Keep Climbing

A great day of teaching!
This morning I did a lot of music and motion! I believe I burned a lot of calories! I used Rick Recht’s and Sheldon Lowe’s “Na laKum” for the first time. It promotes a lot of activity. The kids absolutely loved it! It was the first time I used this piece. I played it from my ipod so I would be free to be active with the kids. We just had a blast for the last day of classes.
This afternoon for my older students I played the song “Keep Climbing,” by Avraham Fried. What a piece this is! I made copies of the lyrics, had the kids listen first and follow along so they can take in what is being said. We discussed the song. I asked them how the song makes them feel. Many of the students said: inspired, to have perseverance, to keep fighting, and more. I drew mountains on the dry erase board (before class started) and asked what obstacles are they trying to overcome, that they are fighting and will continue to fight and climb to the top. I got answers like school subjects; to treat fellow students more like family, to try to overcome the verbal abuse that is lived with at home, to try not to be so afraid of people, and more. A six year old boy told me that the song reminds him of all of the mitzvot (commandments) we are suppose to perform. The more mitzvot that we perform the higher we will get on the mountain and the Moshiach will come. They loved the song!
A very fun and rewarding day of teaching. I’m tired. Good night.

Revelation

It is amazing how a synagogue service can stay with you for several days.
I was invited to participate in a Shavuot service at Temple Beth Orr in Coral Springs. It was a very moving service from seeing all of us dressed in white; to the music; to the Rabbi’s narations; to all the participation from several of the women in TBO. I was honored to be invited to read Torah and be one of the participants in reading the story of Ruth. Rabbi Mark Gross did such a beautiful job in helping the congregation feel like we were at Mount Sinai receiving the Torah. With his eloquent way of speaking, he integrated the furnishings,the carpet and more; we closed our eyes, and we were there.
I ran into one of the other participants this morning, and upon seeing each other, we almost spoke at the same time. She felt the same way I did about the service: awesome, inspired, and on a high.
If we can feel this way days later, then the service did it’s job.
The service was beautifully coordinated.
Kol haKavod!

Making A Difference

I usually know that I make a difference in my students’ lives, but I still always question it. I want my children and adults to love being Jewish. You will see in my previous blogs that I try through music, crafts, stories, etc. to get people of all ages excited about being Jewish. On Friday, one of my 5 year old students told me that when she gets older, she wants to “copy me.” When I asked her what she meant, she told me that she wants to be a Jewish teacher just like me. That not only made my day, that made my year! That was my thank you, that was knowing that I made and make a difference.
I have been working on a program with 2 friends/committee people that was held today. This program was the finale of our very successful adult education we had going this year at Temple Beth Torah. I asked several Rabbis to participate in a Rabbinical panel to explain how the different movements in Judaism came to be, where are they today, and where will they be tomorrow. It was taped by JL TV. I was all excited until I got a call that one of the Rabbis was ill, and I got a voice mail that another was delayed due to a burial. I have to say the two Rabbis that came carried the ball better than anything I could have expected. I have known these gentleman for several years and knew that they were quite capable, but watching and hearing them, it was awesome. The 55 people that came to the program left feeling educated, and good. The positive energy was wonderful and (a relief).
Two more weeks of school to go, B’nai Mitavah rehearsals, and more coming up.
Shavua tov! Have a super week!

Winding Down

The school year is winding down. I can’t believe we are nearing the end. It has been a tough year for me, but work wise, it has been very good.
I always feel like I am still learning how to do my job(s), and that is a good thing. This year I have included more music and movement than ever before. I connected with tween and teens at Temple Beth Orr in Coral Springs, not just musically, but philosophically thanks to great opportunities. My B’nai Mitzvah students always give me much satisfaction. Watching the students grow and the witnessing their ceremonies are always amazing for me because I watch how successful they feel. I taught Judaic Studies at Temple Beth Torah in Tamarac and some of the discussions from the four and five year olds were just unbelievable. At times I feel like I was also learning with them. You can read about much of this in my previous blogs. With all of this, I still feel like I am evolving and growing, and God willing becoming better at what I do.
Now time for end of the year shows and graduations. At Temple Beth Orr, the kids are doing phenomenal with their Broadway Show tunes. I can’t wait for the first week of June because they are going to be so good!
How did your school year go? Let me know!

