Shout out to Zayin 1! They began their Mitzvah projects at Perspectives and helped put the community garden to bed for the winter
Zayin 1
Dear Zayin 1 (7th Grade) Parents,
I am so enjoying working with your kids...they are a wonderful group!
My students were asked: What is a mitzvah? Is a mitzvah the same as a good deed. What does it mean to become a Bar/Bat Mitzvah? Can mitzvot improve us? Can Judaism make us holy (what does it mean to be holy)? In conjunction with the passing of RBG, we spoke about justice and the things they believe are needed to bring justice to our society. We also spoke about happiness (believe it or not, that is mitzvah) and what it has to do with Judaism. One of our discussions centered around what brings them happiness and joy.
In our study of American Jewish History we spoke about family origins. We then moved to learning about the Jews in Old World Spain and the Conversos (those who converted to Catholicism but some continued to practice Judaism in secret). One activity we did in this regard is to interview a Converso. That is always fun. Students were also asked what they would bring with them if they were the ones leaving for the New World (excluding essentials). We also did an interesting activity in naming the synagogues in Minneapolis, and determining what the names mean. This is pertinent in that one of the first things Jews did upon coming to the new world is form synagogues.
I thank you for partnering with us.
Mary
Zayin 2
Shalom Kitah Zayin (7th grade) Families -
We have started our Mah La’asot dilemma conversations in class. The students are beginning to understand the Jewish responses to situations that we are covering--coming upon someone drowning, or what is your responsibility if you see kids playing near a refrigerator put on the curb for trash pick up. Ask your students “Mah La’asot, What should they do?” We will be covering a new dilemma each week for the students to listen to each other debate what should be done and learn the Jewish response according to Jewish ethical responses in the Shulchan Arukh, the Mishnah and other sources.
I am always on the lookout for on-topic guest speakers and events in the community that we can learn from as a class, please share with me if you know of opportunities.
See you on the TT Zooms!
Kara