A home for Torah

While preparing this morning for our school-wide Simchat Torah celebration we decided to paint a new home for our classroom Torah.  We used a box and different colored paints and paintbrushes to create our masterful ark.

Make an edible torah: A family activity

Make an edible torah to celebrate Simchat Torah.

Ingredients:
1 flat tortilla

2 pretzel rods
1 jar of soy or peanut butter, cream cheese, or any other spread
1 licorice string
 

Directions:
Spread peanut butter or other spread over a tortilla.
Put a pretzel rod on the left and right edge of the tortilla.
Wrap the tortilla around the pretzel rods, starting at each side and meeting in the middle of the tortilla.
Use the licorice string to tie around the torah.
Yum!

Unrolling the Torah

Check out our photos from the experience!

Simchat Torah: Meanings and Observances

Sh’mini Atzeret concludes the festival of Sukkot. In Reform Jewish tradition, it is celebrated simultaneously with the holiday of Simchat Torah. On Sh’mini Atzeret we do not celebrate in the sukkah or bless the lulav and etrog. It is a day of complete rest and a special time to gather together.

Each week throughout the year a parashah—portion of the Torah—is read. The reading of the Torah is organized so that the entire Torah is read completely each year. On Simchat Torah we celebrate the conclusion of this reading cycle and its immediate restart.

The Torah consists of five books—this is the origin of calling the Torah the Five Books of Moses. The Five Books in English and Hebrew are: Genesis—Bereishit, Exodus—Sh’mot, Leviticus— Vayikra, Numbers—B’midbar and Deuteronomy—D’varim. With joy and delight, we celebrate Simchat Torah by taking out the Torah, dancing singing and marching around the sanctuary in circuits called hakafot, and listening to the final verses of Deuteronomy and the first verses of the book of Genesis.

From The Jewish Parent Page of the Union for Reform Judaism

An Introduction to Simchat Torah

Simchat Torah, which begins this Wednesday evening, celebrates the ongoing cycle of the reading of the Torah. On Simchat Torah we finish reading the book of Deuteronomy, the fifth book of the Torah, and immediately begin the first book, Genesis.

The Rabbis pointed out that the last word in the Torah is Yisrael (Israel), and the last letter
of that word is lamed. The first word in the Torah is b’reishit (beginning), and the first letter
is bet. When the last and first letters are combined, the word lev (heart) is spelled. From this
we learn that the Torah is the heart of the Jewish people.

The study of Torah is central to Jewish life. On Simchat Torah we celebrate the past year of
completed Torah study and joyously look forward to the coming year of study and learning.

From The Jewish Parent Page of the Union for Reform Judaism

Rolling Up the Torah

After our school wide Simchat Torah celebration it was time to roll the torah back up and return it to the ark. What a unique and memorable experience it is to be able to hold the torah on our laps. I was surprised to hear how many of the children remembered the experience from last year.

Simchat Torah ~ Celebrating the Joy of Torah ~

We started our week celebrating the gift of "Torah" in our classroom and then later as a community in the sanctuary. First we emphasized that the stories in the Torah are guidelines that help us to be better people, and suggested that perhaps we could write our own classroom Torah.  We became the sofers (Torah scribes). One of the core Jewish values and responsibilities is to use our actions to help others and our world. Some children thought that the following guidelines would help us on our journey:

1) If someone is sick, we could help them, mommies help us when we are sick. 2) Be nice to our brothers and sisters 3) Be helpful 4) Say nice things 5) Take care of G-d's critters 6) Water the plants 7) If someone is sick, we could write them a card 8) You can say thank you and you are welcome 9) We can share our medals when we win with someone who did not win

We will be exploring the many way we can take care of each ourselves, each other, and our environment and our responsibility to do so!

Creating our new Ark!

