Homework Assignment: Women Who have Changed History for the Better

"A woman who changed history and who is important to me is Julia Child.  She changed history by making French cooking accessible to Americans and encouraging people to cook through her passion for what she did. She is important to me because I love to cook, and Julia Child is an inspiration to me and to other cooks who inspire me. Julia Child was a pioneer in cooking, and she changed history with her charm and talent."
Emma

Seventh Grade Update 10/29/12

I hope everyone is safe and sound during the storm. Yesterday was a lot of fun, we learned about how women challenged the status quo during the time in the bible when Moses and the tribal leaders were dividing up the land. Tzelafchad, one of the women descended from Joseph, comes before the men and tells them that her five daughters have no father. None of them are married and Tzelafchad's husband died of his own mistakes in the desert. If the land is divided the way the tribal leaders are planning, then Tzelafchad and her daughters will be left with nothing.  After speaking with God, Moses is told that Tzelaphchad was correct in coming to him with this concern. From now on, the land will be passed down to the daughters of tribal members if there are no sons. 

This is a large change from many of the other tribes in the area. Through her question about fairness and a place to live, Tzelaphchad made sure that there was a place for women in Israel much bigger than it might have otherwise been. In class we made a play showing how important this was and describing how it worked. We also talked about how there have been many women throughout history who have changed the situation they were in for the better through both questioning the status quo and doing something about it. 

Outside of the Great Debate through Jewish History, for the third hour we continued our work on devising a game which incorporates both Historical and Biblical figures. We split the seventh grade class into two in order to do this, and once we've finished making the games we're going to exchange them between the two groups. Our group worked on making up a game where there will be at least three teams of players and a way for them to answer questions and come up with different activities. 

The kids got very in to the activity and enjoyed devising how the gameplay was going to work. Next week we'll be working on the creation. I can't wait to see what the create.

In other news, for homework I would like all the students to write three lines about a woman who changed history for the better. They get to choose who the woman is, however it needs to be someone they feel is truly important and within those three lines explain why they chose her. If possible I would like them to post their lines in the comment section of the Seventh Grade Blog which isseventhgradecbe.blogspot.com

If you have problems posting, I will happily take the sentences via email and post them there myself.

If you have any questions feel free to contact me a bchalmer@gmail.com.

Have a wonderful week,

Ushpizin

For those of you who are curious about Ushpizin and the traditions that accompany inviting guests into the Sukkah, there are several different sites you can check out on the subject.

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Sukkot/At_Home/The_Sukkah/Ushpizin.shtml

Is one place to check out the tradition. I also recommend checking out the rest of the site about the different holidays. It's quite informative and can answer many different questions pertaining to tradition,  culture and and Jewish Life in general.

There are plenty of other places to check out, which contain many different philosophies. aish.com is one, as is chabad.org. Feel free to check them out.

As it happens there is also an Israeli movie which came out several years ago called Ushpizin. It takes place during Sukkot and involves an orthodox man and wife who have some Sukkot guests they hadn't expected. It's a good movie and if you get the chance I do recommend you check it out.

Seventh Grade Update 10/1/12

Yesterday, despite the weather, we had a lot of fun putting up our Seventh grade decorations in the Sukkah. If you get the chance I recommend checking them out. In order to make the decorations meaningful to the students and to incorporation learning into our Sukkot decorations in my class this week, we learned about the tradition of Ushpizin.

What are Ushpizin is also a wonderful question you can ask your seventh grader, who will probably answer with something along the lines of "it's guests." They would be correct. We learned in class that the word is from Aramaic and allows us to practice Hachnast Orchim, the welcoming of guests and showing them hospitality on Sukkot. Traditionally there are seven honored guests during the holiday, one for each day.

(A good way to see if the students remember is to ask who are the seven guests.) The seven guests in tradition are, Abraham, Isaac, Jacob, Joseph, Moses, Aaron and David. During class we speculated as to why it might be these seven who are honored as guests at our Sukkah, many of the answers being that these were some of the people that helped make the Jewish people. To add women to the tradition we learned that the seven female guests are Sarah, Rachel, Rebecca, Leah, Miriam, Abigail and Esther. 

While some of the questions in class revolved around who would be paired up with whom in the honor department, the other part of our discussion and activity was to come up with people who we would like to honor and invite to our Sukkah who weren't traditional. Some of the suggestions were Martin Luther King Jr., Rosa Parks, Winston Churchill, Michael Phelps and quite a few others. Once we'd come up with the people, the kids got down to business writing invitations to them. 

