February School News

Important Messages 

In order to receive the link for our Thursday Purim Celebration you must register in advance. Please do so at this link.



This Saturday night is Religious School Havdalah, please join us on
Zoom at 6:30p
Message from the Rabbi

Simchat Purim! Happy Purim! Many of us (myself included) struggle with our understanding of, belief in, and relationship to God in a world with so much brokenness and tragedy. Theologians call this the problem of theodicy: how can there be a good, powerful, deity when children die in car accidents and from cancer?!-- if God was truly good, or truly powerful, such things would not/could not happen! This is also a question that is appropriate to discuss with our own children, when they ask about it. There are many possible answers to this question, but I just want to highlight that I think it is a good question. After all, we are called the People of Israel, and Israel literally means, "struggle with God." 

The holiday of Purim, which we celebrate this week, presents one response to the problem, a humanist approach, with a sense of hidden divine guidance, if not Providence. Mordechai and Esther, Persian Jews whose names are based on the Babylonian gods (!) Marduk and Astarte, find themselves in a position of power and the chance to influence the outcome of a situation for the benefit of the Jewish people. Because of their courage, the Jews were not wiped out. Mordechai tells Esther in chapter 4 of the Scroll of Esther: "who knows, perhaps you have attained to royal position for just such a crisis." You are in the right place at the right time, so you must act!

Mordechai and Esther live, as we do, in a world where God's power is not seen through the splitting of the sea, or the falling of manna from heaven-- God's name does not appear even once in the whole book-- but they, like us, have to struggle to see God's influence in the world through their own actions. 

In many ways, Purim is our people's most postmodern holiday, the holiday that helps us see clearly the importance of faith in our contemporary society. 
Please, schedule a time to talk to me about it-- to get to know me better. I am available to hear you out. 


Rabbi Spitzer
Message from the Director of Education

Shalom all:
I want to wish you all an incredibly Happy Purim. As I wrote this, I came to the realization that Purim of last year was the last time we all gathered in person. It was such a wonderful event.  This year’s event will be fun albeit virtually. We still have students reading Megillah, a tradition started by Rabbi Spitzer, which I hope continues well into the future. There will still be costumes, singing, stories, and more. I hope you all tune in at 4:30p this Thursday.
I also want to tell you what a great job our staff and teachers have done. They are an incredible team to work with. They all have risen to the task.
I only hope that with the roll out of the vaccine, we will be able to meet in person next year. I do miss seeing your children in person.
Be well everyone, 

Jack Mintzer
Shalom!

In the previous newsletter, I mentioned that this start of the year was the most challenging one. I am happy to say, that we were able to overcome technological challenges, and now teaching/learning via a computer is easier and very rewarding in ways that we didn't anticipate. For example, sharing resources that the students have access to at all times, at their fingertips. Teachers and students, and the kids between each other, are more connected. It is really a pleasure to see the relationships that the kids have been forming among themselves, forming everlasting memories.  

Academically speaking, the kids are advancing really nicely. They have been learning different holidays and Shabbat prayers. They are also learning the meaning of the prayers and Hebrew words.

For Jewish Values, we had an entire session for Teva (nature) based on Tu B'Shevat and Simcha/Osher (happiness) in anticipation of the month of Adar and Purim.

All kids are doing really well. I couldn't be more proud of them!
If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,
Judy Ben-Ami
Shalom! 

In case you’re wondering what Pre-K has been up to, we’ve been busy leaning letters, letters, and more letters! Along with the all these letters we’ve learned about, we’ve made some fun art projects to match! We’ve also started doing some fun science projects: like painting snow! We’ve learned about some holidays: like Chanukah, celebrated the birthday of the trees and got ready for Purim, booing Haman song the way! We are looking forward to spring and watching things begin to warm up and bloom! 

Miss Amy
Shalom to all.

This year certainly had been filled with good learning.
We have completed the book of Bereshit/Genesis and are way on our way in into the book of Sh'mot/Exodus. 

So many important ancestors of our Jewish nation, both male and female, had been discussed and visited through our Google Classroom Streaming section. Go visit it and see some of the points discussed while we met together. 

This year's theme is very much "Am Echad b'Lev Echad." One nation with One Heart. This is well reflected in the variety of sources used for each subject shared. 

