In the days of the ancient temple in Jerusalem, Jews would travel to the temple for the three pilgrimage holidays, Passover, Shavuot, and Sukkot. While today, we often think of pilgrimage as being more present in other religious traditions, the act of walking towards a holy place is a part of Jewish tradition. Whether knowing that makes it easier to…
Makom Community News & Blog
Makom Community News & Blog
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Leading into the Unknown
Last week it was time for a journey into the proverbial unknown (cue music). Well, not us so much, but Bnei Yisrael (the Jewish people). They’ve journeyed from slavery in Egypt to the boarder of the land of Canaan. God wants them to have at it and go into their new home, but they’re not quite ready for that. Instead…
Tzedek (Justice) and Upstanding
Welcome back to Jewish Enrichment at Makom Community! What a fabulous first week of learning and playing with your kiddos. We started off our week with some name games, get-to-know-you-ing, and conversations about how to keep ourselves and each other safe and happy. Other than practicing our Covid-19 safety plans and procedures, we also spent time envisioning how Makom Community…
Fall 2020 Frequently Asked Questions
Looking forward to starting off this new school year with you and your families! Have a question? See if you can find the answer here on our FAQ. Otherwise, please feel free to reach out to Amanda or anyone else on the Makom Community team. What is the timing of the day for Distance Learning Days and Jewish Enrichment? We…
Makom Community Curriculum Overview for Parents
We are excited to start the 2020-2021 school year! Now, maybe more than ever, community is so important and we hope that by being back at Makom Community (whether in person or virtual), kiddos feel more grounded through community building and Jewish learning. We want to give you a brief overview of what our curriculum will look like this year. …
August Camp: A Recap
August camp has passed in the blink of an eye! We created some fabulous art, spent lots of time playing outside, studied Torah together, and made new friends. Here’s a peek into our last three weeks: Fantasy and Magic Week 1 was all about fantasy and magic. We made wands, learned about Kabbalah (Jewish mysticism), and did some magical science…
Making Magic at School’s Out Camp
August camp is off to a fabulous start! We are so happy to be back with kiddos, and have had so much fun this week. Here’s a look at what we’ve been up to: This week’s theme was Fantasy and Magic. Every day we’ve taken a deep dive into a different form of magic and looked at it from a…
Makom Community at Home: Virtual Jewish Enrichment Program
Your children in grades Pre-K – 4th grade are invited to join Makom Community for 3 days a week of Jewish enrichment through virtual learning! About Makom Community Located in Center City Philadelphia, Makom Community is a Jewish enrichment center that provides high quality Jewish Education as Afterschool Enrichment. We empower parents to build a Jewish life that is meaningful…
Makom Community Fall 2020 COVID-19 Safety Plan
Welcome back, we can’t wait to have you at Makom Community again! Student Arrival & Departure As learners arrive at Makom Community, they will be greeted outside Makom Community by a masked staff member who will do a temperature check. As long as each child’s temperature is below 100.4 degrees fahrenheit, they will come into Makom Community. If their temperature…
August Camp Here We Come!
