Shalom from TBD Religious School

Shabbat newsletter compiled by Gal Kessler Rohs, Education Director
In thinking about yesterday's thanksgiving, we think about blessings. Traditional Jews have a custom which encourages saying a hundred blessings a day, that goes all the way back to the Talmud. 

In Deuteronomy 10:12, Moses tells the Jewish people: "What (mah in Hebrew) does Gd ask of you?" The Talmud explains that the word mah can be read as me'ah, meaning 100. In other words, Gd obligates us to recite (at least) 100 brachot every day. 

In the time of King David , 100 people died every day due to a terrible plague. Realizing that the plague had a spiritual cause, King David and the Sages instituted a "measure for measure" response: the saying of 100 blessings each day. Once implemented, the plague stopped. 

An orthodox Jew could satisfy this requirement just by participating in worship three times a day, and by saying the standard blessings before and after each meal or snack. A Jew who is perhaps more secular or less observant might have a harder time. Rather than looking for a strict requirement of a hundred blessings, what if we even started with ten? Or even five? What would our daily lives be like if we said thank you at least 10 times a day for something that we experienced? 

We at TBD Religious School for one are blessed to be learning and perpetuating our Judaic traditions, our Mitzvot, Hebrew learning, Jewish life cycles, and more in our TBD community. We have a growing preschool-12th grade school, we have a newly installed community focused playground thanks to the Kohl family, and those teachers like Sarah Evans, Doris Robin and Susan Grodsky , who helped plan its installation, just two weeks ago we learned from Dr. Otto Kahn about his Kristallnacht experiences, and promised to #NeverAgain, we have an arm y of volunteer security fathers led by Gavin Wasserman who shield us at the front of our building, with the leadership of President Michael Adelman our community gathered $6K in donations to support a leaking roof and other maintenance needs within our temple, and so much more.

I could end with a modeh ani prayer- a prayer Jews say upon waking up. This is also figurative. We are thankful for our health, our family, our school, community, and so much more t hat realizing this on this Thanksgiving time is like a wake up call for gratefulness: Modah ani lifanecha, melech chai vikayam, she-he-chezarta bi nishmati be-chemla – raba emunatecha!

I thank You, living and eternal King, Who has returned my soul into me with compassion – great is Your faithfulness!

Belated Happy Thanksgiving and w ishing you a grateful blessing of shabbat shalom,
- Gal Kessler Rohs , Education Director
About Ulpan Shabbat
and how we learned Hebrew words towards Thanksgiving   🦃
We had the little ones of  Ulpan Shabbat ’s learners, including their parents, stand around the table, and trace their יד (hand) on the table over. Then, they added עניים (eyes), כתפיים (shoulders), ראש (head), and other parts of the גוף (body) to make little turkey gooslings towards  thanksgiving . 

From our website: “Ulpan provides our children with an Ivrit B’Ivrit (Hebrew in Hebrew) curriculum where students learn letters, vowels, sounds, words, all in aim to advance Hebrew literacy and conversation, both modern, and traditional.

Shabbat provides children with exposure to preparing for the Shabbath, hands-on. Children will learn to set the Shabbat table, cook their meal, perform Shabbat rituals to the guidance of our beloved Rabbi Lachtman, and joyous singing. The class will also incorporate areas of social justice learning, and performing mitzvot like feeding the hungry, preparing toiletry kits for the homeless, baking for seniors, caring for premature infants, and more.”
What's the Hebrew relation between
thanksgiving and turkey?
Did you know that Thanksgiving and turkey share the same Hebrew root words? 

The Hebrew word for Thanksgiving is "Chag Ha-Hodaya" ("חַג הַהוֹדָיָה"), which literally means “give thanks.” 🙏🏼The Hebrew word for turkey and the word meaning “give thanks” are both "Hodu" ("הוֹדוּ"). This is just a coincidence. 🦃

The Hebrew word for turkey (הוֹדוּ) was borrowed from the old German/Yiddish word "Indik", which is the name for India and in Hebrew the name of this country is הוֹדוּ "Hodu!” 
Torah Portion of the Week
פָּרָשַׁת הַשָּׁבוּעַ Toldot, "generations", Genesis 25:19-28:9
This week’s Toldot (תּוֹלְדֹת — Hebrew for "generations" or "descendants,") is the sixth weekly Torah portion (פָּרָשָׁה, parashah) in the annual Jewish cycle of Torah reading.

The parashah tells of the conflict between Jacob and Esau, Isaac's passing off his wife Rebekah as his sister, and Isaac's blessing of his sons.

Pictured here is 20+ year member Dr. Shapiro holding Jacob with a scroll , and 65+ year member Mr. Frazin holding Esau with a bow and arrow moments prior to recounting the parasha’s highlights to our Religious School preschoolers.

More about the portion, and the conflict between the two Biblical brothers here .
Confirmation and L'Taken
for students of 10-12th grade
We are entertaining the idea of engaging our teens in both a confirmation class, and a social action program, L'Taken, in Washington DC. Both programs are under the umbrella of the Reform movement.

To read about L'Taken, a social advocacy trip to Washington DC, click here . This year, we are thinking of going at the end of January to Washington.

To read about the 20 session class, Confirmation at TBD, click here .
Coming up at Temple Beth David
featured dates to note:
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)
Shabbat Reading
and more Jewishly relevant resources

Out and About
in our community
Alef Bet Vet with Cantor Orly
and a shout out to Teacher Susan for her "It's A Small World After All"