Where is God?

On Friday, the kindergartners came in to find a letter from some of the 12th graders here at Temple Beth Shalom who share a classroom with us and the Kohavim children. In their message, the 12th graders explained that they have been thinking about where God is and asked if we had any ideas. The kindergartners used black sharpies and watercolor paints to share their ideas. Below are the children's thoughts that they shared. 

Jacob: In the clouds. 

Dylan: In the ocean. 

Brett Stone: He appears. Like he was always here. 

Evan: In the air. And he comes on the ground on Jewish holidays. I made hearts to love God for all the stuff he gives us. 

James: I think he's in the sky. 

Brett Ellerin: In the sky. 

Julian: He like lives in the like in a rainbow. 

Adam: In the clouds. 

Zack: I think he looks like nothing. Like white. 

Their paintings and quotes will be hanging in the classroom for the 12th graders to see. We can't wait to here where they think God is and to continue sharing our ideas with them and Kohavim. 

Where is God?

When we came into the Kohavim classroom this morning we found a letter from some of the 12th graders here at Temple Beth Shalom who share our classroom. In their message, the 12th graders explained that they have been think about where God is and asked if we had any ideas. The kohavim children were so excited to share their ideas with the 12th graders through writing and drawing.

Some of the children's thoughts and ideas are listed below:

Ben said, "I think in heaven. This is the clouds.
And that's an airplane passing. That's God (red)." 

Micah R: God is everywhere. I drew (arrows) because God is everywhere.
Joise: God is everywhere. You can't see God. He can see us, but we can't see him. He's invisible.
Noah: God is everywhere. God makes rainstorms.
Ben: He could be in the sky or in the clouds.
Molly: On the beach.
Emme: In the clouds. I'm doing a rainbow. He's in the water and flowers too.
Charlotte: I'm drawing the earth around him. And (God is) in the swimming pool.
Zach: In the clouds.
Adam: In the sky. Everywhere. I need blue because the sky is blue.

We will pass along our ideas to Rabbi Todd to deliver to the 12th graders. We hope they will write back and share some of their ideas with us too!

Rabbi Todd and the sukkah

Thank you Rabbi Todd for visiting with us in the sukkah!  We added our hand made decorations, shook the lulav and smelled the fragrant etrog.  Happy sukkot!!

Sukkah Visit with Rabbi Todd

 

 Kohavim was so excited to visit with Rabbi Todd in the Sukkah today! Together, we noticed that roof and sides of the sukkah had holes which we were able to see nature through. The children noticed bushes, trees, sunlight, clouds, and the sky! They also talked about how they would be able to see the stars through the roof at night or feel the rain drops on a rainy day. Rabbi Todd told us how Sukkot is a time of harvesting, like when we go apple picking or pumpkin picking with our families. Then he taught us how to shake the Lulav and Etrog. You shake it to the right, to the left, to the front, to the back, up to the sky, and down to the ground. Some of the Kohavim children wanted to try shaking the lulav. We learned that we shake the lulav and etrog in all directions because God is everywhere and Nature is everywhere! Ask your child about our visit in the sukkah today!

Questions about Purim

During our learning about Purim, many questions arose about the Haman, Queen Esther, Mordecai, and The King. In Jewish tradition, asking questions about our history and rituals is not only encouraged but celebrated as it helps us deepen and fortify our own beliefs and understanding of our religion.

As our Etzim classroom began to bubble with questions, we decided to write them down in a letter to Rabbi Todd. Our biggest burning question was, "Why do we eat delicious cookies that are named for Haman, since he was a bad guy? Why don't we eat cookies remembering Queen Esther or Mordecai since they were good people?"

We sent our letter off to Rabbi Todd, and the next day we got a response! He was going to make sure to stop in our classroom and sit down with us to talk about it. Rabbi Todd explained to us, there are a few reasons to how the hamantaschen got its name. In Israel, they are called Haman's ears because some think they resemble them. Another reason was that they were named for the elusive triangle hat Haman wore. Lastly, they are named after Haman because we make him disappear by eating the Hamantaschen. Just as we shake our groggers and BOO when we hear Haman's name being read from the Megillah, this is another way to rid Haman from us! And what a delicious way too!

The Etzim class is excited to make our hamantaschen tomorrow, with a greater understanding of why these cookies have there name!

We also talked with Rabbi Todd about other aspects of Jewish tradition such as yamaks, Purim in Israel, and other topics. It was so much fun to learn with Rabbi Todd! A big thank you again for coming in today!

