We are so excited to share that we are returning to five days a week in-person at Makom Community! All our staff will be fully vaccinated. As of Monday, April 19, we will resume Jewish Enrichment 5 days a week for all our kiddos. Jewish Enrichment will take place from 3:00-5:00pm. Drop off at Makom Community or to the walking…
Makom Community News & Blog
Makom Community News & Blog
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Updated Safety Plan for In Person Jewish Enrichment – April 2021
Thank you for continuing on this journey with us this year! We are excited to return to daily programming with indoor and outdoor spaces. Now that our whole team is fully vaccinated, we are prepared to have everyone in the space together again each day. This plan is set to take effect Monday April 19, 2021. (The last educators on…
Bouncing Back from the Narrow Places
Say you find yourself at the lowest point in your life, literally (or figuratively) deep under the ocean, in the belly of a big fish. How would you respond? What would you do to help you bounce back from an experience like that? This is the exact scenario Yonah finds himself in, stuck in a fish. And Yonah chooses to…
Behalotcha- Strengthening Empathy both Past and Present
Starting a new unit is a favorite process at Makom. We’re right at the beginning of taking on a whole new series of ideas- challenging our own assumptions and learning together as a group. Challenging the things we think everyday is essential to our new unit, as we explore Parshat Beha’Alotcha through the lens of perception and action. We…
Resilience through Joy: Makom @ Home Reflects on Staying Strong
What are some ways that we celebrate? When it comes to Purim there’s a lot of things for us to feel joyful about. Haman’s wicked plan fell through, Mordechai was appointed as an advisor to the king, Ester stood up for herself. We take these moments and unpack celebration and joy just as we would any other topic in our…
Does Avoidance = Resilience?
Last week, we met a new character in Jewish text, and a new perspective on resilience. Sefer Yonah (the Book of Jonah) opens with God instructing Yonah to go to the big city of Ninveh and tell the people there to shape up their act, or else. But instead, Yonah tries to run away. He ends up on a boat…
Preparing for Passover 2021 with Makom Community
This upcoming Saturday night, March 27, begins the holiday of Passover. In Jewish Enrichment, your kiddos are continuing to study The Book of Yonah. They will learn that Yonah got stuck in the belly of the whale and prayed. “He said: In my trouble I called to God, and he answered me” (Yonah 2:3). We will reflect on the similarities…
Who Saves us in Times of Crisis? Ourselves!
These students have such big opinions. It’s wonderful. When the idea of animal sacrifice in Parshat Vayikrah was first introduced, we had some big reactions to it, and I’m glad to say we haven’t dulled since. Our feelings on the ancient system of sacrifice were matched only by our feelings on the modern climate crisis. We’re always heated…
Finding Strength in Tradition and Resilience in Memories
Esther saves the day! Mordechai becomes the second most powerful person in the kingdom! The Jewish people get a new holiday to joyfully celebrate every year! Last week, we finally reached the end of Megillat Esther (The Book of Esther). We noticed that unlike most other stories we’ve learned about the Jewish people (ex: the leaving Egypt story, the Chanukah…
Makom @ Home: What makes for evil? Those that choose to accept it.
Where is God in the Purim story? Why don’t we hear God’s name even once? In the story of Purim we are left totally on the human side of things. What are we left with? A human story in all its forms- politics, emotion, and human failings. This human story is a fascinating one, but one piece especially caught our…
What Do We Want? Good Advice!
Weeks ago we learned that Esther decided she would approach Achashverosh in order to save her people. But instead, she invited him and Haman to a feast. And then she invited them to a second feast! Why did Esther feel she had to build rapport with King Achashverosh before she made her request? Because she was worried that she was…
Conquering and Challenging- The Power of Habit
We think back to a little over a week ago and think of all that has changed. Our first day in person together indoors. We had dug into the ideas of Tahor and Tameh (inherent bad and inherent good). As we look back on these as concepts it’s easy to get caught in February 2021 and think only…
Purim Power and How NOT to Be Resilient
When we last left our heroes, Mordechai had finally convinced Esther to risk her own life by approaching Achashverosh uninvited and asking him to save her people. But when Esther visits the king, she asks instead for him and Haman to join her for a feast. Huh? What’s with that? And at the feast, she asks them to come to…
Leaners Grapple With Internal Emotions
The power of class time truly astounds me. When our students have something line up, or take time for a creative project that they’re really passionate about, it always amazes me the level of insight that learners bring to class. Our newest unit for Makom @ Home’s Nitzanim cohort is a tricky one with lots of modern applications- the…
Solidarity Forever: How the Jewish people made Esther strong
Last week, our story amped up the drama. We met the text’s leading antagonist, Haman (boooo!), and learned about his plan to get rid of all the Jews in Achashverosh’s kingdom. He drew lots to choose a random date to enact his plan, and ended up with the 13th of Adar (that’s this Friday!). Interestingly, this part of the story…
BMitzvah on Vayikra: Judaism and the Environment
