Today, we would like to share the concept of “midrash” with you and share some of our midrashic thoughts about the Torah episode in which Abraham bargains with God to not destroy the wicked city of Sodom.

First of all, we learned that, to really understand the Torah, we need to question and “fill in the gaps”.  Often, the “why” is missing in the Torah and it is up to us to fill in the “why.”  That’s what midrash is all about.

After reading the story of Sodom and Gomorrah, we thought about and answered several questions in our journals.  Here are some of our responses to the question “Abraham bargained with God to not destroy the city by first asking, ‘What if there are 50 innocent people?’  He continued bargaining down in number until he got to ‘What if there are 10 innocent people?’  The question is, why did Abraham stop at 10.  Why didn’t he bargain all the way down to 1?”

Lila:  10 is a good number to stop at and because there was more than 1 good person in Sodom.

Allison:  because he was confident that there had to be more than just one person that was good.

Aaron:  He didn’t want God to get angry and he thought there were at least 10 innocent people.

Eryn:  He knew that couldn’t be true that only one person could be innocent.

Felicia:  Abraham couldn’t find more good people and it took a long time to find just 10.

Frank:  He maybe thought that he should not blow God’s idea because God is God.

Nathan:  There had to be at least 10 innocent people in the city.

Anthony:  He knew God would destroy the city of there was only one good person and because that would mean the city wasn’t a good city.

Alec:  Only one person who was innocent does not make up for all the other people who did bad things.

Campbell:  Because God would get mad and raise it back up to 50.

Daniel:  Less people could turn into bad people and if there were ten or more good people, they could stop those other people from becoming evil.

Abby:  He thought 10  was the lowest God would go to and if he bargained down, God might go to a higher amount of people.

David:  He knew that was enough and he didn’t want to bargain anymore.

Kudos to all the third graders who are learning to be Torah scholars.  We have had many excellent answers to many intriguing questions.

One last Torah thought, going back to the episode in the Garden of Eden.  According to Ryan, the snake had already eaten the fruit from the forbidden tree and he knew that Adam and Eve would not die if they ate from that tree, even though God had said that they would.

So much sophisticated thinking from such young children.  They are truly a joy and a blessing.

To get a physical sense of what a mikvah is and looks like, I put together a gallery of images on Flickr. I invite everyone to follow the link and check out these varied photos.

For anyone ever putting together a presentation – making a gallery on Flickr is easy, and a lot of fun. You can search for all kinds of interesting images (and believe me, you will find them!). You can put up to 18 of them together in a gallery, order them however you would like and add descriptions/explanations. Voila! A great photo presentation!

Each month, I try to incorporate one Hebrew phrase connected to that month. That way, we can keep track not only of what happens at CBE but also keep tuned to some major influence on the feel of that month.

Here's last month's phrase. You can probably either read it or else guess what it says.

December is upon us, and with it comes a new calendar page with a new Hebrew phrase. And here’s the challenge. Anyone – kid or adult – is welcome to stop by the office any time in December, and either read the latest phrase or else tell me what it says, where it comes from,  etc. (And only native Hebrew speakers are allowed to mock my Hebrew penmanship!)

Successful readers or identifiers will receive a sweet reward: jelly beans! (Ronald Reagan and I share a great love for Jelly Belly jelly beans.)

But wait, there’s more! This month only, I will post the calendar quote here, on the blog, so you can puzzle over it wherever your mobile devices take you, so you can enter the office with certainty and confidence.

See you in the office!

Michelle, bottom left, with her son Noah

Previously, Michelle worked in Rockvilleat the Katherine Thomas School, a private school for children with language-based learning disabilities, as a clinical social worker for 6 years and as a classroom teacher the first year the school opened. Prior to that, she taught a resource room (LD & hearing impaired) for Alexandria City Public Schools. Michelle earned her master’s degree in social work from the Catholic University of America, and her master’s degree in learning disabilities as well as her bachelor’s degree in communication sciences and disorders (LD, audiology, speech-language pathology, with a minor in psychology) fromNorthwesternUniversity.

She lives in Oak Hill with her husband Andy Loggia (who grew up at Temple Beth Ami), their children Ari (10), Noah (8), and Aviva (4), and their [hopefully future therapy] dog named Gretzky (as in Wayne, the hockey player). When not working, parenting, and playing with her family, Michelle enjoys reading, skiing, hiking, playing mahjong, & baking cookies. She’s an avid Washington Capitals fan and a hockey mom/wife.

