WE GIVE THANKS...

Students shared their thoughts about the upcoming Thanksgiving holiday, and were really quite thoughtful about the many blessings they have.  Please take a few minutes to ask your child what they are grateful for, and why.

We are thankful...

For food and water
Friends
The World
Freedom
GOD is always with me
Homes and shelter
Friends and family who will always be there for me

ATTITUDE, GRATITUDE AND TAKING RISKS

When studying Torah we always take one step backward to review the prior lessons, and one step forward to tackle the next lesson. These discussions often bring new questions to light, and our students are often left to work through some internal struggles as our week comes to an end. Such was the case with this week’s discussion. Our discussion started out with the basic question of failure. Why did GOD put the Tree of Knowledge within reach of Adam and Eve, tempting them to break the rules? Our students offered some wonderful insights into breaking rules, and doing the right thing. We talked about wanting something, working towards something, and ultimately failing to achieve success, or hitting obstacles along the way. To push our students to collaborate and to critically think about the effect their actions have on others, we talked about ways to problem solve. Is it OK to fail, or is it better to achieve success at all costs? Do our parents push us to be the best we can be at all costs? Are we responsible for our failures, and is it OK to fail if we learn from our mistakes. Our students seem to know the right thing to do in many instances, but are often confronted with temptation, I guess we all can relate. 

On Tuesday afternoon, we talked about Thanksgiving. We talked about religious freedom, (which will again surface next week when we begin our Hanukkah story) and how Thanksgiving is truly about giving thanks and appreciating the many gifts we have. We talked about blessings, and as Jews, our responsibility to say 100 blessings everyday. We had a lively discussion about fleeing a country for the right to be free, and immigrants and refugees living in our communities today.  Interestingly, many of our students shared stories of relatives fleeing a homeland for America, much like the Pilgrims of long ago.  Finally, we shared our feelings about having too much of everything, and taking time to show gratitude by doing mitzvot, and thinking about others, rather than worrying about what we want or what we don't have. Students shared their thoughts about gratitude, and how so much of what we do as Jews is about attitude. 

Please enjoy the Thanksgiving break, and ask you children to share their Jewish interpretation of Thanksgiving with your family. See you next Tuesday!

TURN IT AND TWIST IT

For those of you wanting a one word description of what we do in our class every week, I would have to say TORAH. The Torah teaches us the skills we need to be a partner with GOD. We learn Jewish values to help us live a Jewish life from the Torah, and most importantly, the Jewish people live for the Torah. In our core class, we spend quite a bit of time turning and twisting the words in the Torah to help us understand the importance of living a Jewish life in a non-Jewish world. The Torah challenges us to think and to take responsibility for our actions, and no matter how often we study, speak, teach, say, learn, or live Torah, there is always more to explore. We are teaching our students to turn the Torah over and over, in order to better understand the words passed on from generation to generation. The take away every week, is we are created in GOD’s image, and we are here as GOD’s partner. The stories are great, the imagery even better, but most importantly, it is the values we learn from the Torah that really stick with us.

Why do we tell stories? The students in our 4th grade core class are learning the importance of telling stories, and listening and learning stories as well. They unanimously decided that we tell stories to teach a lesson, share history, and to let others know about something that happened. They all agreed that they like to hear and tell stories, and sometimes they believe them, and sometimes they don’t. Such is the case with the Torah. This week we learned about the two creation stories presented in the Torah. There is the story of GOD creating man and woman, placing them in the Garden of Eden, and telling them to rule over everything. We then identified another look at Creation. GOD takes the dust of the earth, molds it into a man, and tells the man he needs a partner. GOD creates the partner from a rib of man, and tells the man; take care of all I created. Students were given the opportunity to read the original text from the Torah and tried to figure out which story they believed. 

Our discussions sent us in a multitude of ways, and it was quite interesting to see our students trying to make sense of both stories. Our take away moment was when it was decided that both stories are true, we are partners and rulers of the world, and it is up to us to behave in the image of GOD, doing what is right and just at all times. Please ask you students what story they think is most accurate, and for an interesting discussion, ask them why GOD put both stories in the Torah. The discussion will continue on Sunday in class. 

During our Tuesday afternoon Mitzvot and Middot discussions we talked about doing the right thing even when everyone else is doing the wrong thing. We introduced the core basic value, Derech Eretz, literally translated as "law of the land." We talked about taking things that did not belong to us, and the difference between rightfully ours, entitlement and stealing. Please ask you child to share these ideas with you, and have them share the concept of what is yours is yours, and what is yours is mine. We had a very interesting debate. Our discussions continue next week. 

IN THE BEGINNING

Thank you to the Kitah Dalet students who participated in Fall Fix-Up.  Although the workload was light, we did enjoy being spending some time together on a beautiful Sunday morning, and we helped make a difference for someone in our community.

We officially began our Torah Study program this week, and students practiced their Chumash navigation skills.   Students participated in a Torah Treasure Hunt and they were quite successful in locating some of the more recognizable passages in our Torah.  We found the Shema and searched for the commandment to eat matzah.  Some students found the commandment to observe kashrut, and others found the promise from GOD in Parsha Noah.  

These skills came in quite handy when we began to dive deep into the story of Creation on Tuesday afternoon.  Students read the beginning of the text, illustrated the six days of Creation and learned GOD saw all that GOD created as good.  However, there was one thing GOD created where HE failed to praise HIS work, but instead blessed it.  Next week, we will dissect these passages and continue to discover the many twists and turns in our Torah.