This past week I announced to the class the details of the upcoming Haftarah Trope Challenge. Unlike the Torah Challenge, the Haftarah Trope Challenge is 3 parts and therefore requires effort and practice at home. The HTC will take place on:
Sunday, May 1 and Sunday, May 8 (if needed), during Hebrew School (11:10-12:10 pm)
The students are required to: Continue reading
We are coming right along in our study of Haftarah Trope! With our prior knowledge from Torah Trope, the students were excited to realize they already knew quite a lot: the symbols and names of each trope, the clauses, the color coding, and how each trope functions as a mafsik (separator) or m’chaber (connector). They were also pleased when I told them that with Haftarah, they will be able to read with Hebrew vowels and trope symbols (no memorizing as with Torah). The main difference between the two trope systems is melody. Continue reading
In case you or your student has been absent on a Sunday, I wanted to post the schedule of learning Haftarah Trope through the end of the year. If a student is going to miss Trope on Sundays, they are responsible for learning what they missed. See the Trope blog page for resources for at home learning. Continue reading
We are about 2/3 of the way through our student taught T’filah Project. We began in early November with Ein Kamocha at the start of the Torah service, and as of last Wednesday, we are are through Y’hal’lu, at the start of the 2nd hakafah. I am so very proud of the students and their endless creativity in approaching this project. Students have created games, made posters and art projects, used music and songs and this last week, skits to help their peers learn and gain understanding. Kol Hakavod, 6th grade! Keep up the great work. Continue reading
As a reminder, B’nai Mitzvah Seminar will begin Sunday, March 13. Seminar runs from 8:30 -10:00 a.m. with Rabbi Weinberg. Following seminar, students will return to the 6th grade classroom to continue their learning. Seminar is an opportunity for the 6th grade students and their parents to learn about the Bar/Bat Mitzvah process at Temple Beth Israel. For your convenience, I have posted the letter from Rabbi with all the details here: 2016 B’nai Mitzvah Seminar letter.
Kol Hakavod 6th Grade! The entire class passed the Torah Trope Challenge with flying colors. I am so proud of you and of all the hard work you put into learning your trope. This past Sunday, we concluded our unit in Torah Trope, reviewing all 6 clauses and introducing a few rare tropes like Pazer and Shalshelet. Continue reading
Over the last two weeks we have learned and completed the 5th clause of trope, R’vi-i. As we begin working on the 6th clause, Segol, and learning a few of the rarer tropes, it is now time for the 5776 Torah Trope Challenge. The Torah Trope Challenge is one of the ways I assess our students’ knowledge, comprehension and readiness to complete this segment of our learning and move on to Haftarah. The challenge is simple, each student must chant the prayer V’ahavta in Trope. Torah Trope Challenge will take place on Sunday, January 31, 2016. Continue reading
Welcome back from Winter Break!
On Sunday, January 3, we began learning the fourth clause of Torah Trope: T’vir. T’vir is a relatively simple clause because there are only 2 new trope symbols, Darga and T’vir. This clause utilizes a few other tropes such as Mercha and Kadma, but these all already well known to our students. In our color coding system, this clause is blue. With only two new symbols to process, we were able to learn the entire clause in one day. Continue reading
On this eighth night of Chanukah, I wanted to take an opportunity to wish you and your families a Chag Urim Sameach or Happy Festival of Light! I have just completed your students Fall Report Cards and am looking forward to sitting down with you on Wednesday, December 16 to discuss your student’s progress. Continue reading
On Sunday, November 18th, the students and I took time to look at their next Torah trope assignment. Now that we have fully covered the first three trope clauses: Etnachtah, Sof-Pasuk and Katon, the students are ready to chant their second portion: Genesis 32 4-7. Continue reading
On Wednesday, Jessica Kimmel-Choldin was the first student to present her T’filah Project on Ein Kamocha. Jessie’s lesson was thoughtful, well-planned and extremely well executed. Continue reading
For the past few weeks, our 6th graders have been learning about the concepts of Holiness, Revelation and Covenant. We began by defining holiness, what it means to be holy. We performed a ‘scavenger hunt’ around the synagogue in search of holy objects and we discussed how a mundane object could be a holy object depending on its use and context. Continue reading
We have spent the last few weeks mastering the first two clauses of trope, אתנחתא Etnachtah and סוף פסוק Sof-Pasuk. Today we added סוף סוף פסוק ‘Sof’ Sof-Pasuk. סוף סוף פסוק ‘Sof’ Sof-Pasuk is a special melody used for סוף פסוק Sof-Pasuk clause to aurally indicate the end of an aliya (reading of Torah). To further our practice and mastery, we looked at a brief reading of Torah in class today, from Numbers 34:24-28. Continue reading
Avodah עבודה is the Hebrew word for service. October is Breast Cancer Awareness month, and that will be the focus of our first עבודה service project. To begin our efforts, the students made pink ribbons to decorate the sukkah and researched some facts about Breast Cancer. We also created a flyer encouraging the whole school and TBI Community to wear pink on Sunday, October 11th. Continue reading
In our first religious school class, we had a discussion about צדקה Tzedakah. How the word צדקה stems from the Hebrew root [.צ.ד.ק] and means justice. We defined justice as creating a balance or creating equality for a person or persons in need. We discussed and hypothesized different ways of giving צדקה including: Continue reading
Today in Hebrew, our class is going on a field trip. Using these simple words in a place like Hebrew school usually elicits great excitement in the students and I anticipate it will again today. We will begin by reading part of article from a blog by Jewish Educator, Lisa Rappaport, entitled Continue reading
It was wonderful meeting all of you today! Ask your student to show you their spark. Better yet, have them tell you the midrash about God’s divine light, and they can show you how to make your own spark. In addition to getting to know one another, we passed out textbooks, folders and notebooks. Continue reading
The last Shabbat at the Park of this summer is coming up, Friday, August 21 at 6:30 p.m. at Lovelace Park in Evanston. Bring a picnic dinner and dessert to share. My family, especially my children, really look forward to these special Shabbatot outdoors. Rabbi will be playing his guitar, I will be singing, families will be gathering to pray, eat and enjoy each others company. I hope to see you there!
http://www.tbiskokie.org/pdf/Shabbat%20at%20the%20Beach%20Flyer%202015_v5%20at%20Lovelace%20Park.pdf
If you would like to brush up on your Hebrew before the start of the school year, check out this fun activity that vamps up your vowel recognition skills, vowelcircus.
Sunday, August 30th is Elulpalooza at TBI. We will be celebrating the opening of Beit Midrash (school) with “Yom Space” (a space themed day). In addition to meeting your teacher (me), seeing your new classroom and learning a bit about 6th grade, the morning will include:
Free and open to the public! Invite your friends, and perspective TBI members.