Shalom from TBD Religious School

Shabbat newsletter compiled by
Gal Kessler Rohs, Education Director
Making a difference,
means moving mountains!

To make a difference means to move mountains, one mountain grain at a time, in a collaborative effort. Some grains are brown, some beige, white, sweet, salty, or bittersweet. Some are harder to move or find, while others glisten!

I started my mountain moving as a child, a few decades ago, when I was asked by our neighbors, back in my Israel living days, to care for their puppy. I realized then, that children are mighty!  When children are entrusted with responsibilities, they can feed the hungry, nurse and nurture even those who do not converse in human language. A child’s empowerment, I was convinced, was a tool for making a difference. Children grow, and if nurtured with love, strengthen their empowerment and validation, all the way to adulthood, and ledor vador. So I nurtured our neighbor’s poodle, felt satisfied, and partnered with my child self to find other youngsters who would make a difference, one grain at a time, and because there was a mountain in front of me, my partners and I are still at it.

There are juvenile qualities in all of us that seek to bloom. Sometimes, even when I look in the eyes of wise seniors with wrinkles, I see youthful individuals seeking to grow. And so it goes that moving mountains, or making a difference, involves a teamwork of community empowered individuals, who are young, and young at heart, with a multitude of ingrown talents enmeshed within each other. Some carry the brown grains, others the sweet or the glistening ones. 

I follow the example of the righteous Biblical Noah in the book of Genesis. His mountain moving project took no less than, some scholars say, 120 years! In his endeavor, Noah led talented individuals from all walks of life. Delegates included insulators, gemologists (did you know cut diamonds were used as prisms to create light?), arborists, zoologists, irrigators, architects and many more Israelites who teamed their talents together to build an arc. It is not Noah, nor I, therefore, that make the difference, but the multitude. By finding people’s abilities, teaming them up, and empowering, we can grow, build arcs, move mountains, and make a difference.

Later in the book of Genesis, Gd promised Abraham that the Israelites would be as numerous as the grains of sand. That’s almost the eternity which I similarly find myself in, when striving to move juvenile grains of sand mountain pieces. Whether those pieces signify talents of young emergent learners in our Religious School, juvenile seniors, and all those in between who were divinely promised to Abraham, that’s how much there is for me to partner with those, in the collective objective of making a difference.

Shabbat Shalom,
- Gal Kessler Rohs , Education Director
Story time for Shabbat with the lovely Jan and Steve this afternoon
This pre Shabbat's activity will look at how every family carries a story, and how that story is intricately related to the identity we proudly carry both as Jews, as individuals, and as those who follow TBD‘s slogan of being Jewishly Warm And Relevant.  

Steve Bermann , and our temple grandma Janice Robertson  will read Patricia Polacco's The Keeping Quilt, and demonstrate a quilt from her own family story.

Optional: please bring some of these suggested items with: paper, crayons, colored paper, gift wrap, scissors, glue, and log onto zoom from a surface that is fit for arts and crafts.

See you soon for pre Shabbat fun! 
Last religious school session for this year, May 17th at 9.15am
Shavuot, the holiday of the harvest, and receiving of the Torah is celebrated this year on May 28th, and we at religious school will be celebrating via Zoom on our last school day for this year, this Sunday.

Bring markers, paper, a silly hat, think dairy, harvest, Torah, and most importantly your pride in enriching your Jewish identity developed throughout your affiliation with Temple Beth David, LeDor VaDor.
Mental Health webinar, This Sunday, May 17th at 11am
Temple Beth David 's own Dr. Bill Saltzman, and Dr. Lisa Blum, will be conversing with our community members for best and positive practices of how to cope in these trying times. 
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This is a two part (and later more) series geared both towards adults, and parents of Temple Beth David Religious School, and all parents of quarantined children. Zoom link will be posted on our website. 
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For information, mental health consultancy, a pick me up chat and call, or more with regards to "Help Us Heal", please contact Rabbi Lachtman . 
Useful Resources and other reading material
Image depicts religious school class moms on their day of "installation", with a gift book "Class Mom" by Laurie Gelman.

  • Last week's Religious School eblast about Golda Meir, the mother of Israel.
  • Lag BaOmer is traditionally celebrated with bonfires, and what better activity around a fire than to make s'mores. Click here for 25 s'mores recipes.
  • In the 1980s, pressure from some feminists spurred a name change for the Israeli Mother's Day, and the day has been known as Family Day ever since.
  • Shavuot 101
  • Lag BaOmer 101
Why are there two Torah portions this week?
Fun Jewish fact of the day: this week, there are two Torah portions Behar (No.31) and Bechukotai (No.32), both are found in Leviticus 25:1 - 27:34. 
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Why two, and not the usual one portion? Since there are more Parshas than there are Sabbaths in which they can be read over the Jewish calendar cycle, certain Torah portions are sometimes doubled up. How many will be doubled, if at all, will depend on the particular year. For example, when a Jewish Holiday coincides with Shabbat, then the Torah reading is specific to the Holiday, and not the regular weekly Torah portion. On the other hand, during a Jewish leap year - where an entire month is added to the calendar, there may not be the need to double them.
Congrats, Teacher Miriam!
Shout out to our preschool teacher graduate (graduating this week!). Maria’s degree will be in Administration of preschools and Child Day Cares with emphasis in sociology. Proud of you, Maria! ‘Twas soooo worth your efforts!
Shabbat Shalom and see you once, or twice, or thrice, or more, this weekend!