Shalom from TBD Religious School

Shabbat newsletter compiled by Gal Kessler Rohs, Education Director
Our group of learners in Morah Shoshana's class, have been focusing on their unit of the Creation, as in Bereshit, the first portion of our sacred Torah. Our students’ learning has been extensive, from memorizing the Hebrew names of the days of the week, to creating the world using shaving cream and food color, to creating posters of each day. This unit merits showcasing, and what better audience than us adults to show our children the pride we have in their Judaica Sunday learning. 
 
This will happen this Sunday, at 11am, at Temple Beth David’s Kochavim class. Our students and beloved Morah Shoshana (teacher Susan) are inviting our community members to the mid- morning performance, and program “It’s a Small Creation After All”. Our honored guests will be our youngest of learners in Miss Miriam 's class, accompanied by their buddies in Jason' s Haskala class. 
 
The program will include a sing along with Cantor Orly , an art exhibit of our students’ days of creation, a get to know of ideas our students had for their creation, and a celebration of the seventh day following the creation, the Shabbath. Each student will have their own made Shabbat kit, that will include a Kiddush cup, challa, challa plate, candleholders, and blessings to go with the rituals. We’ll bring in the Shabbat together as we each bring to the table a brief intro of “who is my child and who is my family”. 
 
The mid-morning program name is indeed a pun on words. While on the one hand our students have been learning about the creation, Disney’s “ It’s a Small World ” comes to mind in that “there’s so much that we share, that it’s time we’re aware”. We are aware that not every child benefits from the warmth of a Shabbat feeling, or teacher Susan's nurturing ways. That is why we also focus on children on the Texas border awaiting to be granted permission to enter our world. Teacher Susan, as such, will lead a short discussion with our families about RAICES , an advocacy charity for underserved children. 
 
On behalf of Morah Shoshana’s students, we look forward to welcoming you!

Wishing you shabbat shalom,
- Gal Kessler Rohs , Education Director
Ulpan Shabbat Tonight   🦃
focusing on thankfulness and parts of the body
Ulpan Shabbat is a Hebrew Immersion program of our religious school which aims to teach our students modern or conversational Hebrew. We believe in the strong connection between our Sunday religious school learning, and Friday's Ulpan Shabbat learning in that both focus on Hebrew, Judaism, Israel all that it entails. 

This Friday, Nov 22nd, we will learn the parts of the body, speak about what we are thankful for, and hope to present our learning to our congregation in the Shabbat services to follow. A communal Shabbat dinner is complementary, and temple membership is not required.  
Confirmation and L'Taken for 10-12th graders
we're entertaining the idea of meeting this Sunday at 9.30am
We are entertaining the idea of a get together for our teens of 10-12th grade this Sunday to see if there is enough interest for both L'Taken and Confirmation. Both programs are under the umbrella of the Reform movement.

To read about L'Taken, a social advocacy trip to Washington DC, click here .

To read about Confirmation at TBD, click here .

Please let us know your availability for this Sunday at 9.30am for a meeting with Rabbi Lachtman .
Thank you, Todah Raba, In appreciation
shout outs from last Sunday (written by Gal, last Sunday)
I often advocate for children first, and today is by no means an exception. A huge kol hakavod to our students, and their families, who made the effort to sacrifice their Sunday for today’s learning.

Shout out to Dr. Jackie Green for providing a full breakfast including bagels, cream cheese, cut up vegetables and more for our religious school students, staff and volunteers.

Shout out to my technical advisor,  Steve Bermann  for setting up in the tripod, live streaming, microphones, and digital paraphernalia within the school.

Shout out to  Jason Moss  for a pre-Kristallnacht program curriculum, which brought tears and shock to our tender learning students. A fine background leading up to our Kristallnacht program.

Shout out to  Gavin Wasserman, chair of the security committee, who grouped his team of dads together today, adding two new fathers – Dan Stieglitz and Colin Bidinian .

Shout out to  Zack Domb, and Cantor Orly for their musical addition to our Kristallnacht program and morning assembly. In great appreciation for enhancing both experiences.

Shout out to Rabbi Lachtman for funding teacher Susan Grodsky‘s “It’s a Small Creation After All” celebration next week. Thanks for your help with the funding of our mailing, food, and Judaica crafts.

Shout out to  Miriam Beltran and her little darlings who worked so beautifully today to create a fine art work collage for Dr. Kahn, enhancing our notion of LeDor vaDor. You put a smile on Dr. Kahn’s heart which will be ingrained forever.

Shout out to Cantor  Orly  for an interesting hands on teaching of the Torah’s dressing, words in the Torah, holding of the yad, and training our little ones to be, possibly, young rabbis.

Shout out to TBD new family,  Irene   and Dr. Otto Kahn , who visited our higher grades today, exposed Otto’s history, recognized himself as a survivor, shared stories of his father upon his return from Buchenwald concentration camp, and acknowledging Israel as our home, and a relation between his liberation, and our free home, Israel. Otto, we promise to ensure the continued advocacy for  #NeverAgain .

Shout out to  Adeline Guerra, who helped with live streaming, photography, welcoming of families, and putting things together to ensure the smooth running of our Kristallnacht program today. Thank you also for the help with the mailing for next week’s kinder program.

