HSRS Announcements (Hodaahot הוֹדָוֹת) New Information Calling all siddurim!!! If you currently have a copy of Har Shalom's siddur/prayerbook, that you are not actively needing, please return ASAP. We have many b'nai mitzvahs and grade-level Shabbat services over the next few months that will be needing these copies. Thank you!
Previous Information Sent! TZEDAKAH! Prior to spring break, each class will be designing mitzvah projects. All the money collected through weekly tzedakah contributions will be used for the project. This is a great way to be a mensch and a wonderful habit to form at a young age!
Important Dates & Upcoming Events
January 24- TuBeshvat celebrated for grades 3-7 January 24- BBYO Meeting at 6:30pm (come as early as 5:15!) January 27- 2nd/3rd grade Havdallah from 5:30-7:30pm January 28- NO SCHOOL FOR 2ND AND 3RD GRADES ONLY January 28- Camp Fair from 12-1pm February 3- 6th grade Saturday Morning Shabbat Service February 3- Teen Event off campus, 4:30-8pm (see below!) February 4- NO SCHOOL FOR 6TH GRADE ONLY February 4- Beresheet Day 4 at 10:30am February 10- 4th/5th grade Havdallah from 5:30-7:30pm February 11- NO SCHOOL FOR 4TH AND 5TH GRADES ONLY
BBYO & Teens In Madrichim enrichment, Dr. Renee Cohn Jones came to talk about Tikkun Olam. The teens also got to learn how to make balloon animals!! We will be starting our Mitzvah Project next week :)
Teen of the Week! Cory is one of our 3rd grade madrichim. He is great at getting his classes attention and knows when to help them settle down. He leads groups well and is able to explain things in detail so they understand. Thank you for all you do!
Synagogue & Community News
From Our Teachers
Beresheet (Preschool) Day 3 of Creation had us busy with land and plants. We played with kinetic sand, made and ate "pudding dirt cups", plant grass and microgreen terrariums, and celebrated TuBeshvat by reading a book about trees and trying new fruits that come from trees. We will meet again on February 4.
Kitah Gan (Kindergarten) Sunday from Morah JoJo- Hey everyone! Sunday was all about trees, we talked about trees, tasted the fruit of the trees, and did tree themed arts and crafts. We started with tasting different fruits and nuts, rating the sweetness and sourness of each. We then moved on to planting our very own peach trees, the germinating seeds will be ready in 4-8 weeks. After snack we read a story about Tu’Beshvat and crafted trees from our hands and paper. We had our Hebrew lesson and learned a new letter, Vav. And finally, we had quick art contest with play-dough. the kids were all fantastic, see you next week. HOMEWORK: Next week will be our party week, everyone should try to wear comfy clothes and bring a stuffed animal to sit with during our movie.
Kitah Alef (First Grade) Sunday from Morah Katie- In class we started with a TuBeshvat celebration, where we went to three different stations celebrating this holiday and trees. The first station we went to was breaking open peach pits to get the peach seed inside and getting it ready so it can one day be planted. The next station we read a book about TuBeshvat, and the last station we got to try all different types of foods from trees. We then went back to our class room and reviewed the letters from the Hebrew alphabet we know and talked about the letter Het. We then finished our day by talking about the story of Abraham and Sarah and what makes them important people and then we made fortune tellers that were Sarah and Abraham themed.
Kitah Bet (Second Grade) Sunday from Morah Anne- Hi All! I hope you had a wonderful weekend. We were so busy on Sunday as we learned about and celebrated Tu B’Shevat. We had several mini rotations as we tried new foods, read stories, and tried our hand at sprouting a peach tree seed. (we will know if we were successful in 4-6 weeks.) We also had story time with Safrenit Judy where we learned about Jewish Art before making “stained glass” windows. We certainly packed a lot in a short amount of time. Have a great week and I look forward to seeing everyone on Saturday for Havdalah!
Kitah Gimel (Third Grade) Wednesday from Morah Robin- we followed up on the discussion we had with Rabbi Finestone from Sunday, January 14, 2024. Rabbi shared with us that Abraham was the first Jew because he was the first to believe in one G-d. We read “Abraham and the Idols” from the book, Torah – The Growing Gift. This story is a midrash about Abraham destroying the clay statues of Gods his father created because he realized that clay idols cannot be Gods, there is only one God. The class then acted out a play “Abram Walks with God” which teaches the Hebrew concept Shalom Bayit – families should live at peace. We talked about the importance of families living at peace and what we can each do to work toward Shalom Bayit in our own homes. After a short break, we discussed a few Shalom Bayit scenarios and what we would do in each situation. Finally, we did a “Blessing of the House” art project that can be hung up at home to remind us of Shalom Bayit.
Sunday from Morah Robin- We had a very productive morning in Kitah Gimmel. After Shira, we worked on a Tu B’Shevat coloring page, word search, and maze. You can see the beautiful art work hanging in the hallway outside our classroom. We then had Storytime with Judy. She read a beautifully illustrated story about artist Marc Chagill and then the students made stained glass windows reminiscent of Chagill’s artwork. After a short snack break, we began our discussion about the upcoming holiday Tu B’Shevat. The kiddos got to test their knowledge of what they just learned by playing Tu B’Shevat Tic-Tac-Toe. What competitive students!!! And since Tu B’shevat focuses on the environment, we transitioned over to Torah Lesson 7 in our Chai Curriculum – Parashat B’har: The Sabbatical Year – Holiness of the Earth. This lesson is about God telling the Israelites to give the land a rest from farming every seven years. In their Chai workbooks, the students did an amazing job writing about the importance of this commandment and some students even wrote a letter to God (pretending to be a piece of land) and how appreciative they are to get a rest after 6 years of planting. What an amazing morning we had!!!
