Dear families:
It was wonderful being with so
many of you yesterday at the Synaplex.
Today as we enjoyed a breakfast
of Chex (a square cereal), we talked about the squares and corners in Jewish
life—matzah, tallit corners, prayerbooks, challah covers, etc. Then we reviewed the Ten Commandments, the
parasha of the week.
After tefillot with Cantor Ken
and Robin, we began our Hebrew lesson, learning two letters. The first was the silent letter alef א. Some words beginning with א are aron kodesh,
afikomen, etrog, and echad (one). Cheryl
and I showed our groups how the vowel marks change the sound of alef. We also learned וvav. Some ו words are Vashti, vav (hook), and vered
(rose). As we learn each new letter, we
review the older ones, looking at similarities like resh and vav.
Later, we read the pamphlet about
the Tower of Babel. Everyone spoke the
same language, and they began building a tower to be famous and as great as G-d. In their pride and arrogance they forgot to
care for each other. All other concerns
became unimportant. G-d confused their
speech so that they could no longer work together. We experienced this with cards in different
languages. The students had to locate
others who spoke their language. As the
people scattered all over the land, the tower fell to ruin. “Babble” means
unintelligible speech.
We brainstormed Jewish values
that the people of Babel forgot—kindness, sharing, caring for the sick,
honoring parents, helping other people, etc.
One child mentioned Dr. Martin Luther King caring for others; I talked
about how Jewish people helped blacks register to vote, and marched with him
for justice. Then the students created
their own towers, drawn with blocks and Jewish values.
We ended the morning with songs—Trees
Are Blowing in the Wind and Tree of Life.
Shavua tov! Have a great week.
Judy and Cheryl (Esther and Tzipporah)
