Mazel tov (congratulations) to our whole class on their fantastic Rosh Pinah (capstone) project presentations last week! Not only am I extremely proud of how well they did, they are very proud of themselves!
- I am proud of myself for singing in front of people. Inside I was so nervous!
- I am proud of how well the coffin came out.
- Our presentation was well executed and the kids [Nitzanim (3rd, 4th, and 5th grade) class] liked it.
A model of the coffin in which Rabbi Yochanan Ben Zakkai was smuggled out of Jerusalem.
When asked to reflect on what they would like to do differently, or what was out of their control that they wish was different, they said:
- Go in more confident, which I would do if we did it again because I did it!
- Keep it a secret from each other until the presentation.
- I wish we hadn’t presented to Nitzanim, because if it was for older people we could go into more detail.
- I would have been much more nervous if we presented to people we didn’t know as well.
- I would not have sung if any parents were there.
- It was easy, I liked it.
Results from a survey about Jews’ relationship to tefilah.
We wrapped up studying Vaykhel by returning to the meaning of the title: vayakhel means “to gather”, the word shares the same root as the word kehillah, which means “community”. So we asked, why does this parsha (portion), which is about building the mishkan, called Vayakhel?
- They’re all gathering all the materials. It’s not about people.
- Gathering in order to gather!
And then everyone chose the verses they wanted to read for Torah service on 2/24. Learners are quickly and eagerly learning the aliyah they will read. They are so excited for their next opportunity to read Torah and lead their community.