Hi, it's Kaylee, Max, Ellie, Ben, Marc, Justin, and Anna from Yardena's class.
We got an assignment from Rabbi Jay to find prayers that we like and make posters about them and why we like them.

Max made a poster of Bar'chu he chose it because its the shortest prayer but it still says alot about togetherness as a congregation and pray to g-d.

Kaylee made a poster about the V'ahavtah. She liked the prayer because she was curious about "what if G-d did not choose us, would the world be different."






Ben made a poster about the V'ahavtah and the Yotzeir. He chose these prayers because he feels that you should love G-d  and it's teachings. 

 Anna's poster is about multiple poems that all talked about life's
journey. She liked these poems because she also questions life.







Ellie made a poster of the Tefila. She chose it because she does not want to be afraid to speak up and wants to be able to ''open up her lips."

  Justin made a poster of Yitgadal he chooses it because he really likes how g-d created the world according to plan.

Posters about Prayers

Hello it's Jack Levine from Yardena's class. Rabbi Jay gave us a assignment to chose a prayer that we like and make a poster about it. The projecrt was fun and colorful.

The girls created a poster about the V'shamru prayer. It explains why they like the prayer and what Shabbat means to them. They especially like Shabbat at camp. They even got into a discussion/debate about Shabbat at camp with Rabbi Jay.

The boys created a poster about God. We each chose our own prayers, but they were are about God. We even wrote the first line (in Hebrew) of the prayers we choose. Pareker chose: The Avot v'Imachot (the prayer of Mothers and Fathers. Jack chose: S'hma--that God is OUR God. Jonathan chose: Emet V'yatziv.

Teen Summer Programs Guide!

Creating Peace

The 10th and 11th graders came together last night in Sha'arim to talk about creating peace. From the conflict in the Middle East to friendship dynamics here in Needham, we explored what it took to overcome our differences.  Please click here for Rabbi Jay's words on the situation in Israel sent out to the congregation last week.

We found that the key to peace is truly understanding. Maybe Ralph Waldo Emerson sums it up for us:

“Peace cannot be achieved through violence; it can only be attained through understanding.”

We felt that the only way to bridge a gap, bring people together and to overcome conflict was to find common ground. Nikki and Marla found common ground in their LOVE of camp and value they place on the friendship of their camp friends.

Common Ground

Sometimes a new friend is just across the table! Sophie and Emily discovered a new found bond over their favorite TV show. Clearly a match made in Hollywood!

In small groups of new friends, we talked about Maimonodies comentary on Pirkei Avot 6:1, regarding friendship:

"Friends? There are three kinds of friends. Friends made to achieve a goal, friends who pursue pleasure together, and friends who lift one another up."

We came up with a list of the qualities attributed to a friend who lifts another up. What qualities would you list?

Finish This Picture!

For our last class together before we rotate to the next Israel specialty, seventh graders in my art class used their imaginations to fill in the blanks! Given half a photo of a place in Israel (including Tel Aviv, the Western Wall, Eilat, the Negev and the Caesarea ruins), students were instructed to use their knowledge of Israel to finish the picture. The results were really cool! Here are a few in progress..

Eye of the Storm

Seventh graders spent yesterday's Holocaust and Human Behavior class watching "Eye of the Storm," a fascinating documentary about one teacher's classroom experiment. After the assassination of Martin Luther King, Jr. one elementary school teacher decided to teach her students about discrimination by separating them based on their eye color and giving preferential treatment first to "the brown eyes" and later to "the blue eyes." These children showed how influential discrimination can be, especially when it comes from authorities and peers. After the movie, we discussed the experiment's relevance to our own lives. We'll continue learning more about discrimination as we study the Holocaust.

Telem!

Tonight at First Parish, Telem students were eager to get to work!  From serving meals, to handing out milk cartons, washing tables and folding linens, the Telem crew worked hard.  Tonight, students sat down and joined the guests while they ate their desserts.  They met different people and heard their stories.  Many are homeless because they were laid off and had been living paycheck to paycheck.  Some of them have places to live, but, they can't afford food.  All of them are so appreciative of our kids and what they do.
What was so cool about today was that in our Holocaust and Human Behavior Class, we talked about pre-judging.  During the evening at First Parish some students tied in the concept of pre-judging to the guests who come to First Parish.  They talked about not judging people because of the way they look or because they may not have a place to live.  They said "they're just like the rest of us."  It was wonderful to see how they applied what they learned in one class, to a real-life experience.  They do us proud!!!

