[1.16] 1/24/07

At some time in Jewish History, it was decided that in order to be both Jewish and a pro-active member of society one had to be a socialist, democrat, or a college drop out anarchist. Today many a progressive-thinking Jew translates healing the world, assuming responsibility for the affairs of the human race and world peace into recycling, listening to NPR and drinking fair-trade organic coffee.

It wasn’t always this way. The Torah tells us that when Moshe was in Egypt he was the ultimate activist for his downtrodden brethren. He stood before the Pharaoh, the King of the Egypt, and demanded an end to the cruel lives his fellow Jews were forced to endure daily.

The interesting spin on Moshe’s advocacy is that his personal physical and spiritual life was great. Moshe was from the tribe of Levi. They consisted of tremendous thinkers and scholars, who served as priests and educators for the Jewish people. Pharaoh himself allowed the entire tribe of Levi to pursue their studies without the shackles of bondage.

Moshe could have remained complacent with his own life. He could have lived out his days in Egypt engrossed in his own spiritual development, an island of tranquility in an ocean of pain and suffering. Nevertheless Moshe was the consummate advocate for the Jewish people. He was concerned with the situation of his fellow Jews and actively sought to bring about their redemption.

We can all learn from Moshe never to be satisfied with our own physical and spiritual wellbeing, but rather to be equally concerned with the physical and spiritual welfare of others. To become intellectually engaged in dialogue about social advocacy is praise worthy but unless it translates into concrete action it is just talk radio. To actively work towards enriching, improving, and uplifting others in the spirit of Moshe is the real litmus test for the pro-active Jew.

-written by Rabbi Simcha Levenberg

All the best,

Rabbi Weinberg

Gan - Morah Chana
Today in Hebrew School we started off with learning a new song during davening (prayer). We then learned 3 new Hebrew words: yad yamin (right hand), that we put on our einayim (eyes) when we say Shema. We then learned about the very special commandment – Mitzvah – to love every Jew. We talked about the letter Chet today and reviewed the story of Noah and the flood. The children made arks with 3 floors. The bottom floor was for garbage, the second floor was for all the animals, and the third floor was for people and food.

Kita Aleph (1) - Morah Chava
Today we learned the story of Yaacov going down to Mitzrayim (Egypt). We played a picture guessing game to help us learn the story even better. In Aleph Bet we watched the Lamdeini DVD all about the vowels. The children then broke up into 3 centers: (1) one on one reading, (2) flashcard race, (3) vowel poems. We then played a 2 team Hebrew game. The children continued learning about Ahavat Yisroel, love for fellow Jews. We played a game of Twister to teach us that we are all connected and what one person does affects everyone else. In Hebrew language we glued body parts and labeled them with Hebrew words; we then sang our Yadayim, raglayim and rosh song.

Kita Bet (2) - Morah Devorah Leah
Today Kita Bet began by decorating the Hebrew School bulletin board with some of their recent work. Great job Kita Bet! The class learned about how Hashem took the Jewish people the long way through the desert and led them with clouds to guide and protect them. We learned that the Egyptians chased the Jewish people and that Hashem made a miracle of the sea splitting to save the Jewish people. We then began our Shabbat unit, covering the first few days of creation. For homework the children should complete the Mystery Clue Sheet and the Hebrew words worksheets (by finding the words in the key box that best fit the description).

Kita Gimmel (3) - Morah Rivkah
Today in class we learned about the golden calf and Moshe’s disappointment. We then reviewed our Hebrew letter writing from letters Aleph until Vav. Lastly we worked on our Shabbat booklets until day 5 of creation. For homework the children should bring in tzedakah, a mitzvah note and a pencil and complete the Hebrew writing assignment.

Kita Gimmel (3) - Morah Chana
Today in class we learned a new part of davening (prayer), the Ma Tovu prayer. We then reviewed the 10 plagues and the going out of Egypt with illustrated sheets. The class learned about the sin of the golden calf today with drawing worksheets. Lastly we learned a great lesson about unity based on the Mitzvah of the Machzit HaShekel (half-shekel donation given by every Jew in order to be counted in the national census).

Kita Dalet (4) - Morah Ellana
In Davening today we stopped all along davening (prayer) to discuss what we are saying and the meaning of the prayers. We continued learning about the Kohanim and various parts of the Beit HaMikdash (Temple in Jerusalem), including the Kohain Gadol (high priest) and the menorah. We learned the lessons that the various parts of the Temple service hold for us. We then played a massive review game of Jeopardy to cover all of the material we had learned during the first semester. For homework the students should complete the Jewish history worksheet..

Kita Hay (5) - Morah Mushky
Today Spencer was our Chazan. In Parsha (Torah lesson) we learned that when Yosef was reunited with his brothers he did not embarrass them and he forgave them. Our Building A Better Me curriculum took us to the area of responsibility and we read a real story of “who is responsible.” We learned the first month of the Jewish year, Tishrei, and the holidays that occur in that month. For homework the students should complete page 7 of the Building a Better Me book which is to choose one person from the Torah that they can learn the lesson of responsibility from.

Kita Vav (6) - Morah Tanya
This Sunday Kita Vav got to know our new teacher, and our new teacher got to know us. We davened beautifully and of course, amassed a fortune of Torah dollars, and then we learned about king David, his life and accomplishments and we each found a way to relate to David in our own lives as well-because he felt all the feelings that people in the future generations would feel. After a delicious recess we did Aleph Champ and some of us even graduated to the next level. We then we got the scoop on Jewish uniforms for girls and guys and what they're all about. We played a game to review the material and run around and have fun at the same time and then we said our heartfelt goodbye's until next time.

Kita Zayin (7) - Morah Bracha
We began the day by davening (praying) the entire morning prayers and everyone had a chance to wash their hands the Jewish way & make the blessing on the Tzitzit. We continued learning to write our Hebrew letters, learning final Chof & Samech. Today we introduced a lesson on the topic of Pikuach Nefesh – saving a life in danger and the sacrifice people make for the sake of others. We discussed a story about a soldier who jumped on a bomb to save the lives of the others around him. We then had a special guest, Mr. Shlomo Malka who had served as Major Sergeant in the Israeli Defense Force spoke to the class about his experiences and told stories of people’s lives that he had saved. Lastly, we played a game in which every student contributed sentences to form a story about someone saving a life.