Shalom Kitah Gimel Students and Families #4

After reciting the Brachot (Blessings) for Torah study and for cookies, Kitah Gimel students demonstrated their familiarity with the attendance routine by fluently providing the correct Hebrew responses to the Hebrew questions regarding students present and absent; the date, month, season, and related Holidays.

Chevruta and hospitality were important elements in our examination of the Torah Portion for this coming Shabbat, Vayera. Chevruta is a traditional method of Torah Study, in which students work with a partner or small group to discuss, interpret, and comment on each week's Torah Portion. Kitah Gimel students worked in table groups. Each group studied either a Midrash (Torah-inspired story), or an information sheet about Vayera. The groups then shared what they had learned with the class.

Vayera tells of the hospitality which Abraham showed to three mysterious visitors and how Abraham performed the Mitzvah of Hachnasat Orchim (welcoming guests). One group of students translated the first line of Vayera from the Hebrew of the Torah. The second group told a Midrash which described how Abraham taught many visitors the concept of One God by asking them to join in the Blessing for the food which they had eaten. The third group told a midrash about Sarah's Shabbat tent where the fragrance of freshly baked challah filled the air and Shabbat candles always burned - a place of rest and refuge. The fourth group described additional events that took place in Vayera including the message of the three visitors that elderly Sarah would have a baby; the destruction of the evil cities of Sodom and Gemorrah; and the birth of a son, Isaac, to Abraham and Sarah.

Students' insightful questions and comments led to a discussion of the relationship between Judaism, Christianity, and Islam; and the revolutionary concept of One God at a time when ancient cultures worshipped multiple gods.

Following our study of Vayera, we turned to our modern Hebrew texts where an achbar (mouse) found a warm kufsa (box) in the Sukkah. The words kar (cold) and geshem (rain) were introduced, which will enable us to soon add weather reports to the attendance conversation.

Students wrote vocabulary cards for home review for 5 new words and played a vocabulary card swap game in which they created sentences with words learned in previous lessons.

In T'fila, the Rabbi led us in the Mincha (afternoon) service and explained that traditionally Jews pray three times a day, with the Prayer cycle beginning with Maariv (the evening prayer).
Families are always welcome to join our students for T'fila.

L'hitraot - See you soon,
Morah Ronni