In the Sukkah now you can find the invitations the kids wrote and illustrated. You might be able to find our paper chain, which includes those people who they weren't able to write invitations to and what they hope for the world in the year to come. 

With Columbus day and Simchat Torah celebrations coming up, there is no class next Sunday. However, the Saturday after that on October 13th, our first Jr. Congregation will be taking place. It would be wonderful if the seventh graders could join us as it's going to be a lot of fun, with singing, prayers and guitar. 

I will be posting this on the blog, along with the question of who you would want to invite to the Sukkah. Please feel free to comment and add your thoughts. I'd love to hear from all of you. The blog is Seventhgradecbe.blogspot.com

Have a wonderful Sukkot,

Bryna

Seventh Grade Update

Dear Seventh Grade Parents and students,

To start off, this week during the third hour we discussed Jonah and started work on creating fables using the Jonah story as our base. One of the reasons for bringing up Jonah is that coming up this Wednesday is Yom Kippur. On Yom Kippur we pray, contemplate the year behind us and think about how we can work towards an even better year than the one before. We also read the story of Jonah. 

The Story of Jonah brings up many different questions, about the main character, why God chooses this character to act in a way which seems contrary to what he typically does, and does Jonah truly regret or give a true answer to himself. With this in mind, I wanted the students to see if they could come up with a story which caused people to ask questions about the main character. The other reason I wanted to have them think about it was to see if any of them made the connection between the story of Jonah and Yom Kippur.

In the Great Debates in Judaism this week, we debated the current justice system in the United States. The week before we spoke about Abraham's courage in speaking to God about sparring Sodom if there were even Ten innocent people living there. In the same vein, the class continued the discussion. The question posed the week before was if collective punishment was ever a useful proposition. This week the question was if Judgement and Compassion could be balanced in the United State penal system. 

Before the debate about punishment versus restorative practices we learned what those two terms meant. After all it's important that the students understand what they were debating. In the text book we read about how advocates for restorative practices speak about how this creates more opportunities for the victim and the criminal. We also read about how those who are punished for what they do, tend to fall in the problems as before when they leave the penal system. 

Once the kids were assigned a side we debated to see who could come up with a better argument. Ultimately the debate came down to a draw, although in one class, the restorative practices side won on a technicality. The reason for the draw was that the sides ended up agreeing that if both penalties and restorative practices were used, the United States justice system might better serve the populace. Balance was the key word. 

Coming up next week, we start talking about Moses and Korach.

As always, please check out the blog, and feel free to leave your comments.

seventhgradecbe.blogspot.com

Rosh Hashanah Honey Cake Recipe

Prep Time: 10 minutes

Cook Time: 20 minutes

Total Time: 30 minutes

Yield: 12-16 servings

Ingredients:

·         2 Tbsp. instant coffee dissolved into 3/4 cup hot water

·         3 Tbsp. oil

·         3 eggs

·         1 cup apple sauce

·         3/4 cup brown sugar

·         3/4 cup honey

·         2 1/4 cups flour

·         3/4 tsp. baking powder

·         1/2 tsp. baking soda

·         2 tsp. cinnamon

Preparation:

1. Spray a 9x13 baking pan with non-stick cooking spray. Preheat oven to 325 degrees Fahrenheit (160 degrees Celsius).
2 Dissolve coffee into water. Set aside to cool.
3. Using an electric mixer, mix oil, eggs, applesauce, brown sugar and honey.
4. In a separate bowl, combine flour, baking powder, baking soda and cinnamon.
5. Alternating, add flour mixture and coffee to the egg mixture in the bowl. Mix lightly until just smooth.
6. Bake, uncovered, for 20-25 minutes, or until a toothpick or knife inserted in the middle of the cake comes out clean.

Dear Parents,

It has been a pleasure getting to know some of your children over the past few weeks.  For the most part, I have found them to be attentive and more than willing to engage in the subject matter of our curriculum - the Holocaust.  As I believe it is important to lay a sound foundation, and set the material in its proper context, we have started at a slower pace.

During the first week of class, we began by discussing catastrophic events in general, with the Holocaust as an example of such an event.  We established a working definition of the term, while distinguishing between natural and human caused catastrophes. We will be referring back to this definition as the year goes on.  Additionally, we began a discussion of the Holocaust by each sharing what we know about it, and the source of our knowledge.  I was very impressed by the students' knowledge, and their willingness and ability to articulate the source or sources through which they obtained such knowledge.