Kitah Dalet (Fourth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Merav- We are making Hebrew flash cards. We each made 8 cards with 8 words. We will make more and everybody will get to bring a deck home to practice.
Wednesday from Morah Sophie- In this week’s class, we got back to discussing values of Judaism. We focused on sh’lom bayit, or peace in the home, by reading a story about a family who went to their rabbi for help to create more peace in their home. Then, I read scenarios and everyone had to choose how they would respond to them!
Sunday from Morah Merav- We made 8 more flash cards with 8 more words. We had Storytime with Judy. We learned about the Ashkenazi Jewish community of Belarus and Judy read a story about artist Marc Chagall. We also made our own ‘stained glass windows’. We ended our time together watching the end of the movie ‘Elemental’.
Sunday from Morah Sophie- We continued working on the G’milut Chasadim section of class which explores Torah lessons through giving kindness. We played a game for the students to get to know each other even better, and the winner won some shekels! Then, we had story time with Judy where she read about Marc Chagall, and artist from Belarus. The students made their own “stained glass windows” then we watched the rest of the movie we started last Sunday.
Kitah Hay (Fifth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Lauren- Kitah Hay did a great job on their Hebrew lesson. They also took thorough notes. Morah Lauren was impressed! We were all a bit stir crazy from spending days indoors!
Sunday from Morah Lauren- Kitah Hay on Sunday learned about the prophets Samuel and Hosea and their struggles leading our ancestors. They learned Samuel anointed Saul and David as Israel’s Kings. Rabbi Finestone met with Kitah Hay and answered questions on Jewish history and our beliefs. The students had insightful questions and comments. On Wednesday, we will start learning the V’ahafta. Looking forward to seeing all!
Kitah Vav (Sixth Grade) Wednesday from Morah Debbie, subbing for Morah Leah- I had the pleasure again of subbing for Morah Leah. After T'filah, where we completed learning Adon Olam, we decoded a letter from Morah Leah. Ask your student what the message was and what their answer to the question was. Following a rousing round of Apples to Apples (Jewish edition) during break, we watched a video reading of The Lorax, as a precursor to Tu B'shvat. Thanks for sharing your students with me!
Sunday from Morah Leah- Sunday was a busy day. After shira (songs) in the sanctuary, the class moved to the classroom where we had story time with Judy. We learned about Mark Chagall from Belarus, and we made our own stained glass windows. Ask your student to show you theirs. We then began work on our D'var, which is the teaching we will be leading on Saturday, February 3 at our service. Please mark your calendars! Then we had Rabbi Finestone come in and assign parts for that service. Then snack and break outside and back in with more work on our D’var. Shavua Tov - A good week to you all.
Kitah Zayin (Seventh Grade) Wednesday from Rabbi Finestone- For the first half of class, we practiced the Adon Olam prayer, which was taught during Tefilah. We had fun singing Adon Olam to different melodies from popular culture and music. During the second half of class, we looked at the following moral dilemma: a soldier can only save himself or his badly wounded friend, but he cannot save both. Who does he save? We looked at a similar problem in the Talmud, when two friends only have enough water to save one of them. Who will get the water? We looked at different Jewish answers through the centuries, all of which teach that you have to save your own life first. It was a really tough dilemma.
Sunday from Morah Michelle- we continued our study on the Holocaust. First, students investigated how propaganda was used to incite hatred in Nazi Germany. I put examples of propaganda up around the room and students took notes on what they saw, whether it was an example of an old or new use of antisemitism and how the image reflected Nazi ideology. Many of the examples shown were created or featured children and we discussed how children are especially easy to influence and manipulate. The second part of our lesson helped students understand how easy it is for ordinary people to be influenced into committing atrocities. In the early 1960s, Stanley Milgram, a psychologist at Yale, was interested in researching how far people would go in obeying an instruction if it involved harming another person. He discovered that 65% of the participants in his study were capable of administering lethal doses of electricity if there was an authority figure in the room with them, ordering them to continue. Milgram concluded that ordinary people are likely to follow orders given by an authority figure, even to the extent of killing an innocent human being. Obedience to authority is ingrained in us all from the way we are brought up. Knowing this unfortunate truth about human behavior allows us to be on alert when placed in uncomfortable situations and to try our best to listen to that little voice inside ourselves that tells us right from wrong. It was an interesting lesson with a good discussion.
From Our Specials
Shira News Lots of familiar songs this week and we look forward to trying a few new soon! We had a lot of fun singing Gesher Tzar Me'od. Take a listen!
Tefillah News Tefillah Josh is working through Adon Olam. We talked about how this prayer can be sung to many different tunes. For now, we are learning the "call and response" version. Take a listen.
News from the Sifriyah (Library) Book Bingo Reading Challenge: Congratulations to Lila J. in Kita Vav for completing her Bingo Card!! She's the first person to do so. Whoo hoo!! Let's see how many more students can earn prizes for reading books! Remember that PJ Library and PJ Our Way books count too!
Storytime: Kitahs Bet, Gimmel, Dalet and Vav visited an Ashkenazi community in Europe, specifically Belarus, and read a story about the painter Marc Chagall. After showing the classes pictures of the Chagall stained glass windows in the synagogue at Hadassah Hospital in Jerusalem, all the students got to make their very own stained glass window! They came out beautifully! Kitah Gimmel is going to hang theirs in their classroom window, so take a look!
News from the Kitchen We will see Morah Ellen and Morah Shoshanna back in the kitchen in February!
