After seven weeks of studying the Book of Ruth, our BMitzvah cohort took the reigns on our discussions. Having the BMitzvah students lead text discussion is such a joy. These students deeply embody the middot (values) of “studying in order to teach” and “sharpening the wisdom of one’s teacher.” While working on these student-led discussions, we focused on using the…
Category: BMitzvah
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Masterful Conversations in Tefilah Workshop
Tefilah mastery check-ins have long been one of my favorite parts of teaching BMitzvah. Seeing the cohort so proud of the work they’ve put into learning to read and chant a prayer is amazing. Our one-on-one conversations are always rich with meaning and new ways to think about the prayers. This has continued even now that Tefilah Mastery means clicking…
Finding the Divine Online
“And then I realized that everything I thought was infinite actually depends on something else. The only thing that’s infinite is dependence.” Ooph. Zahdi’s words definitely rang true for me, especially over our virtual Zoom classroom. Lots of things have changed over the past few months, but some have stayed constant. In February, we went as a cohort to the…
Distributed Community: Learning Over Distance
“What communities are you a part of that don’t exist in a particular place?” While the answer should have been obvious, I was surprised when Ronia said, “Well, right now, Makom.” The past two weeks have been a disruption in all of our lives, but seeing the faces of the BMitzvah cohort while we daven, learn, and create together, even…
Feedback for all, including God
“Is God good?” “What does God want from humanity?” Not the simplest questions to ponder on a Tuesday night, but our BMitzvah cohort and their parents dove in with open hearts. Following the theme of our current Rosh Pinah project, we focused on our questions about God. Our first activity exposed some of our conflicting feelings. We wrestled with those…
Learning to Lead
“I never thought a third grader could change my perspective on Jonah…” One of the most powerful things we can learn is that we can learn from anyone! At the end of our study of the Book of Jonah, the BMitzvah cohort shared some of what we learned with the Nitzanim (2nd-4th grade) class. The BMitzvah students designed and taught…