One of the ways the Tel Aviv class celebrates Simchat Torah is that we create our very own class ark. Last week a few Tel Aviv children found a box that they wanted to use as an ark and this week we have spent time decorating it! The class spent a day using oil pastels in every color imaginable to create drawings of torah and the things torah should have in its house, including a toothbrush! The next day  we added paint and were amazed to see that the oil pastels popped out and that we could still see our designs from the day before. Using Q-tips they painted all the cracks between the pastels lines and really focused on fine motor skills while painting. Also using q-tips enabled more kids to work on painting the ark at one time without making too much of a mess. Everyone was excited to participate and we are excited to have a beautiful new ark which was a true collaboration amongst the 

Tel Aviv class.

Torah, Torah, Torah...

Ellen invited the Shamayim class to the sanctuary to see the torahs up close.  She let us open the arc and showed all of the children the proper way to touch and handle the torah.  We were very careful to use gentle hands and stay calm so that the precioust torahs were safe.

Ellen opened the Torah for us and explained that the Sofer (person who writes the words in the Torah) creates ink from the bee stung area of a tree and then uses a quill to write with this ink.  We were able to see the intricate detail of the Sofer's work, including the beautiful crowns that sit above some of the words.

When we returned to the classroom, we practiced writing with a quill and ink on our very own torahs.

Thank you Ellen for taking the time to share the Torahs and all of your knowledge.

Exploring the Torah with Etzim.

Today the Etzim children got a chance to explore our classroom torahs today before our school wide Simchat Torah celebration.  In circle today, our Etzim children got a chance to practice rolling out the torah, holding it, and being gentle with our scroll.  All the children had interesting questions about the holiday and the torah. 

"Why are we rolling out the Torah? What stories are in it?  Why can't we touch the tops of it?"

Rabbi Todd answered all of our questions in the sanctuary and we were able to share such an amazing experience today as a school in holding the torah together!

After, on the playground, Rohan led a bit of an impromptu Torah study to talk about our holiday and our special day!

Preparing to Parade

On Simchat Torah, we are filled with the joy of knowing that Torah is a treasure given to the Jewish people by God. We share this joy with our very young children by learning about the physical aspects of the Torah and the symbols of the celebration. We can see and touch the Torah in the sanctuary, and in our classroom we can make flags to wave as we dance and parade. We all sang Torah, Torah together, and held the Torah gently as it was unrolled and then rolled back to the beginning.

Our Torah's New Home

On Wednesday, in honor of Simchat Torah, we decided it would be nice to create an ark for our friend Torah. The Tel Aviv class was very excited to hear of this project and when I proposed the idea to Eliza at early morning drop off she exclaimed, “I’ll help you!” The class worked together to paint much of the ark and many were very excited to put their color theory knowledge to good use. Hannah taught everyone that blue and red made purple and from then on everyone started to mix the colors, both in the paint-cups and on their hands! We learned quickly that finger painting is an excellent way to decorate the ark and we hope to continue to use many medias and techniques on the ark over the next week or so. It will be excited to watch how it evolves!

Sunshines celebrate Simchat Torah

The Sunshine class celebrated Simchat Torah today by making flags and talking about how special the Torah is to all of us. Then, we got to take a walk to the Sanctuary with Rabbi Jay and he brought out one of the Torah's from the Ark. We got to sit really close to the Torah, and Rabbi Jay undressed the Torah for us. He showed us what the Torah looks like without it's fancy dress. It has hebrew words written on special paper that tells us all really great stories. Rabbi Jay even let us touch the special paper very carefully. We can't wait for Shabbat this week when we get to go back to the Sanctuary and visit with Rabbi Jay and the Torah.

We unrolled Torah...What an experience!

Today was quite a day! We all gathered in the Sanctuary with Rabbi and Torah. Rabbi Todd talked about what we do on this very special holiday, called Simchat Torah (pick up Torah, unroll Torah, read Torah, dance with Torah etc). The entire children's center had the opportunity to hold the Torah in their hands. It was a sight to behold, to see each and every child cradle Torah like a baby.

