Sunday Before Rosh Hashanah

Hi everyone- we had a very busy day today! We started by reviewing our Hebrew letters and vowels. Shin, bet, and tav reviews got us ready to learn our next new letter on Wednesday... coming soon: Lamed!

We had our first prayer class in the sanctuary. During that session Ms. Sandler talked about the special blessings for Rosh Hashanah.

When we got back up to our class, we continued the conversation about the upcoming Days of Awe. Today's focus was on renewal: If we can start with a clean slate and do the last year all over, what we can do to make the world (or at least our homes) better in the upcoming year. I really emphasized the positive phrasing-- no "I won't do.." or "I'll stop doing..." and had them reword their ideas in positive terms "I will do this better".

Rosh Hashanah is about renewal and starting over. After we start fresh at the New Year, we spend the next 10 days working on making amends for what we did and focus on the "I won't do..". That will be the focus of discussion on Wednesday.

Lastly today we started our Israeli Scavenger Hunt book. This text is a great story about an American boy on his first visit to Israel. The first chapter had the kids locate Israel on a world map, and then look at the relative size of the country compared to its neighbors.

Remember to have your kids let me know if they attend services! They receive team points for coming to Shabbat services-- even if they are at another synagogue!

See you all on Wednesday!
Rob