PORTLAND JEWISH ACADEMY At the Schnitzer Family Campus | Think for yourself. Work for the world. Winter 2020, 5780 | Exclusive updates for our donors and supporters.
A Joyous Sukkot Celebrated at PJA
Second grade gets ready for Shabbat in the Sukkah
The beginning of 5780 marked an important milestone at PJA. For the first time in our history, we came together for an immersive experience of Sukkot. It was anything but class as usual, as PJA students and faculty lived and experienced Sukkot all while observing the laws that govern all Jewish holy days. We kicked off our day with all-school tefilah (prayer) which included a student-led Torah service, a captivating Sukkot story told by Rabbi Michael Cahana, hoshanot (a chance for each student to parade with the lulav and etrog) and lots of singing with Morah Kim Schneiderman. Afterwards, our fantastic 8th grade students led their mishpachot (family groupings) in various activities such as a gratitude walk, holiday charades, a discussion on the concept of ushpizin (guests we invite to our sukkah), and, of course, the constructing of edible sukkot! During our mishpacha time, we even made a delicious communal fruit salad in honor of the harvest element of the holiday. Everyone enjoyed this treat during lunch, and, as the oldest students in the school, the seventh and eighth graders were invited to enjoy their lunch and fruit salad in the sukkah. Every student at PJA had a chance to visit our sukkah and recite the blessing over the lulav and etrog.
Throughout the day, our youngest students sang with Kim and heard a story with Rabbi Eve Posen, while our third through fifth graders assembled kits for Community Warehouse with the organization’s founder, and PJA grandparent, Roz Babener. Our Middle School students spent much of the afternoon examining the connection between Sukkot and the houselessness crisis in Portland. We concluded the day with outdoor Sukkot-themed games created and run by our sixth grade class. It was a meaningful day at PJA as we learned, prayed, ate, celebrated and sang together, and as Kim says, “it was a day that made us both a learning community and a sacred community!”
Our new community sukkah was generously supported by the Cookie and Merritt Yoelin Fund of OJCF
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