Affixing the Mezuzah – Our Last Class

Shalom L’CHAIM families!  Our final Sunday class of the year was a very special one. We combined the lessons learned in earlier classes to culminate in a moment where we marked our room as a  Jewish classroom — by affixing a mezuzah!

The custom of affixing a mezuzah to a doorpost fulfills the biblical commandment: “You shall write them upon the doorposts of they house and upon thy gates” (Deuteronomy 6:9)  It distinguishes a Jewish home and is a visible sign and symbol to all those who enter that a sense of Jewish identity and commitment exists in that household. The mezuzah reminds us that our homes are holy places and that we should act accordingly – when we enter them and when we leave them and go out into the world.

The mezuzah and its contents were a theme throughout our L’CHAIM lessons this year: Starting in the fall, we learned to sing and understand the meaning of the Sh’ma prayer, which is our defining prayer about our monotheistic religion. Sh’ma Yisrael Adonai Eloheinu Adonai Echad – Hear O Israel, Adonai is our God, Adonai is One.  For Passover we learned about the Children of Israel and how they painted blood on their doorposts to protect themselves from the Angel of Death who would “pass over” the Jewish homes marked on their doorposts. And in our penultimate class we learned about a Sofer, or Scribe, whose job it is to hand-write Torahs and mezuzahs with special ink and on special animal skin called klaf.

We read a lovely story called A Mezuzah on the Door by local writer and educator Amy Meltzer, which is about a little boy who moved from the city to the suburbs, and the special ritual Hannukat Habiyit – Dedication of the Home – that his family had in which they hung a mezuzah on their door. It was a good reminder that the word Hannukah (Chanukah) means “Dedication,” something we also learned about in December when the Maccabees helped “rededicate” the Temple after the Assyrians had dirtied it.

This led into a class discussion about what a mezuzah is, and its origins.

I had invited  Rabbi Kevin Hale, a local Sofer, or specially trained Torah Scribe, to join our classroom, but unfortunately he wasn’t able to make it.  Rabbi Hale was once the rabbi of Beit Ahavah, in its first year! However, Rabbi Hale loaned me a wonderful book about his Sofer-writing teacher Eric Ray, and he even supplied a blank piece of real klaf (kosher parchment) for us to explore. We took turns touching the parchment and were amazed to think about all the work that went into making it both so rough and so smooth, even before a drop of ink touched it.

Speaking of ink, the book had a recipe for the kosher ink a Sofer uses, which comes from the Talmud!  Since I love recipes…

After learning about the mezuzah, what it represents, how it is made and why we hang it, it was time to hang our own mezuzah on the door to our classroom!  I was especially excited because it was a pretty mezuzah from Jerusalem I was given as a gift and had wanted to hang at Beit Ahavah. After making the brachah which is the mezuzah blessing:

Baruch Ata Adonai, Elo-heinu Melech Ha-olam, asher kideshanu b’mizvotav v’tzivanu lik-bo’ah mezuzah.

Blessed are You Adonai Our God, Creator of the Universe, who has made us holy by your commandments and commanded us to affix a mezuzah.

And the Shehechiyanu prayer:

Baruch Ata Adonai, Elo-heinu Melech Ha-olam, she’hechiyanu, v’kiyamanu, v’higiyanu la-zman ha-zeh.

Blessed are You Adonai Our God, Creator of the Universe, who has kept us alive, and established us, and brought us to this special moment!

The children helped nail it on our classroom door post with a real hammer, and no fingers were squashed!  They nailed it up on the right hand side, tilting in towards the room, and low enough that our smallest students can reach it on tiptoes to touch or to kiss as is a custom when you enter.

Then we finally made our own beautiful mezuzot to hang in our own homes!  These are real mezuzah-covers that the children all created out of mosaics, tiles, a wooden mezuzah kit.  Rabbi Riqi can help you get a kosher-klaf (parchment with the Hebrew Sh’ma and words written inside) and hang it in your child’s room or a doorpost of your house.  They are usually about $18-20 dollars.

We left extra time at the end of class to collect our past art projects and have our snack.

A special thank you to our teen helper Max, who did a fantastic job on the last day.  

I can’t believe the year is up, and I hope you will return next year for our expanded and improved L’CHAIM program!!  Thank you for being the starting class!!!

Lastly:  On Mother’s Day my daughter surprised me with this card she made at school.  It was wonderful to be her teacher, too. (I did not prompt her to make this.) Thank you for a wonderful year!

 

Learning About the Synagogue

What is a temple?  There are so many ways to describe a “House of Worship” in Judaism – the place where Jews have come together for meeting, prayer and community for thousands of years!  This week L’CHAIM explored the different words and concepts that are used, and investigated what might be found in the building, the Sanctuary, and the Ark.

Why are there so many words to describe this place we call Beit Ahavah?  Is it a synagogue, a school, a building, the temple, a community center, a gathering place? Students brainstormed. (We also discussed that we are also special because we housed in a church – and how our different schedules of worship and ideas of Shabbat work well for sharing a building.)

Some use the Hebrew words Beit Knesset, which means “House of Assembly.”  Beit comes from the word Bayit – and “Beit” means “House of.” Knesset is the same word used in Israel for “Parliament” which is like the American Congress. “House of Assembly” does not sound as good as Beit Knesset.

Then, there’s Beit Tefillah, a House of Prayer.  

In the Torah, Moses established the “Ohel Mo-ed” or the “Tent of Meeting.”  We talked about what if our temple was housed in a tent! (It might be fun.)

A common English word is Temple, a building devoted to worship.  

