On the Jewish calendar, we may be only two weeks away from Tu B’Shvat, but in this week’s Torah Portion, Bo, it’s Passover – THE original Passover! Pharaoh remains steadfast in his refusal to free the Israelite slaves. As a result, three more plagues ( locusts, darkness, and death of the first born) descend, upon […]
Is It O-OK Not To Be Perfect?
Welcome back and happy 2011. It was striking to watch everyone’s re-entry this week. The parents arrived at school describing their feelings of exhaustion as they came back into the swing of things but the children came into 2011 with focus and energy, seeming to have grown inches over our two short weeks apart. The classrooms were […]
Shalom Kitah Gimel Students and Families #12
Welcome back from winter vacation and welcome to second semester. We started off 2011 with every Kitah Gimel student present! After students led the Blessings for Torah Study and cookies, we launched into a review of the Hebrew vocabulary which students had practiced during their vacation. Students demonstrated good recall of word meanings and everyone […]
A Message on a Fence
Several times this week, I’ve driven by an elementary school near my house. The school is bordered by a metal mesh fence. This week, there is a message on the fence spelled out in bright pink plastic cups pushed through the mesh. “We ‘heart’ you Mrs. Diller RIP” the large pink letters read. The message […]
Reflections on Va’era
We are only a few hours away from the dawn of 2011. The media are blaring out New Year’s advice in every form – “4 Money-Making Investments!” “6 Steps to Six-Pack Abs!” “8 Solutions to Household Clutter!” How about “7 Ways to Get Out of Egypt!” This item isn’t from CNBC or “The Martha Stewart […]
Report Cards – A Positive Approach
For many religious school teachers, it’s report card time. The synagogue-based religious school where I teach uses the term, “Progress Report,” which is a more accurate description of this document in the context of a two-day-a-week religious education program. Unlike the grade and behavior oriented report cards of a secular school or Jewish day school, […]
Building blocks for the future
I’ve written a lot over the last year and a half about creating a Jewish tomorrow. Cyd Weissman, Director of Innovation in Congregational Learning at The Jewish Education Project recently posted a piece entitled “inspired by a student: an article about new models” on her blog Cyd Weissman Takes LOMED Challenge. In it she presents […]
The Bible Code – Holy or Hole-y
The History Channel recently featured a lengthy program called “The Bible Code.” The Bible Code is a computer generated search of the Hebrew Torah Text for “grids” of words that allegedly prophesize some cataclysmic historical event such as Napoleon’s conquests, World War II, or 9/11. The Bible Code turns the Torah into a giant word […]
Words of Wisdom for Shabbat – Shemot
This week’s Torah Portion, Shemot, begins Sefer Shemot or the Book of Exodus. In Parshat Shemot, a cruel Pharaoh comes to power. Baby Moses is rescued from the Nile by Pharoah’s daughter. When grown, Moses kills an Egyptian who is beating a Jewish slave and flees to Midian where he marries Jethro’s daughter, Zipporah. God […]
People of the Kindle?
A friend came to visit recently and brought his new Kindle. It was the first time I’d seen one close-up. Our friend described the Kindle’s amazing capabilities including its capacity to store 3000 books. “It only takes a few seconds to download an entire book,” he pointed out. Could the Kindle be a metaphor for […]
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