The Last Unicorn

Most of the Haifa Lunch Bunch children were in the Unicorn class last year. At least once a week someone will ask why the class name was changed to Etzim. Today Ben asked if Etzim means Unicorn in Hebrew. We talked about the the meaning of the names of different classrooms, Etzim (Trees), Levana (moon) and classes named after places in Israel (Tel Aviv, Haifa.) but everyone was still wondering how to say Unicorn in Hebrew. Allison came by and helped us and then Rabbi Todd picked it up from there, leading a conversation with a captivated Haifa lunch bunch. Rabbi Todd told us "The English word unicorn has it's roots in Latin, with "uni" coming from one and "corn" meaning horn.  The Hebrew borrowed the second half from the English and replaced the first half "uni" with the Hebrew word for "one", echad.  The Hebrew word for unicorn is chadkorn.  Just like in English -"one horn."  The children thought about this and, upon Rabbi Todd's departure, used their lunch items to make unicorn horns.  Abby lamented "We were the last Unicorns."  Thanks Rabbi Todd, for some wonderful spontaneous learning!  

Rabbi Todd Visits for Chanukah

Shaking the Lulav with Rabbi Todd

Today the Shamayim class got to visit with Rabbi Todd in the Sukkah.  Rabbi Todd showed us all how to shake the Lulav and we even got to smell the Etrog.  When Rabbi Todd asked us what the Etrog smelled like some of the children thought it smelled like a watermelon and other children thought it smelled like a lemon.  Ask your child which fruit they thought the Etrog smelled like, watermelon or lemon!
 

 

 

Leg my people o

Thank you Rabbi Todd for telling the children the story of Passover with the help of the Lego story. They were completely involved in it, and loved the fact that mysteriously Jar Jar Binks appeared in a couple of places. "Was that Luke Skywalker?" asked one child. Whatever grasps their attention and interest is key. Rabbi Todd did a wonderful job telling a vivid Passover story that will remain in their minds for a long time. We also had our Legos out minus the right pieces to make Jar Jar Binks and friends.

Give Me Five!

 

On the way out of the sanctuary after last Friday's Shabbat celebration, Rabbi Todd stood by the door, greeting each child with a Shabbat Shalom high five.  Thanks for beginning our Shabbat right!  Shabbat shalom!

Getting Ready to Celebrate Chanukah

Levana children have been getting ready to celebrate Chanukah. Rabbi Todd visited our classroom to talk about things and people who light up our lives; parents, grandparents, Temple and brothers were just a few of our responses.
Elias is decorating his CD dreidel with glue and holiday symbols. Julia is making a construction paper chanukiah and Micah is creating some dreidel decorations for the upcoming Chanukah party. All this peeling of stickers and squeezing of glue bottles calls for developing fine motor skills and finger strength. We have certainly been busy in the Levana room

Discussing Chanukah with Rabbi Todd

Today was a special day for all of us as Rabbi Todd or "Dadeeee!!" as he is better known in our class, joined us for a discussion of Chanukah. Rabbi Todd began by asking the children what they knew about Chanukah. The children knew that the Jewish Temple or "house" had been "knocked down", and the Jews "redid the Temple." Several children knew that the Temple was in Jerusalem, and that the leader of the Jewish army was Judah Maccabee. Rabbi Todd showed the children old pieces of pottery from Modin. Looking and feeling the fragments, Sam said "they're brown from the wall falling down, and they're all dusty." Rabbi Todd led us in saying the blessings and lit the beautiful oil menorah that Maria just bought. It was very interesting to see eight containers of oil where candles are usually placed. Rabbi Todd confirmed that an oil menorah would burn longer than one with candles. He also said that the menorah in the ancient Temple was made of stone. We talked about the miracle of the tiny drop of oil lasting 8 days. The children wondered why the shamesh in our new menorah was a candle and not a vial of oil like the other ones. Rabbi Todd explained that it would be very hard to use the shamesh to light the other candles if it too was a vial of oil. "Where should the menorah go?" asked Rabbi Todd. The children all said in unison that it should go in our window. It looked absolutely beautiful there. Thank you Rabbi Todd for such
a special visit.

Chanukah with Rabbi Todd

We had an extra special Chanukah preparation celebration today in the Kohavim classroom. I brought pottery shards dug up at an archaeological dig site in the Israeli town of Modi'in -- the place where the Chanukah story took place! The students got to hold the pottery shards, and Sam very wisely pointed out that "Maybe these were in a house a long time ago that fell down and the walls turned into dust, but these were still there." Right on, Sam! It was great to watch them imagine what these shards used to be...plates, pots, bowls, pitchers...who knows? Then, thanks to Maria, the students were able to see an oil-burning menorah for the first time. We talked about how people make oil from olives, and then we lit the beautiful oil vessels. The students were excited about the possibility of trying to crush their own olives to make some oil themselves.

