JCC Havurah

Shalom Havurah Families, We have had such a wonderful year learning Torah stories, practicing Jewish values, celebrating holidays, singing Hebrew songs, and making Shabbat together as a community. This week we ended our amazing year with a Lag B'Omer celebration up at  Camp Settoga . After saying our brachot (blessings) and eating delicious challah and grape juice, we boarded the bus for camp.  Everyone met at the flagpole for a welcome greeting and then off we went to our activities. We played soccer, basketball, gaga, mini golf, and we even climbed an awesome ropes course playground.   Once our activities were over, the entire community gathered for a snack and one final rendition of "shalom, chaverim" with Megan before boarding the bus. Thank you all for a fantastic year; we look forward to seeing you back at the JCC in October for  Havurah 2019-2020 . Have a great summer,  The Havurah Team

Hello wonderful Havurah First Grade Aleph class!  For our last in-building class of the year, we took some time to consider what we had learned this year. We centered on drawing our favorite moments of the year. Our most beloved activities were gardening and roof time (see attached to the email).  We then held hands and practiced our shabbat ritual, followed by our 2nd grade friends visiting to tell us what we had to be excited about for next year. When they left, our kids were buzzing with excitement about using real candles for Shabbat (vs. the electronic type we use) and facilitating the Tzedakah Harvest, a major mitzvah that engages the entire Havurah community. We had some freeplay on the roof, then joined all of the other classes for an all-Havurah sing. It was wonderful to see how much our friends enjoyed this year.  See you next week for Camp Satoga at 1pm. Ali won't be able to make it but Megan (our talented house musician!) will be stepp...

Dear Fantastic First Grade Havurah Families, We had a special class this week learning about the full cycle of food- from it's production to consumption. We started our day off with our Shabbat Ritual, linking arms and connecting to one another as we said the blessing over the Challah, grape juice, and candles. During Shabbat snacks, our special guest Jeremy from Repair The World introduced our theme for the day of access to food. Jeremy asked the class if we liked food and what our favorite foods were. From spinach to mozzarella sticks, our class agreed that food is a delicious and important resource. It gives us energy, makes us happy and all children should be able to enjoy it! We then were joined by the First Grade Bet class for Music with Megan! With Yom Ha'atzmaut around the corner, we sang "Am Yisrael Chai" (lit. "The People of Israel Live!") and Megan taught us that Israel isn't just a place but also a living breathing people.  A...