The games and activities will begin at 4:30 p.m. We will light our hanukkiyot (please have your children bring theirs) and say the Hanukkah blessings around 5:40 p.m., after which the concert will begin. Dinner, cooked by some of our parents, will be served just after the concert, around 6 p.m.

Siblings and other children not yet enrolled in Religious and Hebrew School are welcome.

And on Friday, Dec. 23, we will light hanukkiyot (please have your children bring theirs), say the Hanukkah blessings and sing some holiday songs just before Shabbat evening services at 5:30 p.m. 

I hope you all had a good summer and I would like you to know how honored we are to have your children continuing or starting their religious and Hebrew studies with us. If you haven’t turned in your registration forms, Debbie Freedman will be on hand Saturday, Sept. 10, to help you with that process. We have a wonderful opening day planned.

Hebrew studies begin at 8:30.

The Alef class, led by Max Shamblott, will jump right in with learning the Alef Bet letters mem, shin and “ah” sounding vowels. The Bet class, led by Andrea Buck, will do some reading and writing refresher exercises. The Dalet class, led by by Rabbi David Steinberg, will resume their prayer studies and reading/translating of the first line of this week’s Torah portion.

Religious studies begin at 10.

In addition to welcoming everyone back and hearing one thing about everyone’s summer, our preschoolers, led by Linda Glaser, will make challah and our kindergarteners, led by Alice Levin, will make their Torah puppets. Both groups will come together to discuss the Jewish custom of Simchat Habat “rejoicing over the daughter” and read “The First Gift,” a book about how people get their names. Our mixed class of first, second and third graders, led by Suzanne Jokela-Moskovits, will take a look at their own English and Hebrew names as well as hear more about Jewish baby naming customs.

Our fourth and fifth graders, led by Leah Goodlaxson, will learn how to find book, chapter and verse in the Torah, go on a Torah scavenger hunt to discover what they will be learning about this year, and begin a discussion about the concepts of Am Yisrael, Eretz Yisrael and b’rit. Our sixth graders, led by Chris King and Deborah Petersen-Perlman, will discuss their closeness with God, share people’s understandings about God and get an introduction to K’tuvim, the writings of the Tanakh, which they will be studying in detail over the next few months.

All students will go up to services around 11:20 to celebrate the naming of the daughter of Heather Lassard, a former teacher in our school. Most  will return downstairs for Hebrew TPR (Total Physical Response), an innovative program I was introduced to this summer at Siegal College of Judaic Studies that involves children hearing and responding to Hebrew before they start reading Hebrew and learning grammar. The sixth graders, however, will stay upstairs to hear Chris King read the Haftarah, as they will also begin learning Haftarah trope this year.

And that’s just our opening day. I look forward to seeing all of you.

Andrea Novel Buck

Teaching Hebrew studies are Max Shamblott (Alef) Andrea Buck (Bet), Linda Eason and Rabbi David Steinberg (Dalet) and Gary Gordon (substitute).
 
Teaching religious studies are Linda Glaser (pre-K), Alice Levin (kindergarteners), Suzanne Jokela-Moskovits (first, second and third graders), Leah Goodlaxson (fourth and fifth graders), Chris King and Deborah Petersen-Perlman (sixth graders), Danny Frank (music) and Sherry MacGregor (substitute).

Our religious studies teaching assistants include Julia Kanoff, Michaela Shamblott and Max Shamblott.

School starts Saturday, Sept. 10.

Registration deadline is Thursday, Aug. 25.

Early registration helps us determine how many students we’ll have in the various grade groups and the number of teachers we will need to ensure that the religious and Hebrew studies program the children experience is a good one. So please register early, even if you plan to pay quarterly or at a later time, or apply for a scholarship.
 

If you have a child who will be 3 or 4 this fall, enroll him or her in our preschool class. It’s packed with experiential learning activities – cooking, art, role playing, games, stories -- focused on Jewish holidays, Jewish values and Jewish rituals. 

If your child is beginning kindergarten or older, make sure he or she attends our Chai classes which teach Torah, Avodah (prayer) and G’milut Chasadim (acts of loving kindness) through study and experiential learning activities.

School wide, all ages celebrate the Jewish holidays, take part in Jewish cultural activities such as singing and dancing, and participate in some part of Shabbat morning services.

While we use and teach some basic Hebrew – blessings, greetings, common words – to all ages, more intensive Hebrew studies begin at age 8 or 9, when your child has reached third grade. If you want him or her to be able to read Hebrew from the Torah and the siddur (prayer book), be able to lead a service, have a bar/bat mitzvah and perform Jewish home rituals, they need to be enrolled in Hebrew studies.

Beyond bar/bat mitzvah, we have a two-year confirmation program that involves the study of ethics (person-to-person relationships) and theology (person-to-God relationships) with Rabbi David Steinberg.

If your child isn’t involved currently in Temple Israel’s Religious and Hebrew School, contact me at 724-8857 (Temple office), 728-5686 (home) or via anbuck@jewishduluth.org (e-mail) for more information and enrollment materials.
                                                                                                       Andrea Novel Buck
                                                                                                       Youth Education Director

מי שברך אבותינו אברהם יצחק ויעק בואמותינו שרה רבקה רחל ולאה הוא יברך את רב דוד

And grant him…                                       And may he…

Wisdom                                                    Stay strong and healthy so he can keep running

Infinite patience                                        Learn something new every day

Good kugel and matzah ball soup             Memorize all the prayers in the siddur

A warm coat and hat                                 Live a good life

A happy home                                           Sleep well and have good dreams

Beautiful stars every night                        Be prepared for the weather

Time to play                                               Make many new friends in Duluth

Lots of sunshine                                        Like it in Duluth

Happiness                                                            

And may...  The force be with you and you live long and prosper

Todah parents for waiting the extra 20 minutes, as our seder spilled well past the noon hour. And todah Carrie Kayes and Allyz Kramer Polacsek for contributing to our teaching team that day.

Juile passed around the special quill, ink and parchment that the soferet uses, helped students write Hebrew letters with calligraphy pens and showed us in one of the synagogue’s Torah how scribes stretch letters so that the columns line up and areas with special letters and spacing. Todah Elyse Carter Vosen for arranging Julie’s visit.