My Gut Feeling

Wednesday night I had not idea what I wanted to do at one of my ECC schools regarding Judaic Studies. I looked through my collection of books and came across one that I never used before called, “Who Is the Builder?,” By Genendel Krohn.
I could not have picked a better book! The children were so into it! They were so quiet that you can hear a pin drop! I began the lesson with asking who they thought built the world? Most did say God. I read the story like I read all of them, animated and with this book, a quiet voice through much of it. It just seemed to be appropriate. After the story I explained that we all live in God’s house, that the whole world is God’s house. On a big pad, I wrote the students’ answers to the question of what did God build for our house? They were so excited to be giving me their answers! Some of the answers were trees, grass, flowers, sky, heaven, ice cream, butterflies, cats, dogs, people, etc. Some surprising comments were: God does not make bad people like robbers, which was from one of my 5 year old students. I explained that God made and makes all human beings with the ability to make good choices and bad choices. I asked her if she makes mistakes and of course she said yes, and I told her I do, that we all do. I told her if a bad makes a bad choice to rob a bank or a store, he/she will be punished for it. I explained it on her level. Another 5 year old told me Jesus who is God built the world. I explained to him that the Jewish people believe that Jesus was a wonderful man and teacher, but we do not believe that he is God. I made it clear that what he and his family believe is not wrong, that different people have different beliefs depending on the religion they are. WOW! Great discussions and challenges with these beautiful young people! I can go on and on.
The classes went so well yesterday morning, that I repeated the same at my school today. The kids were just as involved!
Tomorrow one of my students who is a special needs child has his Bar Mitzvah ceremony. He is ready! He knows many of the prayers and will be reading from the Torah scroll with some assistance. We are all so excited! What a wonderful feat for this young man! He is excited about the money he will be receiving. Although he loves money, he is a saver which I am happy about. But the dollar signs are what sticks out the most for him regarding this exciting Shabbat.
Things are winding down, so I am breathing a little, but my mind is always working.
Shabbat Shalom everyone!
Let me know if you have any questions regarding the beautiful book I wrote about.

Thinking Fast

Yesterday reminded me that I need to read every word of a memo.
One of the schools I work for sends us information via email a couple of days before we report to work. I got it, read it, and thought I knew what is going on. I did not take anything with me because I thought my grade was one of the grades to celebrate Israel’s birthday. Well, it wasn’t, until next week. So, I had to think fast about what to do with the students. We had a Shacharit service. We didn’t only practice the prayers taught this year, but we also discussed and learned more about the prayers. Before class, I grabbed Hebrew flashcards that pertained to prayer. I am so impressed with what kids learned and retained this year! Things happen for a reason and I am glad I didn’t “get the memo!”

Tomorrow at the Chabad school I teach music for will have their first experience with reading music. Of course one of them is the Adon Olam I wrote. We will probably sing it as well! I can’t wait!

I bought a great music book of Beatle’s Music. Lyrics and chords of everything they did. I will definitely have fun with it over the summer. I may even use some of it at the camp I will be teaching music at.

If it keeps raining, we may all “Live In A Yellow Submarine!”

Counting the Days

We are in the midst of an exciting time right now. We are counting; that’s right, counting. We have been counting the days since the second night of Passover, and we will continue until the holiday of Shavuot. Many of you will ask why we are counting the days. This time of year is known as “Counting the Omer.” An omer is a measurement of grain which was brought to the Temple in Jerusalem as an offering. The counting is intended to remind us of the connection between Passover, which celebrates our Exodus from Egypt, and Shavuot, which celebrates our receiving the Torah. The counting of the 49 days reminds us that the redemption from slavery was not complete until we received the Torah.
This period in our lives is also a mourning period because we commemorate a plague that broke out during the days of Rabbi Akiba where many of his student passed away, therefore, there are no haircuts; many refrain from music as entertainment; and no simchas until Lag B’Omer which is a mini-holiday. On that day, many run to barber shops, get married, have barbecues, listen to music, and more.
In my Chabad school during the Omer period music education is a little more challenging since we are not playing snstruments. I decided to teach the chidlren how to read music. So far we have covered pitch, the staff, the cleffs, and started note recognition. I took in my tuning forks to demonstrate how they work and why I use them. The kids got a real kick out of them. Most of the studnts are genuinely interested. The childrren who know how to read music feel good answering many of the questions and those stueents also learning at least one thing new upon leaving class.
There are other reasons to count this time of year. Many teachers are counting til’ the end of school; many students are counting til’ the end of school! Many students are counting the days til’ camp begins. There are so many other reasons to be counting days.
I am counting the days for many reasons this year, personal as well as personal. The former personal meaning domestic personal, the latter personal, meaning is that we were given the Torah. These were and still are days of great anticipation. We had and still have so much to learn in how to be a Jewish Community and a Jewish Nation. Without receiving the Torah, it would have been impossible and still is impossible to fully come together. We can receive the Torah everyday which strengthens each of us, therefore, strengthening us as a whole.
Let’s keep RECEIVING!