She can be found at CBE working at BEECC on Wednesdays, and at the religious school on Wednesday and Thursday afternoons and Sunday mornings. Please feel free to contact Michelle at any time at CBE on extension 110 or via email: michelle at bethemeth org.

Give it up to our guest poster, Morah Michelle Cades!

The days between Thanksgiving and New Year’s Eve can bring out the best in people… and the worst in people.  Here are some tips for different situations that you may encounter during this month!

If you are feeling stressed, imagine what it’s like for your kids. No, really, they do get stressed, too, only over different things and for different reasons.

1 – Kids are more perceptive than we give them credit. When adults are worrying about gift lists and family gatherings and travel plans and work parties and more, it’s easy to think that the kids feel no impact because they are not responsible for these tasks. But, kids absolutely pick up on the stress “vibes” that adults give off, our tone of voice and rate of speech (both go up), our body language (tense muscles), our decreased patience level, our frenzied behaviors (the frantic cleaning before guests arrive), and the differences between partners in coordinating and planning the execution of these tasks. Yikes!  And, I didn’t even touch the excitement level of peers at school!

2 – The Christmas decorations went up outside my neighborhood shopping center before Halloween this year. Seriously. Going out of the house is sensory overload! Lights on houses and shop displays. Music in stores and on the radio (for those of us who still listen to regular old FM radio). Decorations covering every bare space.  Solicitations for donations. Crowded stores. Shiny, pretty advertisements in the mail, online, on TV (you do remember the days of watching “live TV”). It is everywhere – the grocery store, the gas station, schools (“holiday” decorations), doctors’ offices, coffee shops.  Not that these are bad things, but all together, they can be highly overwhelming.

3 – Tact and manners when receiving gifts are actually difficult skills to master. Gracefully receiving a gift, face to face with the gift-giver in particular, is actually a difficult and learned skill. We teach our children to say “thank you.” But think about how you feel when you receive a dud gift (that ‘ugh’ in your gut); yet you still put on a warm smile, an enthusiastic comment, and gracious thank you’s. Not so easy for kids.

Before gathering with relatives, consider role playing gift-receiving and things to say when the gift is not exactly what you’d hoped for. A strategy I suggest is to teach kids that when this happens they can comment on the gift itself, rather than on how they feel about the gift. For example, “Thanks for the sweater and socks, Bubbe! They will really keep my feet warm this winter!”

Family get-togethers: Fun, but a little stressful for everyone. Photo from Flickr user my_boys_mom, used under Creative Commons License.

4 – Visits to relatives and friends can be exhausting (and exasperating). Before visits to friends or relatives, review with your kids what they can expect – who will be there, how long you’ll be there, what will happen, etc. Many adults struggle with making small talk. Imagine how much more difficult this skill is for kids. Identify a few topics of high interest to the kids that they will be comfortable talking about with other adults and kids. If the kids are picky eaters, pre-feed them to avoid food-related meltdowns. Volunteer to bring along a food that you know your child will eat. Allow your child to bring along a small game or book for when they need a retreat from the hubbub.

If travelling overnight, sleep can often be an issue. Be sure to have kids bring along their security item / “lovie” or, if possible, their own pillow. Never underestimate the comforting power of a familiar smell! Try, as best you can given the circumstances, to maintain a consistent bedtime routine and sleeping hours. And, bring along a nightlight. We all can use a little light for middle of the night bathroom trips in unfamiliar settings!

Photo by Flickr user CrazyUncleJoe, used under Creative Commons License.

Hopefully these tips will lead to a more relaxing and enjoyable month ahead for your whole family! Good luck and enjoy!

5th grade, brainstorming in preparation for their Israel explorations

The fifth grade is about to embark on an adventure of a lifetime!  They are preparing for “Amazing Race-Israel” where they will learn all aboutIsrael, it’s culture, it’s citizens, it’s economy, and government.  Most of all the fifth grade will learn about our connections toIsrael. We will do this with a virtual tour of the country while we compete in teams performing various challenges throughout the school year!

Click image for a better view of what the 5th grade plans to learn.

The 5^th graders have been discussing the Jewish life cycle, and the beginning of any life cycle is birth! We talked about some of the Jewish customs surrounding birth, like Brit Milah and Brit Bat, and talked about our Hebrew names and what they mean.