 Circle time.  Talking about their experiences of the evening.

 Washing, drying and folding the table linens!

 Counting the guests who come in. Oh yeah, and being SO cool about it, too!!

Milk, anyone?

Awesome Opportunity for our 7th and 8th Graders!

Ohabai Shalom, a local synagogue in Brookline, MA is hosting their annual JOSTY shul-in. This is an event where regional seventh and eighth graders come together and get a "taste" of NFTY, our high school regional youth group. Our participants will be able to meet peers from all around our region, Albany to Maine, Connecticut to the Cape, and get excited for participation in NFTY in the future! This event includes sleeping over at the temple, who doesn't love a good shul-in??

If you or your teen are interested please let me know, I have the paperwork to fill out!
My email is asimpson@tbsneedham.org!

Our Next BESTY Event!!

Come learn about different religions and what food means to them! Then make some food that is traditional of these religions and their people and donate them to local shelters. Who doesn't want to cook up some good this time of year?
Email Alison if you or your teen would like to go!

Our Next Jr. BESTY event!!

This is the flyer for our next Jr. BESTY event! We are going to be creating the story of Chanukah on sheet cakes and then eating it! What could be better? Pizza is included for lunch. Let us know if you or your sixth or seventh grader would like to attend!

Exodus Lesson 1: Heroes/ Standing up for what is right

Today, we began the first lesson from the book of Exodus.
Each child got to share their feelings on what they believe defines a "hero." There were many thoughtful answers; A few are listed below:
Lizzy: "Someone who others look up to.

Adam: "Someone who changes people's lives in positive ways."

Ian: "Someone who stands up for themselves."

Garrett: "Someone who puts others needs before their own."

Danny K: "Anyone can be a hero if others benefit from their good deeds."

The students then skimmed a few books of Jewish heroes and chose one which stood out to them. They shared with the class the different people they chose, any why they are considered historical hero's in Jewish society. Some of the students chose the following:

Sammy: Jonas Salk-Developed first affective polio vaccine

Maxine: Golda Meir-Fought for peace in Israel.

Spencer: Leonard Kaplan- Made executive decision to build community centers in Boston. in 1976 became leader of CJP. Combined Jewish Philanthropies of Boston.

The students had very thoughtful responses regarding heroism. We learned how important to be a hero in any way possible.

Hello again!  It's Liana Perlman from Liron's first Sunday Hebrew class.  Today, we read v'havtah and maariv arravim, and learned the meaning of thanksgiving.  The word thank you in Hebrew is todah, and the word for Thanksiging is hodayah.  We started an assignment that my dad, Rabbi Jay Perlman, gave us.  We are supposed to write a list of things in our lives that we are thankful for, then write a letter to G-d.  When the congregation goes to Israel in a few weeks, my dad will put our letters in the Western Wall.  Time for snack!  We will be blogging again soon!

On the Outside

Seventh Graders spent yesterday's class learning through games. We played Follow the Leader, Find the Ring, and a funny game I like to call Round Red Rover! Through this series of games, the seventh graders started to understand what it's like to form a group where some people are "in the know" and others are left out.

Afterwards, we discussed what it felt like to be both on the inside and the outside of the group. Students noted that when they were a part of the group, they felt powerful, like they were a part of something, like they had a secret. They also recognized that it was funny, in this situation, when someone was left out.

But when we started to connect these games to what happened to the Jews during the Holocaust, we realized it isn't so funny to leave people out. The seventh graders had some great questions, like how come the Jews didn't leave Germany when they began to be treated differently? Why didn't anyone stand up for their Jewish neighbors? Throughout the rest of the year, we'll be discussing these issues in greater depth.

Ask your child what it felt like to be on the inside!