We hope you all are enjoying a fabulous and relaxing summer! We’re gearing up for 3 awesome weeks of School’s Out Camp with your kiddos, and we can’t wait to be in person! Join us to brew some potions, paint vegetables, and explore the stages of the moon! See more details below, or click here to enroll in the weeks…
BMitzvah Blessings
It’s hard to believe that we’ve finished our first year of the BMitzvah program at Makom Community! There’s plenty more learning to come next year, including our first few BMitzvah ceremonies, but for now we’re reflecting on the past year. In our last week, the cohort members wrote each other yearbook quotes that showed the depth of collaboration and respect…
End-of-School-Year Brachot (Blessings)
What a year it’s been! We are eternally grateful to you all for powering, learning, and growing through it with us. Your kiddos brighten our days and bring us to tears with their empathy and wisdom. It’s a privilege and an honor to have you all in our community. Thank you, thank you, thank you! Here are some favorite Makom…
May We Move from Strength to Strength
Garinim Here we are, gathered together at the end of a long and harrowing journey, looking over a river into a new land. By “we” I really mean “Bnei Yisrael (the Jewish people).” They’ve traveled for 40 years in the desert from slavery in Egypt to freedom in Canaan, and now they’ve learned that they have to take their next…
On Leadership and Strength in Torah
Garinim Last week the Garinim (PreK and K kiddos) focused in on a character study of Moshe, Bnei Yisrael’s (the Jewish people’s) greatest biblical leader. We looked at snapshots of Moshe’s life and choices to discover both what made him such a good leader, and also what mistakes he made. After growing up in Pharaoh’s palace, empathizing with the plight…
The soul is harder to change: BMitzvah & the Book of Ruth
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…
The Brachah (Blessing) of Uncertainty
We made it to Egypt! Last week the Garinim (preK and K kiddos) journeyed with Yaakov’s family from their famine-ridden home in Canaan to Egypt where Yosef had saved up enough food to last the region for years. Yaakov enjoys another 17 years of an already long life, surrounded by his reunited family, including his long-lost favorite son. Shortly before…
On Families, Preciousness, and Sharing Skills
Garinim: Family dynamics and gossip Sigh. Families, am I right? Can’t live with ‘em, can’t live without ‘em. Last week the Garinim (preK and K kiddos) dove into a story that’s fraught with difficult family dynamics. Yaakov is married and has 13 kids – 12 sons and 1 daughter – with his four wives. Yosef, the first born son of…
Stay Safe: Brachah for Protection and Awe
Brachot (blessings) help us articulate our hopes for our loved ones and notice amazing things in the world around us. Those brachot can look like a lot of different things – special words, art and nature, supportive actions, and more. Let’s see how our learners unwrapped text to help them articulate brachot last week. The Garinim (preK and K kiddos)…
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…
Being, Writing, and Mastering Brachah (Blessing)
From being brachot (blessings), to writing them, to mastering them – Makom Community learners are becoming experts in all things brachah! Each age group is exploring this idea in their own way. Let’s start out by digging into the stories the Garinim (PreK-K kiddos) have been working through. Avraham was getting old and worried about his son Yitzchak’s future. He…
New Structures, Same Fabulous Learners
We know that last week was full of new difficulties and stresses as you all started navigating new online learning formats for school. You did it! You made it through that first (maybe hardest) week! Thanks for sticking with us as you managed all that, especially our Garinim (PreK and K kiddos) families because we started a new schedule with…
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…
Creating New Traditions: Birthday Celebrations in Isolation
We’re living through a strange moment in history, and a lot of things are weird and hard. Usually, when we’re all together at Makom Community, we get to enjoy celebrating each others’ birthdays with donuts, singing, and chocolate chips and sprinkles in challah. Birthdays provide extra tasty and enjoyable moments for our community. Not being able to gather together puts…
Chag Pesach Sameach!
Chag Pesach sameach! Happy Passover! This week, we embarked on the adventure of Zoom Camp. Kiddos joined us on video chat from the comfiest spot in their house, some even still in their pajamas! In the morning, we did passover-themed art projects. We learned about Elijah’s cup, Miriam’s cup, The Four Children, and so much more! After lunch and a…
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…
Adventures in Zoom Teaching: The Kids are Alright
Zoom learning continues to be an adventure! Our methods are ever evolving, and it’s a little funky to hear and see each other sometimes. But per usual our empathetic and insightful learners have empathetic and insightful things to say! Here are some of the moments when they impressed us this week. On Wednesday we unpacked the importance of family names…
Summer Camp Sneak Peek!
Summer will be here before you know it, so save the dates for our June and August camps! This summer, explore the holiday of Shavuot, dive into Harry Potter and the Torah, make some fantastic tie-dye, and more! See more details below, or check out our website to enroll in the schedules and days that work just right for your…
Launching Makom Community on Zoom
We are full of gratitude for you and your families coming out of this first week of social distancing and online learning. Rather than focusing on the content of the learning that we did, I want to reflect a little on the transition to this new normal. Monday morning, your faithful Makom Community staff met on Zoom to figure out…
Purim Shenanigans with Our Community!
Chag Purim Sameach – Happy Purim, everyone! We’ve had an amazing and hilarious time celebrating with your kiddos over the last few weeks. Here’s a recap of all the Purim-related fun we’ve had: Hamantaschen baking These tasty treats are always a crowd pleaser. We enjoyed filling them with all kinds of jam, nutella, and chocolate chips. The traditional triangle shape…
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…