During the the second week of class, we built on the list of sources of our knowledge that we compiled during week 1.  Additionally, we analyzed these sources, and classified them on a variety of grounds, including primary vs. secondary.  Most importantly, we discussed the importance of scrutinizing source material.  In order to display to the students how information can be changed or distorted over the course of time, we played a game of telephone, which the students seemed to enjoy.  I made sure to explain to the students that, just as the information was distorted during our game of telephone, there are numerous factors that may impact the accuracy of source materials. 

Finally, as you can read about in the letter from my co-teacher, during the third hour of week 2, we baked a delicious honey cake.  Fortunately, the girls, who were unable to participate in this Jewish-themed baking experience, were able to take a break from Rosh Chodesh group to assist us in devouring the cake in its entirety.

If you have any questions or concerns, feel free to post them on the blog at seventhgradecbe.blogspot.com, where this letter will be posted, or contact me directly.

Very truly yours,

Aviv Shamash

Seventh Grade Update

Dear Seventh Grade Parents and Students,

Shanah Tova and I hope everyone had a wonderful Rosh Hashannah. It certainly feels like the beginning of a new year, and to celebrate this last Sunday, Aviv, myself and the boys in our class all got together and made honey cake. The reason behind the making has much to do with making sure we start the new year off right. That includes eating honey, and other types of sweet foods to bring goodness and sweetness into the year.

The honey cake making was a success, as the boys could attest, and it was a lot of fun making it as well. They all pitched in on the making of it. It's always good to see them working together to create something both edible and fun. 

Speaking of, in our Judaism's Great Debates class, we got to tackle the question of whether or not Collective Punishment was fair. To start us off, we thought about a theoretical class. Several of the kids in the class weren't paying attention, causing other kids to get distracted from what the teacher was teaching. The next day, the teacher gave this class a pop-quiz on the material she had taught the day before. Since much of the class had been distracted, they didn't do so well in the test. 

In class we discussed whether or not this was a fair deal. Should the kids who had been trying to pay attention have been punished along with the ones who had been goofing off? The students in our class decided that ultimately it depended on if the teacher used the test for the permanent grades. If the teacher just used the test as an example, then it was okay. 

The example led the way for the next part of the discussion. We talked about Abraham's courage in bargaining with God when it came to the lives of everyone in Sodom. As it turns out there aren't even ten worth saving in that city. However, we did contemplate why God felt the need to speak to Abraham first, and why Abraham got God to admit that if ten people were innocent in Sodom then God wouldn't destroy the city.

When we got down to it, the kids decided that collective punishment wasn't useful as a whole. There might be exceptions, but they couldn't think of any at the time. 

What do you think? Is collective punishment ever a good idea?

As always if you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at bchalmer@gmail.com. 

Also, please check out the blog at seventhgradecbe.blogspot.com

Bryna

Dear Seventh Grade parents and students,

The past Sunday was a great success! We started off the day with our getting to know you session. This included many different icebreakers, and gave the kids a chance to reacquaint themselves with both the teachers and each other. After we got to know each other once again, we got down to work. 

In their class with me, the kids started to learn about one of the basic tenants of Judaism, that of debate. Throughout Jewish culture, life, and religion many of the ways we learn is through debate. In the Talmud is is taught that finding a good adversary is like finding a good friend, they'll make you think about certain ideas in ways which you never might have considered otherwise. 

To start this off, we read about the story of Rabbi Eliezer and the Sages arguing over the oven of Acknai. Rabbi Eliezer says, before the sages, that he is right, and to prove it he calls up four miracles. The fourth miracle being that of Heaven itself saying that he is right. The sages refute him, claiming that even if Heaven believes he is right, it is not up to Heaven to claim it. 

At the end of the story, God concedes that even though Rabbi Eliezer is right, God's "children" have defeated God, due to the fact that they have chosen to use their own ideas than simply taking the ones God puts forward as rote. (Keep in mind that this particular story was told long after all the events in the Tanach and therefore was part of the Rabbi's way of saying that it was time to move forward with Jewish observance.)

What we'll be emphasizing in class is that other people's opinions matter, and even if you don't agree with them, that doesn't mean you can't listen. I will be posting this update on our blog. In addition I'll be adding links to give you a chance to look at the different debates and topics we'll be covering in class.

