JCC Havurah

  Hello Wonderful Havurah First Grade Aleph Families! We started our intimate class by reviewing havdallah though coloring books. Joyce joined us and read us Too Much of a Good Thing, a story about how shabbat feels holy because it's only once a week and how it would feel if shabbat was everyday. Some reactions to the story: -Jacob: "Shabbat it special because we have to say bye to it and it's not here all the time." -Molly: "On thanksgiving I had too much dessert and it made my tummy hurt. I'm not done with dessert forever, but it was too much for one meal." -Sofia: "After I color and color and color, I don't enjoy it anymore." After we said goodbye to Joyce, we then did our shabbat ritual. We initiated a new ritual of holding hands while one person touches the challah, so we remember that we're all connected on shabbat. The kids have been great about respecting this new ritual and it's been beautiful to watch! When...

Hello, Wonderful Havurah First Grade Aleph Families! Keeping with our theme of holy spaces (in connection to the Solomon story), we began our day by decorating 3d synagogues, which we will finish next week. It's incredible to see the diversity in how the children imagine their ideal temples. Some were rainbow-clad ("because that's how we know G-d is there!" -- Becca) while others showed their precocious understanding of Jewish values ("I put a window on the ceiling because light is important in Judaism." -- Sofia). We were then joined by the most joyous Joyce, who started by asking about shabbat practices. Hannah proved herself a shabbat sage as she was able to explain how our practices tie to making shabbat important. Joyce then told a 3 brothers' shabbat story. While recapping the tale, James asked the most insightful question: "If G-d created everything, who created G-d?" A tough question to answer! We then decorated tzeda...

Hello Havurah Families!  We had a wonderful time during Havurah this past Saturday introducing the ideas of a Havdalah and Solomon and his temple to our class.  We began by making Havdalah Besamim, or “spice pouches”. We discussed what the Havdalah ritual is and how it means “separation” in Hebrew. Havdalah comes at the end of Shabbat as a way to separate the special day from the rest of the week. Our Besamim pouches will help us remember the sweet smell and feelings of Shabbat throughout the week!  Next, we had a visit from Joyce, a returning Havurah rockstar who greeted many familiar and excited faces for our second cycle’s holiday specialty:  storytelling. We learned about the story, values, and meaning of Chanukah; and how Chanukah, which means “rededication” got its name. We discussed the importance of standing up for yourself and listening to yourself, and how we know what the right thing is to do is. Some students pointed out that it’s also import...

Hello Families,  We had a wonderful Field Trip day at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. It was an inspiring experience to see the work through our classes' unique and ever-observant eyes.  As we will begin to learn about Solomon and his Temple in our upcoming cycle at Havurah, we thought it would be wonderful to start the curriculum by learning about different spaces of meditation, prayer, and reflection at the Met Museum.  We began walking through The Great Hall, noticing how different  the shapes, animals, and figures were in each gallery as we moved from Iranian art to the Far East Collection. When we arrived at the Astor Gallery Chinese Garden, the students were very respectful to the peaceful space. We staggered our entrance into the space so that we could enter alone, and find a spot to reflect and draw. We learned that circles represent the universe and the squares represent the earth in Chinese symbolism. Our students noticed the importance of light, water...