Title: “BMitzvah on Vayikra: Judaism and the Environment” On Monday we jumped into a world of Judaism that in many ways feels foreign to our own- a Judaism based in sacrifice and Temple centered ritual. Vayikra & Environmental Justice Where do these dynamics interplay in our lives? How did they interact with ancient lives? Each of these types…
New Unit, New You
We report to you on last week from the beginning of a brand new curriculum unit at Makom Community! To kick off this unit, we’ll unpack the story in Megillat Esther (the Book of Esther). We’ll notice the ways that challenging experiences that we and the characters in text face are temporary, but the strength we take from them impacts our…
Nitzanim Unit 2 Showcase: Peace and Conflict
The Nitzanim (3rd and 4th graders) had yet another wonderful showcase! Last week, our learners, their parents, grandparents, aunts, and uncles all gathered together on Zoom to take part in learning together. We started off our showcase with a brief introduction to our process and the text we used. This unit, the Nitzanim created an online book all about the…
Feelings of the Past: Yaakov and Eisav gets Emotional
What is it that connects us to the stories of the past? In this class’s view it is the emotions, and there were certainly a few to unpack in this story. We’ve continued on with the story of the brothers Yaakov and Eisav with Eisav now having just found out about his blessing having been taken by his brother. …
Updated Makom Community COVID-19 Safety Plan 2021
Thank you for continuing on this journey with us this year! We are excited to welcome back kiddos inside Makom Community. We stand in solidarity with our public school teachers and their union working hard not to return to unsafe classrooms. This safety plan represents our privilege in teaching from a recently updated building as a space where we can…
Aaaand That’s a Wrap: a Peaceful Conclusion to Unit 2
Can you believe we’re already halfway through this school year?! Wrapping up our second curriculum unit last week gave us ample opportunity to celebrate all the amazing learning, analyzing, and growing your kiddos have done. A particular big shout out and yasher koach (congratulations!) is due to our Nitzanim (3rd and 4th graders) upon completion of their second showcase. Stay…
BMitzvah Reads Yitro from the Source
We learned together for the first time in person this week! It was wonderful to see your amazing children in person. We practiced through our entire Torah service, and Nitzanim (3rd & 4th grade) got to see, too. Our Torah just came back from repairs with our soferet (scribe), so this was the first time it was read from after…
I See God in You
Feelings and Torah! We love this combination at Makom Community. Last week’s learning was full of both. Here are some of the things we discovered while exploring the scene of Yaakov and Eisav’s long-awaited reunification. Yaakov and Eisav reunite in an overwhelming moment. Yaakov, still consumed by guilt over stealing Eisav’s birthright and blessing, as well as fear of Eisav’s…
Noticing Feelings in Conflict
So many feelings! So little time! Last week we spent a lot of time decoding characters’ feelings, through dramatic interpretation, visual aids, and empathy practice. Eisav returns from his hunt only to find out that Yaakov had just received the blessing meant for him. He is incredibly distressed, and vows to kill his brother Yaakov. At first, the Garinim (preK…
Tricky Feelings and a Blessing for Peace
Finally Yaakov has received his special brachah (blessing), but at what cost? We spent several days unpacking the situation around the giving of this brachah and then we analyzed the content of the brachah itself. We discovered there was lots of room for mixed feelings and mixed messages amid the trickery and tension. Rivkah had a plan to make sure…
New Year, New Start!
Our first week together as a class in 2021! The day marked a variety of new beginnings for the cohort: the new year was freshly upon us, winter break had just ended, they were getting a new teacher. In ways we were all looking forward to what lay ahead of us. “I want each of us to repeat the word…
Commentaries and Questions on Conflict
Commentary was the name of the game last week in our learning at Makom Community. Unsurprisingly, our inquisitive students have many of the same questions as some pretty big deal medieval rabbis. We unpacked the answers that some of those rabbis had to the questions and added our own insights. One story that we discussed was from 15th century Torah…
Winter Camp: Full of Fun and Light
Last week, Makom Community had our first entirely outdoor Winter Break Camp! We met on Ionic Street to learn about Jewish traditions around the world through art projects, games, obstacle courses, and lots of running around. Monday was all about Jewish traditions and holidays that emphasize light. We talked about lighting Chanukah candles and how that brings light and warmth…
New Year, Same Resolutions: Revisiting our Brit
Happy New Year! We’re so excited to be adventuring into 2021 with all of you. As we return from winter break, we want to remind ourselves about the britot (two-way promises) that we made back in November. Here’s a refresher on our britot, which are completely painted and waiting for us on our classroom walls at Makom Community. At Makom…
Learners Creativity Continues to Amaze
The power of class time truly astounds me. When our students have something line up, or take time for a creative project that they’re really passionate about, it always amazes me the level of insight that learners bring to class. Our newest unit for Makom @ Home’s Nitzanim cohort is a tricky one with lots of modern applications- the story…