Yad b'Yad Harvest!

Hi YBY Families,

What a wonderful mitzvah project we shared this past Sunday. YBY families came out in full force to harvest over 350 pounds of fruit! That is enough to feed 70 people three meals for a day. Wow!

While there are many ways to make a difference in one's community, it is always wonderful to get out there and do hands-on service work. There are many opportunities for families to do service projects together and I encourage you all to seek out these experiences in the future. It is a great way to continue to live the values of tikkun olam (repairing the world) and gemilut chasadim (acts of loving kindness). I encourage you to check out www.volunteermatch.org for a large listing of service projects available. You can search by region, age level, physical labor level and more! Temple Isaiah also has many opportunities available and have recently launched a Values in Action campaign to organize the social action experiences.

Here are some photos from our project. A special thank you to Bridget for organizing the whole project and connecting YBY with Urban Farmers!

Chag Pesach Sameach!

Hi YBY Families,

I hope you are having a wonderful Pesach! It has been a great week of family time and creative use of non-leavened products! We had a great final session last Sunday before our two week break. We learned about haknasat orchim - welcoming guests. The Jewish people have a long tradition of being gracious hosts - all the way back to Abraham and Sarah. Here is a little video we showed in class that described the most well-known example of Abraham and Sarah welcoming guests into their tent -

 

I hope many of you also used your "Welcome to Our Seder" signs this past week. The kids had a lot of fun making them and learning about the symbols of Passover.

 One last picture of us learning a new song in TPR - the Hebrew version of head, shoulders, knees and toes!

We have another week off next week but we will see the kids on 4/14 and we will all come together on 4/21 for our Yad b'Yad Mitzvah Day project - more details to come!

L'Shalom,

Julie and Bridget

Tzedakah update!

Following up on our Tzedakah-focused lesson a few weeks ago, we wanted to give an update on our own Tzedakah collection thus far. Congratulations to the class for filling up our classroom Tzedakah box! The children contributed over $27.00 so far. We will continue to collect Tzedakah and/or non-perishable foods items each week that we meet.

We make collection Tzedakah a ritual part of each weekly session. The children enjoy feeling the box get heavier each week with their donations. We also engage in discussions about why we give and where the donations go. Here’s a link for at home discussion ideas and some recommended reading:

http://www.pjlibrary.org/Parents-and-Families/Reading-Tips-and-Resources/Jewish-Values/Tzedakah.aspx

Bringing tzedakah home

This week, we discussed the topic of tzedakah, which is a term and idea we use a lot at Temple Isaiah and in Religious School. Each week, we collect tzedakah for the general Religious School fund (YBY is doing quite well so far!) and many of us have tzedakah boxes at home. When I ask the students where the money goes from our little blue box, the answer is always a resounding "poor people". The students certainly understand the need to help those less fortunate than ourselves.

This week, we brainstormed some things besides money that people may need. The list included toys, socks, clothes, shelter, food, water and more. We knew that kids and parents may need different things. Many students talked about how a stuffed animal or toy could provide comfort for a child while a parent may prefer food or shelter.

There are many great resources about teaching tzedakah to your children and making it a part of your family's activities. Check out this article for basic topics you can discuss with your children. I hope you enjoyed the home-made tzedakah box project and will begin filling them up as a family!

Here are some photos from the day. What great creativity!

Looking forward to our next sessions!

Julie and Bridget

Chag Purim Sameach!

When the month of Adar enters, our joy increases!

-Teachings of the Ancestors

Purim is just a few days away! Purim is a very exciting holiday and always a family favorite because of the costumes, carnivals, spiels and hamentaschen. I look forward to seeing all of the creative costumes on Sunday!

The URJ (Union for Reform Judaism) website has tons of great Purim resources to bring the celebration home. Check it out here - http://www.reformjudaism.org/jewish-holidays/purim. Through the many heroes and heroines of the story, we learn to stand up for ourselves, our people and our beliefs. At Temple Isaiah, there are many ways to celebrate Purim from the Purimspiel on Saturday night to the Purim carnival and kids' purimspiel on Sunday morning.