It is the lesson we learnt from the dire consequences of Rabbi Akiva's original students. Each was a gem and well learnt, but that knowledge was not shared with each other. 

Because of that, and since then, the most common way of Jewish learning had been with a Chavrutah/Learning Buddy in addition to small and large group sharing.  

In our Google Meet "Live" class, many of the students enjoyed sharing their screen with articles, objects, pictures and videos related to our learning. 

The above, was also and is still true in regard to all of our other learnt subjects, Israel, Judaica, Jewish Holidays, etc. Too many to name, but easily found in our Google Classroom Stream feed, so go and explore... 

As of this writing, the Jewish month of Adar, Purim, etc. are our main focus. A major Hero is Esther, so much to learn from her. Many informational resources to read in our Google Classroom. Some of them will be mentioned at our school's Purim Zoom gathering. 

We all really enjoyed "running" the virtual Tu B'Shvat teach in program, that was exceptionally led by our students. 

The program was capped at two hours, but from those who joined us, it was clear our students would have kept sharing their knowledge indefinitely. 

Yishar Ko'ach to all our participants, in person, as well as to those who contributed to our classroom's many discussions, but were unable to join us live or for the full program. 

Do you know that, with only one hour break, some of these same students joined our congregational Tu b'Shvat Seder for an additional one and a half hours, with their families? 

You all make this teacher proud of you. 

Also know that I consider each and every one of you to be one of my "Covid times" heroes, as you keep joining us remotely, in a World changed by new ways of being and learning. 

Keep up the good work!!!

Stay healthy, safe and warm.

Warmly,

Zipporah Harris
Dear Parents of the B'nai Mitzvot Class,

The students have all been working on their Bar/Bat Mitzvah prayers very diligently these past few weeks. All of the students are doing really well. It is really great to see how committed the students are to learning and practicing a second and in most cases
third language over the computer - a few times a week!  

I couldn't be more proud of them, and appreciative to all you parents for your ongoing support to make sure your child shows up and is ready to learn!

If you have any questions or comments, please don't hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely


Eric Cooper-Ginsburg
Dear Parents,

I hope this message finds you well. We have had a lot of fun over the past couple of months in our PreK-5th grade Sunday morning virtual music classes! I enjoy seeing the childrens' smiling faces each week and getting the chance to sing, dance, and make music with them. We had a great time reviewing and learning some new Chanukah tunes in December and I was so thrilled with the turnout for the “First Night, First Light” celebration which took place on the synagogue’s front lawn. We spent the month of January studying songs relating to the importance of trees in preparation for the holiday of Tu B’Shevat. I was glad to see so many participants for the Tu B’Shevat virtual program and enjoyed singing our songs with everyone who was in attendance. Throughout the month of February, we have been practicing Purim songs for the virtual Purim program which will take place on Thursday, 2/25. I hope to see many families in attendance for that program. If there are still families who are in need of some instruments to use for our Sunday morning music classes, please let me know and I will do my best to get some out to you. Please continue to check or have your children check our Google classroom for music class throughout the week as I often post materials related to upcoming holidays as well as our virtual music slides which I update for each holiday. I am so excited to continue to work with your children in our virtual music classes throughout the Spring and I very much look forward to the day that we can sing and learn together in person once again! Stay healthy and safe, and I wish you a Chag Purim Sameach!


Morah Spektor
Dear Parents,

My Hebrew School Cooking Class has enjoyed cooking and baking together these past several months. I am very grateful to the parents who have been assisting the students. Most of the recipes prepared have been either Jewish traditional, which I try to tie into holidays, or Catering favorites. Most recipes were selected by me but I also took student requests. We made both desserts and savory items. Here is a sampling: rugelach (sweet and savory), a Tu B'Shevat Bunch-granola, granola scones, baked apples and cheesy egg cups-, knishes, tsimmes, challah, vegetable soup and matzo balls, bread pudding, apple fritters and chocolate sauce, baklava, spanakopita-filled potatoes, stuffed cabbages, veggie schmaltz, latkes and applesauce and chocolate molten lava cakes (a student request!). We are slated to be making kreplach for Purim for next session. 
I have thoroughly enjoyed teaching this class for the last year. The students and their sous chefs are wonderful!

Rise' Routenberg