Shalom Religious School Parents!
Message from Rabbi Benjy Bar-Lev, Director of Education
Our apologies for the delay in this week's issue, which was due to power outages.
Shalom Religious School Parents!
Shalom from windy New Albany! While there was a lot of “ruach” (“wind” in Hebrew) outdoors today, there was even more “ruach” (also translates as “spirit”) indoors at Temple Beth Shalom! We had a fantastic Sunday with lots of great activities happening in every grade. We hope this enthusiasm continues throughout the whole year!
-
PICTURES PICTURES PICTURES! If you haven’t been on our Newsletter Website, now is a great time to start. Not only can you read the back-issues of “The Weekly Roundup” (good bedtime reading), but you can also see TONS OF PICTURES of each Sunday. We uploaded more than 70 pictures this morning. Go to www.tbsohiokt.com to see them all!
Here are some of the Highlights from the morning:
The Kindergarten class started preparing for Rosh Hashanah with art projects, stories and discussions about the new year. Stop by the classroom to see beautifully colored pictures of apples and honey on the wall!
- Mitkadem Hebrew program started again this morning and it seems that after a long summer there is some pretty great Hebrew retention among our students. This morning students could be found playing Hebrew games, working on their Ramah packets, tweaking their reading skills in the Reading room and a couple even tested out of their current Ramot (levels). Online PDF’s of each Ramah should be up and running in the next couple weeks!
The Kindergarten, 1st and 2nd graders had a great service led by Rabbi Apothaker and Leah Apothaker this morning in their new prayer space downstairs. We are trying a new venue for this service – Room 7 and 8! Stop by and check out our new sacred space during the 10:35 – 11:00 block!
- The 3rd – 10th graders had an energetic and somewhat raucous service in the sanctuary led by Emily Axel and me (Rabbi Benjy). After some prompting the ruach (spirit) was high and the singing was loud. We are still working on clapping on beat…
- Speaking of clapping on beat… Music classes started with our Music Director Gail Rose this morning. Gail’s classes were full of singing, dancing and some general silliness as they learned new music and had lots of fun. Each grade, K-5 will have music most Sunday mornings!
The Chai curriculum classes (3-7) were fantastic this morning. The third grade class is discussing Tikkun Olam (repairing the world) and is planning an exciting field trip for later in the year to do some hands-on work around our community. The sixth graders discussed their ideas of what “revelation” really means, while the fifth graders dove into some exciting history.
- The High School classes started this morning with two blocks (we call them party blocks) with two classes in each block from which the students chose. In the first block some students started the “Tattoo Jews” class about Jewish respona to modern issues, while the other students started the “Pray Ball” class about sports and ethics. In the second block, some students learned Modern Hebrew, while others explored Jewish Meditation. It was a great time and there is always room for more students!
Announcements for next week:
Kindergarten, 1st Grade, and 2nd Grade families should have received a letter and permission slip for next week’s field trip to Lynd’s Fruit Farm. Students and parents will leave from Temple at 9:00 a.m. on Sunday and will return by 11:00 a.m. on September 21st. If you have questions this week, feel free to call or email Lauren Sferrella (Talmud Torah Coordinator) at Temple (or lsferrella@tbsohio.org) or me (rabbibenjy@tbsohio.org).
- The Snacking and Support Services Team needs U!!
The S.A.S.S. Team is a parent support team that helps with snack set-up and clean up on Sunday mornings, as well as some special religious school projects throughout the year.
We invite parents who want to be Starters (volunteer on a more regular basis) OR Backup Players (volunteer a few Sundays throughout the year) to join the team.
On the S.A.S.S. Team, everyone’s a winner – especially our kids!!
Please email Mindy Agin (enaiman@columbus.rr.com) or Lauren Sferrella to sign up (lsferrella@tbsohio.org) – Mindy will contact you with more details!
- Wednesday Hebrew continues this week from 4:00 – 6:30! We had a blast last time and hope your kids will join us this week!
- All parents are warmly welcomed and invited to hang around the Temple on Sunday mornings. There were a bunch of empty couch spots in the Mezzanine this morning. There is lots of coffee, newspapers and WiFi bandwidth for all! Join us at Temple and witness the excitement of Sunday mornings first-hand!
- Shabbat Chai, our completely musical service, is happening again this Friday at 6:15. Join us for an hour-long spirited musical service with our “Shabband” of guitars, piano, flute, drums, string bass, and lots of voices! It is a very family friendly service and is geared toward adults. If you like camp-style services, you’ll love Shabbat Chai! Light dinner will follow the service. Please RSVP to RSVP@tbsohio.org if you would like to stay for dinner
- JuBeSTY (7th and 8th graders) should have received a flyer in the mail about the pizza and movie program next week at 12:45! We will eat lunch at Cici’s Pizza and walk to the movie theater afterward. If you are a parent of one of these lovely 7th/8th graders, we would love to use you for your vehicle! We need drivers! Please contact me (rabbibenjy@tbsohio.org, 855.4882) to volunteer! Free pizza could be offered…
We hope your power will be restored soon if it is out! Have a Shavuah Tov (a good week).
L’Shalom,
Rabbi Benjy
