Connecting The Dots

Parents,

It's been a great year with your kids! We’re 2/3 of the way through with 15 classes behind us, and only 8 more to go, with some holidays, Spring Break and the school picnic on May 4th.   In the remaining sessions, as I’m learning how to use the Sinai Temple Religious School Blog, I will keep you posted on the classes, activities, and other items of interest.

I have enjoyed each and everyone one of your children in the class.  I want to thank you for the opportunity to be their teacher. They have been a lively, spirited group, with a great sense of humor.  I have learned from them along the way.  I have been impressed with the intelligence and knowledge expressed, and the connections that are made, even when they may be unsure of the actual specifics.  Watching how they get to their opinions, what they know about history, how they express their views, and their use of deductive reasoning is fascinating.   There are many bright and insightful comments made in class.  We have had some great discussions and a lot of fun.

We are attempting to cover a lot of historical, cultural, and ritualistic ground from Roman times through the 19th century.  

Here are some highlights of what we have encountered during our time together in the Intermediate Chamishi - 7th grade class this Spring semester:

1/26:  We watched some YouTube videos on the resurgence of the Jewish community in Poland, the vibrant legacy incorporated into the current Jewish community in Italy, and a history of the Jewish community in Spain. 

2/2:  I was out of town that date, helping with the Confirmation Class trip, but part of the focus for the lesson plan that day was on relating to Rabbi Hillel’s contribution of “If I am not for me, who will be. If I am not for myself, then who will be for me? And if I am only for myself, then what am I? And if not now, when?"  Then, a discussion about Jewish ethics and experiences the students have had on those times of when they did the right thing.  And, then finished with "What Makes You Jewish? - A Discussion" with a number of questions to move things a long.

2/9:  David Litwack, Executive Director of Save A Child’s Heart (SACH) hosted a Skype session in the Youth Lounge with the upper grades (6th-10th) and SACH patients in Israel.  It was amazing.  The students were able to say hello to the young children and the volunteers who were assisting them.  Most of the patients were from Tanzania during this session, but they do come from all over the world.  It’s an impressive program, where the patients must be sponsored for $10,000.  It was a moving experience to talk with the volunteers, ask questions, and to see such good being done in the world, with this program based in Israel to preserve the lives of these children from around the globe with heart problems.

SACH (Save a Child's Heart, http://www.saveachildsheart.org/) is an Israeli based international humanitarian organization.  As its name suggests, its mission is to assist with pediatric cardiac needs in developing countries where availability of quality pediatric cardiac care is limited.

We also spent time split into the boys and the girls teams during out Jewish Trivia Bowl.

2/16:  We discussed the Pale of Settlement, the area extending from central and eastern Europe into the Russian territories, where the Jews were officially confined beginning in the late 18th century, with a hard life, and with limited opportunities.  We also faced off with trivia questions in a variety of areas between the boys and the girls.  We talked more about the Spanish Inquisition and expulsion into other countries.  We briefly discussed an article on Spain’s invitation for the repatriation of Sephardic Jews in Spain.

2/23:  We compared the structure, major parties, and branches of the American Government to the Israeli Government. We discussed the period of The Enlightenment (Haskalah), where the European Jews began to receive more rights, moving toward citizenship, educational reforms within Judaism itself, and more toward inclusion and assimilation into their respective countries. We reviewed some brief history and tenets of the Reform, Conservative, and Reconstructionist movements, as well as different aspects of the Orthodox movements.

Here a couple of highlights from the Fall Semester:

9/30:  The class assisted in taking down the Sinai Temple Sukkah.  Here’s a note from our dear late friend, Tony Novak, who headed up the project, and was, so dedicated to the synagogue and the Jewish community in Champaign-Urbana.  He acknowledged the efforts of our class:

Dear Committee:

Thanks to the hardcore loyal members who showed up today
And to Mick Woolf’s class who were a big help!
We got it down and put away in about an hour….at times almost a little too fast as frame pieces were flying….
See you at the sukkah again next year…
Tony N

11/17:  Kayla Israel's father, Loren, joined us in leading a great debate on ethics with a couple of situations from the  "You Be the Judge" series that he had chosen.  The students did a great job of examining different viewpoints, and we had a lively set of discussions.
http://www.torahaura.com/item_You_Be_the_Judge_Book_One.aspx
 
Throughout the year, we have also discussed topics such as:
    
    •    The conquests of Babylon, Persia, Assyria, Greece, and Rome
    •    Geography, historical events and figures
    •    Current Events in the Middle East, current geography
    •    Israeli-Palestinian and Arab conflicts
    •    Zionist beginnings with Theodore Herzl
    •    Holocaust, the laws, the camps, the chain of events
    •    Jewish resistance during the Holocaust
    •    Highlights of archetypal aspects of classic Anti-Jewish sentiment
    •    The Blood Libel
    •    The Black Plague
    •    Ghettos
    •    The Spanish Inquisition period
    •    The Golden Age of Spain
    •    The Dreyfus Affair
    •    Immigration to the US
    •    Sephardic and Ashkenazic communities in the US
    •    Tourist videos on Israel, with highlights of the land, the culture, sports, music, technological,
          medical, and environmental achievements
    •    Experiences being a minority in their schools and neighborhoods; comments they've heard
         that were Anti-Jewish
    •    Blended families
    •    History of each student's families   
    •    Discussion of "Fiddler on the Roof"
    •    The Jewish holidays, with discussions of the seasons and rituals
    •    Some of the prophets, sayings, universal ethics, aspects of the Hebrew Tanak (Bible)

More to come soon. Stay tuned!  --Mick (stationmanager59@gmail.com)