reserve in
advance:
1) The most important is Shavuot, which this year is
on a Sunday morning after Hebrew school is over for the year, June 9.
Please reserve this important morning for our end-of-year Torah reading
celebration, when we'll have the 6th graders chant individual Torah portions
and share the Haftarah and blessings that morning as a culmination of our
studies all year. Please plan to stay for lunch afterwards if you can.
2) Thursday, October 25, 7:00-8:00 PM, we'll
have a session for parent/s only to check in with me and Rabbi Liben and ask
any questions that came up from reading the guidebooks or our first meeting on
Sunday.
The 6th graders should make flashcards for the first
5 trope: mercha, tipcha,
munach, etnachta, and sof pasuk (if you get a chance, please go ahead and make
flashcards for the 5 trope on the next page: kadma, mapach, pashta, katon,
yetiv). Put the trope symbol
on one side of the flashcard, and the name (in English or Hebrew lettering) on
the back side. The goal is to see the symbol, know the name, and then
sing the tune. They should listen a lot to the two tracks, and
also get acquainted with the third track, on this page: https://tiofnatick.org/Torah.
By next class we'll be recognizing the tropes, saying and singing the
names, and applying these melodies to other words.
The students should bring their trope packet each Tuesday or
Wednesday to Hebrew School, and we'll use them for trope class each week from 5:30-6:00
PM. (we have binders for the students which we gave out on Wed. but
didn't have handy for Tuesday-- we'll give them out this coming week to those
who didn't receive them yet). If you didn't receive a trope packet yet, you can use
the virtual ones on the page with the trope https://tiofnatick.org/Torah you
can click on the whole packet or on individual pages for the trope you're working on.
Generally, the 6th graders should spend about 10 (to 15)
minutes a day learning and reviewing their trope. I'll send out reminders
weekly or biweekly, but if I ever miss an email, the general assignment is to
keep learning and reviewing what we've been doing.
Please let me know if you have questions! I'm looking
forward to an exciting year of learning to chant Torah and Haftarah with the
6th graders.