Until next Sunday, here's a topic for you to debate about at home:

It is the job of the person who made dinner to clean up after as well.

As always, if you have any questions please feel free to contact me ab bchalmer@gmail.com, or you can just leave a comment on the blog. Here's the link for your reference.  http://seventhgradecbe.blogspot.com/

Bryna

P.S. If any of you want to help out with participation in Jr. Congregation, I'd be happy to have you. That means looking at the Torah portion of the week to talk about, reading from the Torah, or leading one of the different prayers we say on Shabbat.

Dear Parents,
 
By way of introduction, my name is Aviv Shamash, and I will be teaching the seventh grade this year at Temple Beth Elohim. I grew up in the Boston area, attended high school at Gann Academy, college at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, and recently graduated from Suffolk University Law School.  The director of Temple Beth Elohim’s Religious School, Leann Shamash, is my mother.  


As we set out on a new and very important year at CBE, I want to express my excitement at meeting and working with your children.  I am sure it will be a pleasure to spend time teaching and getting to know each of them.


As many of you may know already, the part of the seventh grade curriculum that I will lead this year deals with the Holocaust.  Be aware that I realize that this is powerful and difficult subject matter, and that I will make every effort to approach it sensitively.


Our curriculum begins by providing a framework and terminology for studying the Holocaust, and then progresses through a variety of concepts – anti-Semitism in Europe, the rise of the Nazi party, life in the ghettos, the Nazi party’s “final solution,” Jewish resistance to the Nazis, and rescuers and non-Jewish resistance to the Nazi party.  The way in which I intend to approach this subject matter is through a combination of sources, including letters, images, and first person narrative accounts.  Although the lessons will be grounded in the history of the Holocaust and the events preceding and following it, the primary method by which we will engage in these materials is through discussion. Other methods will be employed as well, including group work, writing, and examination of primary source materials.  One of my primary concerns will be framing the materials to the students in a manner relatable to a seventh grader, particularly when discussing the events and social climate in Europe in the years preceding the Holocaust.


Each week, the morning will be broken down into three hour long segments.  During each of the first two hours, half of the class will be with me, and half with Bryna Chalmers.  The students will switch for the second hour.  After the second hour, we have a 10-15 minute break for snack. Snack is an important part of class each week.  On August 13, each of you should have received an email from Leann Shamash assigning each student with the responsibility of bringing snack for the whole class one week.  If you do not bring snack on these weeks, there is usually no food for the class to eat during the snack period.  So please, check the email you received on August 13, and make a note of when your child is responsible for snack.


During the third hour of some weeks this year, I will be leading an elective on Jewish cuisine.  One part of this elective will be to prepare traditional Jewish foods.  Often, the dishes prepared will be designed to coincide with the Jewish calendar.  Sometimes, however, we will prepare foods that are not necessarily linked to a specific Jewish holiday, such as Challah, which relates to Jewish cuisine more generally.  We will also discuss the history and cultural significance of each of the foods we prepare.

Please do not hesitate to contact me should you have any questions or comments.  You may either comment below or contact me at aviv.shamash@gmail.com.  


Wishing each of you a sweet new year,


Aviv Shamash

Welcome to Seventh Grade!

Dear Seventh Grade parents,

Hard to believe the summer is gone and the school year is starting up once more. In anticipation of this seventh grade year, we've put our heads together to get this year off to a great start. 

What I'm going to be teaching this year is the Great Debates throughout Jewish History. We'll get a chance to look back at the different thinkers and ideas which have helped form our thoughts about Jewish life and culture to this day. I'm very much looking forward to this opportunity to work with all the students and hearing their ideas and opinions on the different debates. 

Throughout the year we will also be doing different electives, and if the kids  put forward any ideas of what they'd like to learn during that time that would be great!

In addition to working in the classroom, Aviv and I have started a blog for the whole seventh grade class. This will be a place where you can check out what we've learned during a Sunday, get updates on what we'll be doing in the coming weeks and, starting a conversation online.

The address for the blog is http://seventhgradecbe.blogspot.com/. The first thing you'll see is this letter. 

Feel free to email me if you have any questions at all, and of course you can definitely use the comment section of the blog to do that as well.

My email is bchalmer@gmail.com.

Looking forward to seeing you this Sunday!