The Emotional Rollercoaster

Since I teach so many different age groups, this is one of the times of school year that my curriculum has to change from morning to afternoon, from day to day, sometimes from hour to hour.
We have Yom Hashoah (Holocaust Remembrance Day) Wednesday night, then the following week, Yom HaAtzmaut (Israel Independence Day).
For example, yesterday in Religious School, my class read many writings from Holocaust survivors of all ages. We ready short stories, lyrics of music, and poetry. This morning because my students are ECC, we sang songs celebrating Israel and danced the Hora.
Tomorrow I teach children from toddlers to 12 years old. It will be a day of twists and turns. I will go from celebrating Israel to lighting a memorial candle for the six million Jews who perished in the Holocaust.
We have our homeland, which I miss terribly, thanks to many who had to leave their homes to flee persecution. We go from sadness to joy, but we must remember we got our home, Israel, at a cost. We celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut with joy, but we also must remember, it takes a lot to defend it. The Israeli flag of blue and white symbolizes loyalty, faiths and the heavens, as well as innocence, honesty, and peace. Let’s pray for peace and tolerance during these next several days. Let’s light the memorial candles and dance the hora.
Have a good week.

A Different Feeling

This year was a different feeling about this year about Passover.

Even with all the model seders, music about matza, slavery, and plagues, the feeling was different.  Maybe it was because I wasn’t as overwhelmed regarding our big seder.  Our oldest son did the first seder and my wonderful husband did most of the cooking for the second seder due to my crazy work schedule. 

Anyway, the seders were wonderful!  The kids did a great job with the first seder, and our second seder it could not have been better.  Our crowd was very eclectic which made it interesting, and everything was just great between story, prayer, singing, as well as food, drink, and a lot of laughter. 

G-d willing I will get the rest of the music reading this week for end of the year shows.  Between work and Passover, I haven’t had a lot of time.  Need to learn some new music so I can start teaching it!  Love it, but I wish I had even more prep time.  I think this week will be the week for it!    It is fun doing all Broadway music!

Have a good rest of the holiday!

 

 

Surfing Across The Sea!

So, one of the pieces I love for Passover is Across he Sea by the Allards. It can be used as a zipper song. When I asked an ECC class at Temple Sollel in Hollywood how we got across the sea, one of my four year olds said that we surfed! I loved it! So we surfed across the sea. This is how my wonderful week of teaching started.

I found this wonderful video through Aish HaTorah called Passover Rhapsody and showed it for a couple of days. It is the story of Passover set to the music by Queen’s Bohemian Rhapsody. It is awesome and my students of all ages have enjoyed it including their teachers!

Learning a lot of new music for the end of the year show at TBO’s ECC. It is a little stressful because of lack of time but I have about 50% of the music ready to start teaching the kids. It is a little out of my comfort zone which is good for me. I am learning new guitar chords and picking a little more which is good.

One of my special needs students is getting closer to his Bar Mitzvah Ceremony. We start rehearsals this week. The Sidur that I made for him came out beautiful! We are all excited for him. He has worked hard. The biggest thing now is working on projection because he is shy. He knows his 5 verse Torah reading pretty well; he can recite the Sh’ma and response line solo; as well, he can recite the Torah blessings solo. Several other prayers he can recite with me. WOW! I am so proud of him!

I am in the process of making three other sidurim for June. Busy, busy, time.

With all of this we are cleaning, cooking, and getting ready ready for Passover.

Gotta run. Time for Shabbat services where I will be giving Hebrew names to two beautiful children this evening. Great stuff happening!

Shabbat Shalom