“Each time we say a berachah, we say to ourselves, ‘Pay attention. Something awesome is happening all around us.’ And then we realize that the ordinary world conceals mysteries.” … “When we say God is everywhere, it does not mean that God is invisible. It means that if we look closely, we can find God’s […]

Shalom. In our October 6th Modern Hebrew class, we began by discussing the difference between the Blessings for food and the Blessing for Torah Study – both of which we recite each week. Students expressed their understanding that we acknowledge and thank God as the “Creator” of our food and we recognize God’s Commandment that […]

If walls could talk, the ones in the eduation wing of the synagogue where I teach would say,”Creative learning in progress!” In the hallway, the Early Childhood Center bulletin boards reflect Parshat Noah, our city’s annual Balloon Fiesta, and …gravity. A mosaic-style rainbow made of little colored paper squares arches over a large green and […]

This post started out to be a description of Torah study techniques inspired by a textbook and workbook used in the Israeli public school system. But all that changed when I examined the workbook closely and discovered that it began with a letter. Iona Zielberman and Dalia Korach-Segev, authors of the workbook, had written students […]

In celebration of Simchat Torah – “…the Torah furnishes us with a failproof plan for leading our lives in harmony with God. The ideal of living by Torah is that whatever we do, we will act in unison with God in such a way that there will be no perceptible difference between what we do […]

An amazing on-line resource for enrichment activities is the website BabagaNewz.com BabagaNewz provides a wealth of information, activities, and lesson plans for a multitude of Judaic topics. One small sampling of the offerings on BabagaNewz – I selected “Learning Torah” from a long list of “Jewish Values.” Among the activities featured were a virtual tour […]

In the past few weeks, I’ve written a number of posts detailing the Lesson Plan G.A.M.E. We’ve arrived at the fourth element: E=Extensions and Enrichment. Lesson extensions and enrichment activities enhance and personalize learning as the class progressses toward meeting curricular goals for a topic of study. Example: According to your Lesson Plan, by completing […]

The Gates have closed. The notes of the shofar are a memory. The evening to evening observance of Yom Kippur has provided us with an extended opportunity to think Jewishly about ourselves, our families, our world, and our God. On Yom Kippur, we recall events both joyful and troubling from the past year. We try […]