Each child made a poster of their Hebrew name as an acrostic poem, using lines from Psalm 119 for each letter. They illustrated and decorated their name posters and now everyone who comes into room 9 can enjoy them!

We’ve also talked about being a Jewish child and have just started talking about Bar/Bat Mitzvah. This will be a big focus for each of these kids during the next couple of years, so we’ll definitely have a lot to talk about!

This comic was brought to you by the 5th grade class, Caleb’s Challenge and Parshat Noach. Is this the winner of the challenge? Come to CBE for Shabbat services this Saturday morning to find out!

Shalom!  My name is Morah Cheryl, and I am very delighted to be teaching the second grade class this school year atCBEReligiousSchool.  I am really looking forward to working with each of my students and together we can all look forward to many exciting and rewarding learning experiences throughout this school year.

Let me tell you a little about myself. 

I was born inCleveland,Ohioand I attended college inOhio, too. I have a B.S. in Education (early childhood and elementary education) fromKentStateUniversity.  During college and until the present, I have taken many special education and Jewish studies courses.  I worked as a Head Teacher and/or Administrator in a preschool and daycare setting for many years before I moved toVirginia.  It was inOhiowhen I began and fell in love with teaching religious school at Cleveland Hebrew Schools where I taught a first and second grade combined class for three years.  On the whole, I have been teaching for nineteen years.  I absolutely enjoy teaching and volunteering to work with children!

I began teaching at CBE in many capacities since my daughter, Stacy, started preschool at the Beth Emeth Early Childhood Center (BEECC).  I have done quite a bit of substitute teaching at BEECC, and I have taught classes in the preschool after school enrichment program, BEECC Adventures. I have also been the Director/Head Counselor for three years at BEECC’s camp, Kaitana.  AtCBEReligiousSchool, I have taught kindergarten for one year, second grade for eight and a half years, and I have also worked as a substitute teacher for grades K-7. On the High Holidays Days, I have led the services for the students in kindergarten thru second grade (K’tongregation), and for four years I worked as a volunteer CBE Youth Advisor of my daughter’s youth group. I have tremendously enjoyed all of my experiences working at CBE and as a member of the shul. My daughter and I joined the CBE family ten years ago.

When I am not working, I enjoy taking long walks when time permits, singing, dancing, swimming, gardening, reading, and going to the movies and play productions with my daughter.  My ideal vacation is being at the beach. This past summer, my mom took her four children, my two brothers, my sister and I, on an incredible and unforgettable journey, a heritage trip to parts of Eastern Europe.  My mom and beloved dad, of blessed memory, survived the Holocaust.  We went to Slovakia, Ukraine, Romaniaand the CzechRepublicwhere we saw remnants of the towns of our parents, grandparents and relatives.  The trip was happy, sad, emotional, exciting, educational and more.  We documented our trip and a book was made dedicated to future generations of our family (M’Dor L’ Dor – to be passed on from one generation to the next.)

The great poet William Butler Yeats said, “Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire.” This quote is tells us that the pursuit of education is a high-energy, inspiring journey. We know that journey is a step-by-step learning process that takes time. In Judaism, the following supports the above belief about learning: (Talmud, Rosh Hashanah 4b) “If you grasp too much, you cannot hold it; when you take a little, you can.” and (Proverbs – Mishle 13:11) “If a student crams, his learning diminishes; and if he ‘gathers little by little, it shall increase.” Yeasts’ quote speaks to a passion for learning and the fun of learning. My goal in my classroom is to provide a warm and supportive atmosphere in which I can “strike the sparks” or motivate my students to learn all they can about their Jewish heritage by providing them with meaningful experiences where they are engaged in exciting and enriching activities and are encouraged to be curious to ask questions about the rich traditions and history of the Jewish people. I hope to instill in all of my second graders a belief system and the skills that will foster a strong Jewish identity to sustain them throughout their lives.  My hope for these students too is that once the fire has been lit in their minds and has touched their hearts, that it will continue to burn for generations.

There is a Jewish proverb “As you teach, you learn.”  I am really looking forward to getting to know all of my second graders during this school year, some of which are siblings of former students that I have taught.  I am also looking forward to sharing my enthusiasm and love of Judaism with my class and their families.  In closing, I will once more say that I am greatly looking forward to learning and working together with my students and their parents to make this school year a very successful one!

Apples, apples, what a treat,

Sweet and tart and good to eat.

Apples green and apples red,

Hang from branches overhead,

And when they ripen, down they drop,

So we can taste our apple crop.