Shalom Religious School Parents!
Message from Rabbi Benjy Bar-Lev, Director of Education
Shalom Religious School Families,
Wow! What a weekend we had at Temple Beth Shalom. If you were one of the parents who came to Temple on Sunday morning to meet all the new and prospective families you saw and felt the positive energy buzzing through the building. It was a terrific time! If you have any feedback for us, please feel free to email or call me.
It’s hard to believe that there are only two more days of Religious School. Please remember that next week, May 10th, is our last “regular” class, and the week after that we will be doing awards, a huge and ridiculous Color War and a picnic. In the coming week you’ll receive a postcard indicating what color each of your children should wear on Sunday, May 17th. If you are interested in helping with the Picnic, please let Mindy Agin (enaiman@columbus.rr.com) know.
At the end of this summer, perhaps Monday August 17th – Thursday August 20th, we would like to offer a Hebrew Camp, where students can come for half the day, work on Hebrew and have a fun time with other TBS kids. If you are at all interested in that, please reply to the email and let me know. We’ll need a critical mass to make this happen!
Finally, you’ve probably heard by now, but we are happy to announce that Rabbi Debbie Lefton will be joining our staff next year. Rabbi Debbie will be teaching a program we’re calling “Sunday School For Adults,” which will focus on Jewish parenting, helping parents learn more about Shabbat services and some basic Adult Hebrew. She will also be helping to run the administration of the school.
Highlights from this morning:
As always, to see pictures from this morning please visit www.tbsohiokt.com!
The Kindergarten class welcomed lots of guest students in their classroom. They learned about the letter “shin” and “tav,” finishing their learning of the Hebrew Alphabet! They also talked about the Israelites in the wilderness, beginning with the 10 commandments. They finished the morning with a felt art project about the 10 commandments.
- The 1st Grade class had a discussion and project on the Torah’s instruction to farmers not to plow the edges of their field to leave some crops for those who are needy. This coincided with this week’s Torah portion.
- The 2nd Grade class discussed “welcoming a stranger.” They talked about welcoming new classmates at school, at camp and at Religious School. They did lots of role-playing and had a great time learning about this important Jewish value!
- The 3rd Grade class continued learning about Israel and celebrated its birthday last week – Yom Ha’atzmaut with games and fun.
The 4th Grade class started learning about different ways to be Jewish, specifically about Reform, Conservative, Orthodox and Reconstructionist Judaism. They had a fabulous class discussion that could have gone on forever! They talked about and sampled Kosher foods.
- The 5th Grade class did some getting-to-know-you games at the beginning of class to welcome new students and guests and finished watching a movie on Jewish history that they started last week. They finished the day at an all-school social action rally.
- The 6th Grade class continued to learn about the Reform Movement’s Religious Action Center, which deals with Social Action. They made posters, pamphlets and letters explaining different legislative issues.
- The 7th Grade, High School and the rest of the upper school attended a Social Action Rally in the Sanctuary to promote BREAD, our social action group. This year the group is working on reducing urban blight and continuing to work on issues relating to health care. Please speak with Rabbi Apothaker or visit www.breadcolumbus.org to find out more.
Upcoming Events:
This Sunday, K-2 Services on Sunday are 9:10 a.m. – 9:30 a.m.
- 3-7 Services on Sunday are 10:35 a.m. – 11:00 a.m.
- This Sunday, our 4th Grade students will receive their siddurim (prayer books) in a ceremony during Religious School. Because Chag HaSiddur fell during Spring Break, we would like to give students who weren’t able to be there another chance to receive their siddurim. Students who already received their books are asked to bring them with them that day so that we can “ceremonially” insert a book plate in the front cover!
- Our Next Tot Shabbat is Saturday, May 16th at 4:00 p.m. This fun service and project is perfect for kids ages 2-6!
- On Sunday, May 17th we will have a all-school Maccabbiah (Color War) followed by a family picnic lunch! Watch the mail!
- Please watch the mail for a letter from me describing exciting changes to our Hebrew program and the addition of “chugim” or activities to our daily schedule next year!
L’Shalom,
Rabbi Benjy
