Baking Hamantashen with Moreh Maor this Wednesday.

We all were wondering what Purim was going to look like at Akiba this year. We knew that we would miss our usual student-led Purim carnival, the costume parade through the hallways, and the various classes gathering to sing Purim songs and read the Megillah together. On Purim we look for ways to spread joy. How would that look during the pandemic?

As we have found time and again this year, at Akiba we are figuring out how to pivot and create new celebrations, while honoring old traditions and finding joy together in small moments. Our Spirit Week was filled with so much Ruach (spirit) from students and staff alike! When I greeted the children as they entered the building each morning, they couldn't wait to show me what they were wearing that day. We had a child all dressed in purple for Color Day, the cutest animals for Animal Day, cozy pajamas for Pajama Day, and elaborate costumes for Purim. 

Teachers were as excited as the children to break out of their everyday routine and have some fun. Angela Moore, one of the Purple Room teachers, explained it best by saying, "During Covid it's kind of like the movie Groundhog Day, when we just wake up every day and start over again..... and for Spirit Week we are able to be overly silly and fun, and the children loved it!" How can you not feel joy on a holiday when a child arrives in school in a full gorilla costume and his teacher is in a rainbow unicorn costume?  

We were also looking for ways to connect and spread joy during Purim with other classrooms. The Kindergarten wrote and illustrated their own Megillah (the story of Purim), and every class was able to borrow it and read it aloud. 

The 7th and 8th graders, in their design challenge, built marble mazes out of boxes, paper, and cardboard that preschoolers and Kindergarteners were then able to play with. The children loved trying to get the marbles through the intricate mazes and also loved that these special games were made for them by the older students (see pictures in Preschool and Grades 1-8 sections).

This pandemic year, it has been the little things that have meant a lot to everyone, and that is a lesson that I am going to remember for future years. We all embraced the essence of the holiday and spread joy among our community, and I am very proud of the many ways that happened throughout our school.  

We plan to spread more joy this summer with Akiba's four-week summer program for preschool through rising first graders from June 15 through July 9. There will be half-day (8:30 - 12:00) and full-day (8:30-3:30) options as well as a parent/child Teva program for 0 to 6 year olds. Stay tuned for more information this coming week about registration for our summer program.

Purim Sameach and Shabbat Shalom!  

Health Update 13 Pediatric Vaccine Trail (February 18, 2021)

This week leading up to Purim, the 7th and 8th grade Rabbinics classes engaged in a project in which they learned about how Jewish communities around the world add their local customs to enhance their observance of Purim. This project highlighted the religious differences between Halacha (Jewish Law) and Minhagim (Customs). While the Talmud notes that Minhagim can be stronger than Halacha, we should understand that this is true only if the custom enhances the observance of the law.

Our students provided many examples. Here are just a few: Regarding Seudat Purim, the Purim festival meal, many Jewish communities use local cuisine. In Russia, Ronit Radutny explains that caviar and borscht are popular dishes. Solje Elia shared that in Jewish communities in Africa, people enjoy traditional food, which includes Kuku Paka (curry chicken), Mafe (beef with noodles), and Zanzibar pilu (sweet rice). Lilac Marcus demonstrated that in France, traditional foods of Kreplach and Hamantashen are eaten because their triangular shape reminds us of Haman's hat.

These are only a few if the interesting practices our students learned. What are some of the interesting customs that you engage in to celebrate Purim, or Shabbat?

Chag Purim Semeach, Shabbat Shalom!

Purim Sameach from the Kindergarten's costume party on Thursday!

The Upstairs Preschool kids loved playing with the Purim mazes that the 7t/8th graders built (see construction pictures below).

On "Dress-in-your-Sports-Gear" Day this week, the Purple Room had a fun obstacle course.

Dress-like-an-Animal Day in ZoomRoom: Bea the cat, Matan the Bunny, August the lion, and Nora the dog.

The ZoomRoom kids are excited to be completing their study of the entire alphabet. Handwriting Without Tears has been a wonderful program, teaching the children how to form all the letters. Hopefully they can have a letter celebration some time in the next few weeks.

With their project of building castles for Purim, the 1st/2nd graders learned about measuring, comparing sizes, learning about units of measure, and practiced related vocabulary.

5th/6th grade Humanities students held a mock debate, in which remote students served as the jury on the mounted iPad, while students in the classroom spoke to them to convince them of their side of the argument.

The 3rd/4th graders in Mrs. Brackman's Jewish Life class created their own greggors. Purim Sameach!

The Globe staff has been hard at work putting together their third edition of the 2020-21 Globe. The February edition contains multiple creative stories, news on the COVID-19 vaccine and the new US President, crazy facts, a new debate corner and much more! It even has a table of contents that will take you directly to the section by simply clicking on it. You can read it all here.

This week's design challenge for the 7th/8th graders: Build Purim-themed marble mazes. The preschoolers loved the results!

In each issue of the Kibitzer, we feature one of our 8th graders. In this edition, it is Yadin Isaacs:

The mandolin has a rich history in Jewish musical life. Mandolin clubs and orchestras were at one time ubiquitous in Jewish Eastern Europe and in North American immigrant communities. The instrument was central in early musical education at Jewish schools and provided one of the only means of musical expression for women in pre-war Jewish communities. And though rarely associated with the professional musical traditions of pre-war Jewish life (klezmer, Yiddish theatre), over the last century, Jewish mandolinists in a variety of musical styles have been among the most virtuosic and influential practitioners of the instrument.

In this presentation, Toronto-based mandolinist Eric Stein explores this history, sharing rare photos and recordings as well as live demos of all the instruments of the mandolin family, including the mandola, mandocello and mandobass.

Our Monday, February 22 Day of Learning was dedicated in loving memory of Betzalel Meir Bader a"h. We love and miss you very much! Eema, Abba, Mayrav, Ezra, Vered, Ayelet, and Avital.

Our Thursday, February 18 Day of Learning was dedicated to the memory of

Millie Miller z"l on the occasion of her birthday from Vincent, Emily, & Vinnie Schoenberg.

Our Tuesday, February 16 Day of Learning was dedicated in loving memory of

Max Isaac Allender Itzchak B'n Yiska in commemoration of his 7th yahrzeit on

3 Adar 5781 by his mama Jessi, his twin Coral, and his brother Martin.