Chanukah with Rabbi Todd

What a treat it was for me to get to prepare for Chanukah with our Levana and Rainbow classes this morning! In each of these rooms we talked about special activities at Chanukah time (including playing dreidl, and giving gifts), special foods that we eat at this time of year (latkes and sufganyot - doughnuts), and why we eat these special foods...because they're fried in oil! After sharing a little bit of the Chanukah story, and the miracle of extra light that we celebrate during these days, I asked students to share ways in which we can bring extra light and happiness to one another -- to friends, parents, siblings, grandparents, etc. -- during Chanukah. As each student shared an idea, he or she came up and "lit" a candle on our pretend play menorah. They loved having a turn to do so and have so many new ideas about ways to add light to their classrooms and homes during our upcoming holiday celebrations!

We greet Rosh Hashanah with Rabbi Todd

All last week the Kohavim children have had a chance to learn about the shofar and practice blowing it in our classroom. They especially enjoyed the visit from Rabbi Todd during which he blew the very large shofar. We have pictures up on the bulletin board of the various horned animals from which the shofars come. The children enjoy trying to match the classroom shofars with the different looking horns on the pictures. One child wondered if a shofar could come from a unicorn. Another wondered about a reindeer. Thank you Rabbi Todd for sharing some holiday sights and sounds with us. Thank you Mia for sharing your dad!
L'Shana Tova to all.

Tekiah Gedolah ~ Whew ~

Rabbi Todd shared his time with the Kohavim class. We had several Shofars to use, one long one (Rabbi Jay's) and the smaller ones. The children were intrigued about the size, and noticed that the size corresponded to the pictures of the animals displayed on our bulletin board.

We asked the children where could we go to obtain knowledge about some of the questions we had about the horns of the animals, and how one might make a shofar.

The responses were: The computer.  We would put in www.animal.com, books, and then Rabbi Todd reminded us of the value of asking someone we know as well who might have the answer to our inquiries.   There are many sources we can go to for information.

Rabbi Todd told us the Shofar is used to ring in the start of the Jewish New Year. There are 4 different sounds that are heard:

1) the Tekiah ~ lasts 3 seconds
2) Shvarim ~ A tekiah broken into 3 segments
3) Teruah ~ nine rapid blasts
4) Tekiah Gedolah ~ A triple Tekiah which last at least nine seconds.

Rabbi Todd held the sound for 26 seconds~ significantly longer for us!!

Thank you Rabbi Todd for sharing your gift of time and knowledge.

Levana hears the shofar

Rabbi Todd is helping us get ready for Rosh Hashanah. He came into our classroom and made us smile as we listened to him blow the Shofar. We are learning lots of new Hebrew words like Rosh Hashana, shofar, tekiah, Shana Tova and more.

Thank you to Adam for sharing his dad with the Levana class.

Rabbi Todd Brings the Shofar

Rabbi Todd came to visit us today and brought his Shofar. He taught us the sounds that the Shofar makes-Tekiah, Shevarim, Teru'ah, and Tekiah Gedolah! Rabbi Todd blew softly so that we would not be afraid. Thanks for visiting Rabbi Todd!!!

Getting Ready for the World's Birthday!

Today the Tel Aviv class had a special visitor: Rabbi Todd! Together, we talked about how Rosh Hashanah is a holiday that celebrates the birthday of the world. This analogy was a fantastic way to make what can be an abstract holiday relatable to our Tel Aviv children. On our birthdays we eat special food and sing special songs and sometimes we even blow noisemakers. On Rosh Hashannah we eat special food, sing special songs and blow the shofar! Each child had the opportunity to touch the shofar and feel the smooth and the bumpy parts. We all practiced blowing the shofar so that we will be all ready next time Ellen visits our class. It was wonderful to see every child so actively engaged and it was a treat to have Rabbi Todd visit our Tel Aviv class. Thanks so much Rabbi Todd!

It's That Time of Year Again...

The students in the Haifa classroom have had a lot of fun enjoying the early stages of fall outside, as well as beginning to learn about what fall brings in the Jewish calendar. Today we were lucky enough to have Rabbi Todd come in and talk to us about Rosh Hashanah and blow his shofar for us. We also discovered the star that is found in the middle of an apple if you cut it correctly, and started a project that included painting with apples! Stay tuned to see the final product...

-Alison and Sauci