Inspired by a Torah Aura Productions webinar* on experiential Jewish education, I prepared a “condensed” Seder** for Kitah Gimel. In our 60 minutes together, students blessed, told, sang, questioned, answered, dipped, and ate. Desks pushed end to end and covered with white cloths formed the Seder table – the children’s table , to be exact! At one end of the table, a student declared that he wouldn’t sit next to girls because “girls have cooties.” At the other end, a twosome’s “relationship” blossomed like a spring daffodil amidst the matza crumbs! Students were proud to sing the Ma Nishtanah for our Director of Lifelong Learning who stopped by to wish everyone “Chag Pesach Sameach.” (The Director then invited Kitah Gimel to lead the Ma Nishtanah at Hebrew School T’filah.) Students vied to hold up the yuckiest Plague finger puppets and boasted of how much Maror they could put on their Hillel Sandwiches. In short, at our classroom Seder, the students were like a boisterous group of 12 year old cousins creating Pesach memories and even learning a bit. That’s what experiential Jewish education is about – opportunities to learn and grow through authentic Jewish activities in a welcoming Jewish environment; a chance to create Jewish memories which will endure and shape future engagement in Jewish life long after students have left Kitah Gimel on their individual Jewish Journeys. *For information on Torah Aura Productions webinars and their wealth of innovative Jewish educational resources for teaching and learning, go to www.torahaura.com **Visit my synagogue’s Religious School blog for a more detailed account of the Kitah Gimel Seder www.call-me-doll.blogspot.com
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