In our celebrations and revelery, it is also important to think of the less fortunate and perform acts of social justice on this holiday. We are commanded not only to eat, drink, and be merry, but also to give matanot l’evyonim (gifts to the poor) and tzedakah (literally “justice,” but understood as “charity”). You can learn about other methods to add some justice to this holiday here.

See you Sunday in your Purim best!

L'Shalom,

Julie and Bridget

No Lashon Hara!

Kulanu held a wonderful event on Saturday and I enjoyed seeing so many of the Yad b’Yad families bowling together. Everyone seemed to be having a great time!

Our lesson this week was about Lashon Hara (Do not gossip). We shared two activities
with the class that focused on the power of speech by using positive words, separating kind from
unkind words and sharing kind thoughts about each other using positive words. We discussed the
power our words have (both good and bad) on others and how we feel when other people choose
positive and/or negative words about us. We also played the telephone game to show how our
words can change over time. We discussed how we often lose the meaning of words when we whisper to one another, which is often how gossip and negative thoughts are spread.

We shared a story that tells of the far-reach of our words and why we must be careful with what we say and who we share our thoughts with. In the book, the Rabbi explains that spreading gossip by telling or re-telling something about a person cannot be undone just as it is impossible to gather up the many feathers scattered by a torn feather pillow.

The children shared their thoughts about the lesson in circle time. If you’d like to continuethe learning at home here are some questions to consider as a family from the URJ (Union of Reform Judaism www.urj.org):

Questions and Ideas for Parents:
1. Can you think of an instance in which you spoke ill of someone and later wished that you hadn't said anything?
2. Have you ever spoken of someone in a way that positively affected his or her life, his or her reputation?
3. What do you think you would say to your child if he or she were "gossiping" about a friend or classmate?

Questions for Children:
1. Have you ever told a lie about someone? Do you know why you told that lie?
2. How does it make you feel when you tell someone that you like something they did?
3. Do you have rules in your classroom or your home for how to talk about people or to people?

We look forward to seeing you this week for another family session! It's hard to believe we're almost 2/3 through the year!

Until next time,
Bridget and Julie

We Love Our Animals!

I hope you enjoyed the nice long weekend and are gearing up for another great family session in Yad b'Yad this Sunday. At our last session, we talked about many of the students' favorite subject - animals! The middah that encourages us to be kind to animals is called tzar ba'alay chayim. Treating animals with respect and dignity is very high up in our priorities as Jewish people. We talked about some of the laws related to treating animals nicely and why we care about our animals so much. We watched a G-dCast video that discusses the torah portion that is most often referenced when discussing this middah. Check it out here -

After a lively music and TPR session, we spent time thinking about what our favorite types of animals would say if they could speak to us. Each group then performed skits as their favorite animals - we had dogs who said "I love you!" and hamsters who explored the classroom while the students were at home.

I look forward to seeing you all this Sunday!

Stay warm,
Julie

Happy New Year!

It's hard to believe we're already nearly two weeks into 2013. Hopefully everyone is still going strong on their New Year's Resolutions! We had a great first week back in Yad b'Yad. We talked about avodah (prayer), which is one of the most central tenants of Judaism. However, it can also be a challenging subject to teach and understand for younger children. For the past several weeks in tefillah, Rabbi Greninger has been asking the students to think about when and why they pray and we had a similar conversation in class. Students answered that they most often pray to ask for something (like a good teacher or for someone to feel better) or to say thank you (for our parents, friends and lives). The students had great responses!

As we discussed as families, the Shema and Modeh Ani are great "bookends" to your day with Modeh Ani in the morning and the Shema right before we go to sleep. Here are a few photos of you all working together:

Here are Aeryn and her dad adding their family onto Aeryn's shema pillowcase! 

Danny and his mom work on tracing the letters of the shema onto the pillowcase - great idea!