Our favorite prayers

I had the privilege to be present in two incredibly moving discussions sessions with Rabbi Jay and my 6 Grade Hebrew classes.
 A few weeks ago , Rabbi Jay gave our 6 graders an assignment to seek a prayer in English from the Siddur. It needed to be a prayer that touches their hearts, that "speaks" to them,  and they needed to prepare a short presentation as to why it was meaningful to them.
Our 6 graders has gone above and beyond,  with beautiful artwork, deep, thoughtful presentations and open minds and has made me feel so proud and honored to be their teacher this year.
There are more assignments to come, and I will keep everyone posted as I'm sure, we will continue to be amazed by the creativity and maturity our 6 graders present.

 The stunning work will be displayed in TBS soon, be sure to talk a look!

Cooking goes Syrian!

The Tuesday night Cooking Sha'ar explored our first recipe with meat: Syrian meatballs, or Keftes! We talked about where Syria was located and what we associate when we hear Syria, and then we made our own meatballs and sauce! We like to make extra so that we can share and Rachel loved them!!

-Alison

What Makes A Hero?

Our sixth grade class has just started the book of Exodus, and we started off with a new activity! We read the short excerpt that describes how the midwives in Egypt were defying the Pharaoh's orders and let the Israelite babies live, and then talked about what makes someone a hero. Do they have to save a life to be a hero? Can it be someone we admire? Are we all heroes??

We then broke up into pairs and researched some modern day Jews to determine if we saw them as heroes as well. Some range from Aly Raisman to Rabbi Rick Jacobs, Jon Stewart to Steven Spielberg. We ended the class with a discussion about if these people were heroes like the heroic midwives in the Torah.

-Alison

Samantha's Holocaust and Human Behavior Learns through Games

Learning through games and seeing how things feel

Dear Families,

We had a wonderful lesson in my Holocaust and Human Behavior class yesterday.  We started off with a discussion about inclusion and exclusion, to frame the games we were about to play to demonstrate these ideas.  The students have obviously learned a lot in other classes in school and at TBS about bullying, exclusion, and inclusion, yet in our H and HB class we wanted to show them what it actually felt like to be in these different situations.

We played 3 games, all of which some people were excluded and left out of the circle.  They didn't know the secret, or who was in charge, or who the leaders were who were running the games.

We then had two small group discussions about how it felt in each game to be a part of the circle, or to be the one who was excluded.

Ask your students these questions:
1.  What did it feel like to be a part of the circle?
2.  What did it feel like to be excluded during the games?
3.  Is being a part of the circle the same thing as being "in" the circle?  What are the similarities and differences.
4.  What does it feel like to be included or excluded in real life, in school or with friends?

I was very impressed by this group's answers, and look forward to more classes!  

Have a very Happy Thanksgiving, and see you all when we return to Gesher L'Noar!

Samantha

Genesis Siyum

Today during Gesher L' Noar Judaic class, we finished up our unit on the book of Genesis. The students worked in Chevruta (pairs) to make a collage of topics related to lessons they learned during this unit.
Each group was responsible for collaging a portion, related to the Hebrew letters which spell out Bereshit, meaning "in the beginning" referring to G-d's creation of the world and the events that followed soon after.

The hebrew letters that spell Bereshit are bet, resh, alef, shin, yud and tuv.

This took a lot of hard work and reaching into their memories to complete this project. I believe they had a fun time recapping and celebrating the completion of this unit.

TELEM!

Today at First Parish, students got right to work.  Time seemed to fly as they served salad, soup and then dinner.  Some of the jobs that students will have a chance to do this year are: plating (serving the meal) serving soup, pouring milk, serving dessert and counting how many guests come to dinner.  It's important to know how many guests are served so that the meal program can continue to be funded.  Tonight, students also had the chance to sit and talk with some of the guests while they all enjoyed dessert!

Inclusion/Exclusion

What does it feel like to be part of a group? What does it feel like to be excluded from a group?  These were two of the questions that students grappled with today.  Students participated in several activities today that were designed to help them better understand the issues of inclusion and exclusion.  Upon completion of the activities, students talked about what it felt like to be part of a group (felt good, felt like they were part of something) and what it felt like to not be part of a group (sad, humiliated).  Understanding behavior like this continues to set the stage for understanding choices and why people do the things that they do.