This week we continued our unit three learning exploring the Exodus story! All week I watched students absorb and embody this story through building, play, art, puppetry, dress-up, and more. It was such a joy to observe students immersing themselves in this essential story of the Jewish people, a story they know well already and are eager to expand upon….
Tag: enrichment
Relationships and Praiseworthy Action
This week we reviewed our learning from unit two where we explored our inherent holiness. We revisited some of our favorite projects and conversations and continued work on some long-term projects including a community weaving, a lego wall, and personalized supports to live in the Pinat Shalom (peace corner.) Kiddos reiterated ways in which we can nurture other people. We…
Remembering to Make Good Choices in the Pinat Shalom
This week we explored how tallitot, tzitzit, and other ritual objects empower us and act as a reminder to make good choices. Throughout the week we wrapped ourselves in tallitot, tied knots, and wove together ideas about connection. As we dove into the topic of making good choices, we looked to our own space and considered what supports we rely…
Ritual and Connection
This week we studied the Shema. We considered what it means to be charged with the mitzvot (opportunity to connect) of Shema. We thought all about rituals and mantras that support us in our everyday lives and worked together to come up with ways to enhance our experience doing repetitive rituals. After coming up with a definition of mantra “something…
A Two Way Promise
It has been so exciting to watch our Makom South Philly kiddos paint our Brit Mural. A brit is a two-way promise between learners and instructors as well as between the learners and each other. Learners have taken ownership of this project coming up with a list of expectations that are as unique and caring as the kiddos themselves. In…
Different Is Good
This week we had the pleasure of being joined by Center City Makom educator Gaby Marantz. Upon meeting Gaby, one of our learners remarked, “Does everyone who works at Makom have dyed hair?” While brightly colored hair is certainly not a requirement for employment, we love that our team brings their full self to Makom with diverse backgrounds and perspectives….
Magical Book Week: Oh the faces we show!
What a magical week it has been! When kiddos arrived at Makom on Monday some were feeling unsure about the unknown of a new environment and new people. Throughout the week I saw campers emerging from their shells. By the end of the week there was laughter, friendship, and so many beautiful memories. On our very first morning some friends…
Our Holy Names
This week we considered a bit of text from the Amidah (a section of daily prayer.) “You are holy, Your Name is holy, and holy ones praise Your name every day…” When conceptualizing her connection to this text, one learner shared: “The earth is God’s museum.” Kiddos reflected on what these words mean through discussion, movement, and making. Together, we…
Holy Souls In Dialogue
This week we dug deep as we discussed what holiness means and how we can tap into it. We also began considering the concept of a soul which sparked a lot of amazing learning. During Schulchanot Avodah kiddos were playing, talking, creating, and problem-solving. Two students worked together in a conversational exchange to learn about how they each thought about…
Special Talents and Holiness!
This week we embarked upon a discussion of what holiness means. Learners shared their ideas as we unpacked this big concept: Holiness is something special. It reminds me of when we say Holy Moly Guacamole! It’s something crazy or big. It has to do with God. I think of Jewish things, like holidays. Objects can be holy. It’s holy to…
Chanukah on S. Juniper St.
This week has been full of light and joy. We feel so blessed to have this beautiful space on S. Juniper St. to joyfully learn in, while we grow. As we gathered outside for snacktime learning this week, the excited energy was palpable. We noshed on graham crackers and apples while kiddos shared what they know about Chanukah. We use…
Olam Haba: Creating The World We Want To See
What does it mean to create our collective future (olam habah)? This week when diving into good choices and personal responsibility we considered what it means to create our best future. We thought about what we want the future to look like, and how we could approach working toward that future. As we sat around the yard at Makom students…
High Holidays and Beyond!
As we closed our learning about Rosh Hashanah last week, we began reflecting on ideas about Yom Kippur. Although September is full of short weeks, we are packing in all kinds of creative and engaging opportunities for joy and growth. During these two weeks we have been discussing community, neighbors, how we treat one another, how we understand and rectify…
Get Excited for August School’s Out Camp!
Makom Community has three, awesome, fun-filled weeks of August School’s Out camp planned for your kiddos in both Center City and South Philly! Kids ages 4-10 are invited to join us the weeks of August 9, 16, and 23 for week-long, full camp days (8:30am-5:30pm) complete with arts and crafts, cooking projects, afternoons at the playground or splash pad, singing,…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
Rivkah’s Trick: Is It a Mistake?
