Shabbat shalom

Today, we celebrated our first Shabbat as the shamayim class.  We were excited to say the prayers together and hold up our own Shabbat candle.

We also blessed our juice and challah and had a delicious snack together.  Ask your child if he/she remembers what order we say the blessings. Shabbat shalom and Happy New Year to all!

Audrey blesses the challah

Audrey helped out today as the Rainbows celebrated shabbat. She has had this responsibility before, and as you can see, she calmly carried out the series of blessings and led us as we welcomed the feeling of shabbat into our hearts and our bodies. Shabbat Shalom, everyone.

Audrey is the Shabbat Helper

Audrey brought a beautiful challah to share with the class today. She took her responsibilities seriously as our shabbat helper and enjoyed the special moments with her Rainbow classmates. We also had fun singing the shabbat song about a certain visiting dinosaur...

Leishev Basukah The Blessing for Dwelling in the Sukkah

Baruch atah Adonai, Eloheinu melech ha-olam asher kid’shanu b’mitzvotav v’tzivanu leishev basukah.

We praise You, Eternal God, Sovereign of the Universe, who makes us holy with mitzvot and commands us to dwell in the sukkah.

Thank you God for the chance to sit in the sukkah!

What's Jewish about Butterflies?

"There are more than 160,000 species of butterflies, found all over the world. Each species varies in color, size and survival techniques. According to the Creation story in the Torah, butterflies were created by God on the sixth day, the same day that humans were created. Observing butterflies in nature is they flutter, dip, land, and take off once more, one cannot help but be amazed by the beauty and delicateness of butterflies, as well as be awed by the skill of the butterfly's creator.

Ideally, a unit about butterflies will include actually growing caterpillars into butterflies. As children engage in the transformation of caterpillars into butterflies, the partnership between the children and God becomes concrete and apparent. Becoming a butterfly (in the classroom) requires help from God and help from the children in the class-a partnership the children can engage in on a daily basis. Studying and caring for butterflies, be it in nature or in the classroom, leads us to think about Creation and the brit, the partnership between God and people".

"What's Jewish about Butterflies?"

The Tel Aviv children had the opportunity to raise caterpillars to butterflies this past Spring. As we all know the last day of school was June 1st and the butterflies came out of their chrysalis June 3rd. They must of liked in there! Today the entire TBSCC took part in the joy and beauty of letting the butterflies go free into the world.

I copied a blessing from the "What's Jewish about Butterflies?" book, but the children decided to create/say their own blessing before we let the butterflies go.

TBSCC Blessing for the Butterflies...

"We wished them well and that God would watch over them and keep them healthy and safe, wished them good luck finding food all by themselves, and thanked them for being so beautiful. Amen to that!"

Then we counted each butterfly as they flew out into this wonderful world!

Shabbat in the great outdoors!

Nathan brought in the last challah for today's Rainbow shabbat celebration. We took advantage of the sunny, warm morning weather to enjoy shabbat outside. Nathan did a wonderful job in leading us through the blessings and thoroughly enjoyed his responsibilities.

The Blessing Over the Matzah

The Blessing Over the Matzah

The Lights of our Lives

Our children are surely the lights of our lives. May they burn bright, give us warmth, and light the way to a better future.
Thank you for the blessing of teaching your radiant children this year.
Enjoy this last night of Chanukah.