Jr BESTY Goes to Kings!

Jr BESTY spent its Sunday afternoon at Kings! We got to bowl, eat, and hang out with friends! How does a Sunday afternoon get better than that??

-Alison

Photos and Fun

"Being Jewish is important to me."

"I'm excited to become bar/bat mitzvah."

"I know at least a little about Israel."

"Chocolate is the best ice cream flavor."

These are just a few statements 7th graders in my new Israel & Art class had to agree or disagree with this week in a game I like call... "Agree or Disagree!" (I can only be so creative...) The game helped us get to know each other a little more and got us thinking a little about how Israel relates to our Jewish identities.

Then we examined a few photos from different places in Israel- from the beach to the desert to the city and everything in between! The 7th graders chose the photos that they liked the most and the photos that seemed to represent Israel the most. Hearing their reasoning was so interesting!

Birkat Kohanim

In our Tuesday Gesher L'Noar class, we started the book of Numbers! We started the book by looking at a prayer we have all probably heard at one point or another: the Priestly Benediction. This prayer is often said at a bris, baby naming, bar/bat mitzvah, or wedding, just to name a few occasions. We looked at the prayer line by line, dissected it a little bit, and then did a study on the symbolism of the prayer. We finished our class by making modge podge creations of the Priestly Benedition, by placing tissue paper through hand cutouts of the symbol. We will hang the creations on the window, so the sunlight shines through them, to remind us that God is watching over us!

-Alison

Cooking: Purim Edition!

Last night at cooking we made Hamantaschen!! We reviewed the story of Purim and why we make Hamantaschen, and then we began to experiment! We added a mixture of strawberry jam, chocolate chips, and M&Ms in our Hamantaschen. And then just like the delivery of mishloach manot baskets to the less fortunate at Purim, we shared our goodies with the other Sha'arim classes!

-Alison

Rosh Hodesh: Beauty in the Purim Story

For 6th grade Rosh Hodesh this month, we looked at the Purim story and its #1 hero... Esther! We found that Esther was chosen as queen for her beauty, but saved the day for the Jews by using her brains and bravery. We used this story as inspiration when talking about the way women are judged on their looks today. Though we agreed that men can also be judged by their looks, we all felt that women are judged more harshly- just like Esther in the beauty contest for queen!

We created two group collages from pictures in magazines. One was a collection of positive representations of women. The other was a collection of negative representations of women. Our positive images included good role models (like Taylor Swift, chosen by several Rosh Hodesh members!), "unlikely" models (like women of color or women who were older than the typical model), women who were promoting healthy lifestyles, and women who weren't wearing lots of make up:

Our negative images included women who made big changes to their looks, women who were unhealthy, and women that were too provocative (including a 10 year old model!):

I found it really interesting that it was so much easier for the girls to find negative representations than positive ones! And we pointed out that even our positive representations often left a lot to be desired. This fascinating activity ended with a viewing of Dove's Campaign for Real Beauty video Evolution (so good we watched it twice!).

10th graders take on the Capital!--Part 1

Check out our snow-filled day one of our annual 10th grade trip to Washington, D.C! 
http://tbsmayim.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Day1-Update.pdf

10th graders take on the Capital!--Part 2

Check out day 2 of our journey to our nation's capital...
http://tbsmayim.org/wp-content/uploads/2013/01/Day2-Update.pdf