Things are getting complicated on our journey to understanding conflict and peace through stories of Yitzchak, Rivkah, Yaakov, and Eisav. Favoritism and unequal love are fueling some increasingly morally questionable decisions on the part of some of the characters. Are their choices justified? Let’s find out. In our story from last week, Yitzchak is getting old and going blind. He…
Big Feelings in the Birthright Trade
What’s a birthright? Who gets it? How does our tone and feelings affect our interactions and ability to manage conflict? We explored these questions and more last week as our adventures with Yaakov and Eisav continued. In this story (Genesis 25: 29-34), Yaakov is home cooking lentil stew and Eisav comes in famished from outside. He demands some of Yaakov’s…
On Playing Favorites and Choosing Sides
In our story last week, Rivkah’s difficult pregnancy ends with the birth of twins! Continuing from their prenatal conflict, the text’s descriptions of Rivkah’s sons focuses on their differences and incompatibilities. The first born, Eisav, is born covered in red hair. The second born, Yaakov, comes out holding onto Eisav’s heel. When they grow up, Eisav becomes a skilled hunter,…
Helping Ourselves and Others through Conflict
How do we navigate conflict peacefully and productively? Over the next few months, we’ll explore some of the resources available in Torah to help us answer this question. To start off our second curriculum unit of the school year, we jumped back in the Torah text timeline to Bereshit (Genesis) 25. There, we meet Yitzchak and Rivkah, who desperately want…
Working for Tzedek with the Makom Community Brit
At the end of our first unit of learning at Makom Community, we conclude with painting our brit (two-way promise) on the wall. Kiddos always have so much fun painting directly on the wall, but it’s also a good time to reflect on how we conduct ourselves while at Makom Community, and in the world as a whole. This year,…
Fostering Connections in Our Virtual Promised Land
This past summer, as we rejoined each other in person and began reaching out to our community, we realized that quite a few of our families wanted to participate but were not ready to return in person. In response, we launched Makom at Home, a fully online version of our Jewish Enrichment program. Students from coast to coast gather virtually…
Chasing After Justice to Discern Between Right and Wrong
Jewish tradition has lots to say about tzedek (justice). How do Jewish texts guide us towards fairness, being good leaders, and working together to make a more just world? Last week, we grappled with some big and difficult ideas surrounding justice and leadership. We started out unpacking “Tzedek tzedek tirdof – Justice, justice you will chase after it, so that…
Making Change in Our Communities
Finally we got to hear God’s response to Bnot Zelophechad’s (Zelophechad’s daughters) request to be able to inherit their father’s land! Spoiler: God agrees with them and thinks their request is completely just. We dove deeper into the situation of women in the Torah and discovered that men had autonomy in the Torah but that women, children, and slaves did…
Physical Reminders and Making Good Choices
How do we remember things? What kinds of reminders do we use to help us? Last week we unpacked the text of the third paragraph of the Shema prayer that we say every day during tefilah. “That shall be your tzitzit (fringe); look at it and recall all the mitzvot (commandments) of God and observe them, so that you do…
Criticize Torah, but Make it Justice
Last week we explored a story in Torah which dealt with some pretty challenging themes of punishment and justice. Some people in Bnei Yisrael had relationships with people in another community that weren’t healthy and that God didn’t like. Those relationships led people in Bnei Yisrael to pray to idols instead of God. God, in a fury, sent a plague…
Consequences and Punishments and Justice – Oh My!
An eye for an eye and a tooth for a tooth. Is this justice in general? Is it how we do justice at Makom Community? What kind of justice system do we want reflected in our brit (two-way promise) for this year? Keep reading to find out! Garinim What’s a punishment? How is it different from a consequence? Which should…
On Mistakes, Punishment, and Forgiveness
‘Tis the season for reflection and reparation. Last week at Makom Community we approached our learning from deep within the Aseret Yemei Teshuvah (ten days of repentance/returning) which occur between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur. These ten days are prime time on the Jewish calendar for us to think about our mistakes from this past year and how we can…
Interpreting Our Text, Our Choices, and Ourselves
What an exciting week we’ve had at Makom Community! Our oldest learners practiced flexing their muscles as translators and interpreters of text. Our younger learners dug deep into self-image, leadership, and justifiable lying. Let’s see what meaningful insights we discovered along the way! Nitzanim – Interpreting Text for Ourselves Often when we present text to our kiddos, we do a…
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…
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…
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…
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…
How We Take Care of The Ger (Other)
Why would the Torah repeat the same mitzvah (commandment) 36 times? That’s so many times! Maybe because it’s really important. Maybe because people are really bad at following it. Or both. Both is good. The Torah reminds us over and over again to treat gerim (strangers/others) well. Let’s find out what that has to do with the story from the…
Our Case for Hebrew Literacy
Why do we bother learning Hebrew here at Makom Community? Why is it important? How does Hebrew help us access the Jewish text and tradition that forms the foundation of our learning? One answer, provided to me by one of the Garinim (preK and K kiddos), is that it’s about Tefilah: Prayer, Music, and Movement. We sing a lot of…
Putting People First: The Makom Community Brit
Way back in September, our learners started exploring the text of Migdal Bavel (the Tower of Babel). Over the course of the last three months we really dug into that text and pulled it apart. We looked to the people in the story for examples of some great ways to treat each other and some not-so-great ways to treat each…
Bein Adam LeChavero: Loving the Godliness in Everyone
Some actions affect our relationship with God. In Hebrew we call those bein adam lamakom (“between a person and God”*). Some actions affect our relationships with other people. Those are called bein adam lechavero (“between a person and their friend”). We looked at some of the actions we do at Makom Community and thought about whether they affect our relationships…
People First: What do we value?
What’s more valuable: a person or a brick? The answer, according to this week’s text, might surprise you. Do we value people? What actions and choices can we make to show it? This week we explored a midrash (rabbinic exploration of a textual question) that tried to answer the question: what was so bad about the people building the Tower…
Treating Mistakes with Love
According to a midrash (story that elaborates), the incident of the Tower of Babel led angels to argue with God about the worthwhileness of people. Because of the “ruinous” actions of the people in the story, the angels said to God, “Didn’t the first set of angels speak appropriately before you, that human beings are not worthy of having been…
Jumping to Conclusions and Choosing Compassion
What happens when we jump to conclusions and judge a situation before we get all the details? The text of Migdal Bavel (the Tower of Babel) says that God came down to see the tower that the people were building (Genesis 11:5). Rashi wonders why. Didn’t God already know what was going on without coming down to look? Rashi suggests…
On God and Misunderstandings
What do we know about God? How does the description of God in the story of Migdal Bavel (the Tower of Babel) add to or challenge our pre-existing understanding? Why does God make people unable to understand each other in this story? How did they respond to their misunderstandings? How do we respond to ours? Read on to find out…
The Ups and Downs of Working Together
Team work! It’s a great thing, right? Sometimes. Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes it goes wrong. The people in the story of Migdal Bavel (the Tower of Babel) get together and decide to build a city with a tower that reaches all the way up to the sky. God comes down to take a look at the tower and is not…