I am thankful to Miss  Doris Robin  who last night, spent an hour on the phone providing me with mentorship for parent engagement, professional development, types of dry erase markers (believe it or not), and scheduling of events. Thank you Miss Doris for your TBD religious school supply fund, and your focus on the child centered philosophies of education.

Shout out to  Dulce Dubin, who prior to religious school, thought about others who are hungry, homeless, and in need, and purchased groceries for their breakfast. Together with her team of Union Station volunteers led by Jason Young and his daughters Sydney and Morgan , prepared breakfast at the crack of dawn.

Rabbi  Alan Lachtman  once stood on our TBD Bima, interdigitated his fingers, and spoke about a tapestry of ideas and people interwoven into a community. The above and more exemplifies this- you all are a wonderful team, contributing to what makes TBD religious school, Jewishly Warm and Relevant.
Torah Portion of the Week
פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ Chayei Sarah, The Life of Sarah, Genesis 23:1–25:18.
This week’s Torah portion is Genesis 23:1–25:18 and is called Chayei Sarah, The Life of Sarah , but the portion actually starts with Sarah’s death at the age of 127.

During their mourning over their wife and mother, both Abraham and Isaac marry. The penultimate part of the portion finds Abraham remarrying Hagar, who changed her name to Keturah, in attempt to become a better person. Abraham fathers six children, and dies at the end of the portion at the end of 175. 

With all these life events, such as two deaths, two marriages, a matchmaking, births and a naming, how is it that the portion is called “ The Life of Sarah”, if at stake are so many other life occasions? 

Rabbi Lachtman often explains prior to his Kadish blessing, or Mourners prayer, that the latter never mentions death, but the affirmation of life. Likewise is it so for this Torah portion. Sarah's impact on Abraham and Isaac's lives led them to their devotion to (the changed) Hagar and Rebekah, and thus they were able to both mourn and be comforted at the same time. 

Typically one would find it strange to engage in such joyous events as marriage shortly after the death of someone so important as a wife or mother, but Isaac and Abraham use this opportunity to take what Sarah taught them and apply it to their own life. 

Image depicts Pineapple the goldfish who Rabbi Lachtman buried at a TBD funeral service in July 2018. May the lives of Pineapple and Sarah carry the legacy they left through the Jewish people in all generations to come.
Coming up at Temple Beth David
featured dates to note:
Nov 22 6pm: Dinner for Ulpan Shabbat families, 7.30pm: Shabbat services
followed by Israeli dancing with Ellen Feldman
Nov 24 11-12pm: "It's a Small Creation After All", a performance and activity for all who wish to join, put together by Morah Shoshana 's class
Dec 1 No Religious School,
9.30am Adult Bagel Breakfast with Scott Davis about Jewish Yiddish Writer Jacob Dinezon,
9:30am Mindfulness Meditation (Call Victor Herzfeld 626-975-5235 for information.)
Dec 6 6pm: Ulpan Shabbat and Family dinner for Ulpan Shabbat families
7.30pm Shabbat services with Cindy Paley
Dec 8 Hanukkah Boutique
Dec 15th 9.30, 10.30, 11.30am Free Adult Hebrew with Jan Robertson
Hanukkah at TBD Religious School (see flyer and details below)
We're singing in the 🌧
and more than three ways to say Rain in Hebrew
Did you know that there are three Hebrew Biblical and conversational words used to denote the rains of different seasons:

This week's  San Gabriel Valley  rain would be rendered to as Yoreh ( Hosea 6:3 ), or Moreh ( Joel 2:23 ), denoting the former or the early rain. Malkosh would be the "latter rain" ( Proverbs 16:15 ) and Geshem is the winter rain as is mentioned in Genesis 7:12 ; and Ezra 10:9. 

Another word for rain in Hebrew is Matar, but that is a general word for rain, that does not depict a season. Mabul is a heavy rain that Israel oh so desires! The semantics here is interesting in that Israel is not as blessed with as much rain as it needs, and yet it has a multiple of ways to say rain!
Shabbat Reading
and more Jewishly relevant resources

  • Last Friday's Religious School eblast honored Dr. Otto Kahn as we commemorated Kristallnacht. Dr. Kahn, survivor of Nazi Lorsch Germany, experienced the Night first hand, as a five year old. 
  • Beating The Odds- a memoir by Dr. Otto Kahn about his experience as a survivor of Nazi Germany.
  • Kristallnacht, the Night of Broken Glass.
  • Link to last Sunday's livestream of our Kristallnacht program with Dr. Kahn.
  • The Liberator, a video featuring Dr. Kahn's cousin, Herman Cohen, and why he fought to freedom (Password: History).
  • Nie Vergessen (Never Forget), a short video of the installation of the Kahn family Stolpersteinen- the golden stones put outside homes, on the ground of German Jews affected by Nazism, and their fate. 
  • Colorful rainbows are generally positive messages and are included in drawings by children who have positive viewpoints.
  • We’re on YouTube, and here’s the link to our channel
  • Why we chose ShalomLearning for our Hebrew and Judaica 4-6th grade learning.
Out and About
in our community
Zeh Olam Katan Meod
"It's A Small World After All"