Each and every year I find this experience so truly heart warming. To see each child cradling the Torah in their two little hands, is just the most wonderful feeling! Thank you Rabbi Todd for this wonderful experience!

Celebrating Simchat Torah

What's Inside the Torah?

That is the question that I posed this morning at circle time. What is inside the Torah? We see it every week at Shabbat, we say the Sh'ma when it comes out of the ark, and we stand up when the ark is opened-so what's in it??? Here I was, thinking I was going to stump the kids. And then, they came back with answers like "It's written in Hebrew letters," "They aren't like our letters," and "Stories." I was blown away! I thought they didn't know anything about what was on this scroll!! After I asked this question, we unrolled a miniature Torah and the kids got to look at the writing up close. Sauci and I explained that we read the Torah a little bit each week and when we get to the end, we read it all over again. The kids instantly made the connection that rereading the Torah was like rereading a favorite book-you want to do it again and again!!

-Alison

Simchat Torah: Meanings and Observances

Sh’mini Atzeret concludes the festival of Sukkot. In Reform Jewish tradition, it is celebrated simultaneously with the holiday of Simchat Torah. On Sh’mini Atzeret we do not celebrate in the sukkah or bless the lulav and etrog. It is a day of complete rest and a special time to gather together.

Each week throughout the year a parashah—portion of the Torah—is read. The reading of the Torah is organized so that the entire Torah is read completely each year. On Simchat Torah we celebrate the conclusion of this reading cycle and its immediate restart.

The Torah consists of five books—this is the origin of calling the Torah the Five Books of Moses. The Five Books in English and Hebrew are: Genesis—Bereishit, Exodus—Sh’mot, Leviticus— Vayikra, Numbers—B’midbar and Deuteronomy—D’varim. With joy and delight, we celebrate Simchat Torah by taking out the Torah, dancing singing and marching around the sanctuary in circuits called hakafot, and listening to the final verses of Deuteronomy and the first verses of the book of Genesis.

From The Jewish Parent Page of the Union for Reform Judaism

Family Activities for Sukkot & Simchat Torah

 
Gratitude to God:  Cut construction paper into 2-inch by 8-inch strips; distribute the cut strips and markers to family members. Ask them to write or draw and complete the following sentence on the paper strip, “I am grateful for ______________.”  Connect one loop into a ring; then add additional loops, creating a paper chain of loops. Bring the gratitude loops to school to hang in the TBS sukkah (or hang at home if you have your own sukkah!)

Feeding the Hungry:  As a harvest festival, Sukkot is a time for thinking about others who are hungry.  TBS collects canned tuna for the food panty and TBSCC is always collecting ingredients for the children to make into tuna casserole for Rosie's Place:  small elbow macaroni, light butter, Velveeta, canned tuna.  Have your child select an item to contribute.

Joyful Celebration:  Decorate the TBS sukkah and enjoy a festive dinner and activities at the annual Sukkot Block Party on Sunday, October 16 from 4-7pm.  Sign up today.

Zeal for the Torah:  Join in the TBS Simchat Torah celebration for dancing and rejoicing with the Torah on Wednesday, October 19 at 7:15pm. 

Torah Joy

Simchat means joy and a joyful Simchat Torah it was in the Scientist class. We began with fruit leather strips, laying them flat on a napkin. A pretzel rod on either end became the etz chayim, the wooden rollers, and the young torah makers rolled up their creations. Naomi demonstrates here how tricky it was to hold all the elements in place while rolling, while Jake contemplates where to take his first bite. It was a tasty treat for a special holiday.

Simchat Torah

What an amazing Simchat Torah our children had. The chance to get up close and personal with the torah is something most of us have never had the opportunity to do, even as adults. The children sat in row in the sanctuary and extended their arms to form a collective cloud on which the torah would float. With all eyes focused on Rabbi Jay, the torah was unrolled over their arms, and rested at just the right place for a close examination. We saw Hebrew letters and words formed into columns on the page. We felt the heavy weight of the soft parchment on our forearms. What a unique experience.