Another word, Synagogue comes from the Greek word meaning to assemble.  So Synagogue is a lot like Beit Knesset.

Finally, Shul is a Yiddish word that comes from the German schule meaning school.  

We then tried to answer the question — What makes something a synagogue?  What, or who, do you think belongs in one? To find out, we went on an adventure to the Sanctuary at Beit Ahavah to investigate the instruments for worship.

First we examined the beautiful wooden Aron Kodesh in the Memorial Room. Aron translates as a receptacle, or ornamental closet that holds things, including the synagogue Torah. Kodesh means holy. The Aron Kodesh or “Holy Ark” in a synagogue setting reminds us of the Mishkan, the Tabernacle the Jews carried around the desert. That way, God could dwell among his people. This portable sanctuary was the place where the Jews would bring their sacrifices to atone for their sins or express their gratitude. The Mishkan traveled with the Jews for 40 years in the desert.

When we opened the Aron we found a silver Yad, which is the pointer the Ba’al Korei, or Torah Reader, uses to read the Torah. (It happens to be Rabbi Riqi’s special Yad, a gift from her mom at her ordination!)  It technically means “hand” in Hebrew, and oftentimes the top of the Yad is actually shaped like a hand with an index finger pointing. We looked at the Torah, wrapped in velvet, and examined the box of kippot, which people typically wear on their heads in a service – just like the kippot we made in class to wear when we study Torah! We ran our fingers through the fringes of the Tallit that people wrap around themselves during a service. And we flipped through the Siddur, the prayerbook. That word reminded us of the word Seder, our special meal made in a special order during Passover.

We went into the Sanctuary and walked on the “Bima,” or stage where the Torah is read and the rabbi and sometimes also a cantor and leaders stand.  We listened to our echoes calling from the bima.  Next we zipped up our coats and went outside to hunt for something very unique to Beit Ahavah: A solar panel affixed behind the church. This is connected to the solar-powered Ner Tamid, the Eternal Light which hangs over the Ark!  The Ner Tamid hangs in front and above the Ark in EVERY sanctuary.  It is symbolic of the light and truth of God.

After our investigative tour, students each designed and decorated his or her own Aron Kodesh — especially with lots and lots of glitter. Our room got a little messy in the process (think sea of glue), but all the students were a terrific help in cleaning up.  

For our final half hour, we joined our parents, families and Rabbi Riqi for a special experience in the Memorial Room… We unrolled a Torah in our laps and learned how to touch the holy object!!

Our First Shabbat B’Yachad

We held our first Shabbat B’Yachad of the year on Saturday, January 20th, and it was absolutely wonderful! There were 45 people total, ranging in age from 9 months to 60 years. “Shabbat B’Yachad” means “Sabbath together,” and so after learning in our classroom we joined Rabbi Riqi and Morah Marlene and had a service all together with the rest of the Beit Ahavah community.  Afterwards we shared a delicious lunch catered by Tandem Bagel from a grant from HGF Rekindle Shabbat.  There are three more scheduled for February 10, March 10 and May 12.

Our class began by reviewing what we learned in our previous Sunday L’CHAIM session about Sojourner Truth and Miriam the prophet (sister to Aaron and Moses). We explored more about the origin of the beautiful tambourines the children created: When the Children of Israel realized they were safely crossing the Red Sea and would escape from Egypt, they sang a Song to praise their one true God.  When the reached the other side of the Sea, Miriam took out her timbrel – her tambourine – and sang a praise-song while all the women followed her with singing and dancing.

We looked at how the text of the Song of the Sea appears in the Torah.  We examined a Tikkun, a large book you can use to prepare reading from the Torah. The Tikkun has vowels, dots and symbols among the letters, called trope or cantillation, to help the reader learn how to sing and read it.  But the Torah doesn’t have vowels or trope marks, so the reader can practice with a Tikkun to learn how to pronounce and sing the words.

Here is an example of how the Song of the Sea section looks in an actual Torah scroll, which we got to see up close during the service while Rabbi Riqi chanted with the special melody:

We looked at how the song visually could look like waves, or people walking through, and that it looks different than the rest of the columns in the Torah. Studies have shown the best way to learn new information is to sing a song, like a children’s song or lullaby! In fact, these songs were likely the earliest parts of the Torah written, because you can recite or remember a song much more easily than just telling a story.

Then we explored the Shabbat morning service we were about to join, including the most important prayer in Judaism called the Sh’ma.  The Sh’ma is a reflection of everything we’ve learned about so far. It was what set Avraham and Sarah apart from everyone else, and why Moshe (Moses) wanted to lead the Hebrews into the desert: To worship one God. There’s a big word to describe it: Monotheism.

People worship and pray differently all over the world. There is no wrong way to pray and have a religion. But because we are Jewish, we only have one God.

And we have a very special prayer we say every day about that. The Sh’ma!

Sh’ma, Yisrael, Adonai, Eloheinu, Adonai, Echad.

Hear, O Israel, Adonai, Our God, Adonai is ONE.

Sh’ma starts with the Hebrew letter Shin. We created the letter with our hand, by meeting our thumb with our pinkie, and having the three middle fingers stand up tall. Sheket, quiet, Shamayim, sky, Shabbat, Sabbath, Shalom, peace, and Sh’ma, Hear – all start with shin.  So does Sheleg, snow!

It is also a custom to say the Sh’ma when we go to sleep at night. One tradition is to focus on “listening” by actually covering our eyes gently when we say the Sh’ma, and that way we are not distracted.

After that we went downstairs to join Rabbi Riqi in our S”habbat B’Yachad” morning service. We entered singing and dancing with our tambourines like Miriam and the Children of Israel!