our children, our future
RELIGIOUS SCHOOL
Cantor-Educator Elena Schwartz cantorelenaschwartz@mysinai.org
Dear Families, We, as parents, are eager to help our children prepare for successful adult lives. We send them to the best schools where they learn how to read, write, and count. But how do we teach our children to act? Does Judaism provide Jewish parents with directions? The answer is yes. We are fortunate to accumulate countless years of experience that enable us to teach Jewish ethics and values to our youngsters. Our ShalomLearning curriculum is helping us here at Temple Sinai Religious School to teach our students that mastering Jewish values is integral to becoming not only a good Jew, but a good person. In connection with Tu B’Shevat, our ShalomLearning Values Curriculum focused on the value of achrayut (responsibility). Tu B’Shevat, the holiday of the trees, is a great time to reflect on the ways we interact with, benefit from, and celebrate nature. We have the achrayut (responsibility) to respect and take care of the world: humans, animals, and the environment. God created the world, and it is now human beings’ achrayut (responsibility) to take care of it and take the necessary steps to protect the world and its creatures, treating it with kavod (respect). Our next unit will be on hakarat hatov: gratitude; recognition of the good; appreciation. Our First and Second Graders discussed the Jewish value of bal tashchit (not wasting), in conjunction with Cantor-Educator Elena Schwartz Tu B’Shevat. They discussed how we can plant things or save things for other people (even people we may never meet) because making the Earth better is good for all people. We should be mindful of how to waste as little as possible in our daily lives. Our Third Graders discussed the responsibilities we have to ourselves, family members, to others, and as Jews. We revisited the Jewish value of tikkun olam (repairing the world). We see this value as an obligation to society, and students continued to explore how they can repair the world. Students also learned that achrayut (responsibility) extends to nature, which is celebrated as part of the holiday of Tu B’Shevat. We need to take care of the earth and our natural resources so that future generations will be able to benefit from them. Tu B’Shevat is a holiday that celebrates trees and achrayut to maintaining our environment. Our Fourth Graders examined our responsibilities to the previous generations who thought ahead for our benefit. They learned about the mitzvah of v’ahavta l’reyacha kamocha (loving others as ourselves)
SCRIBE Mar-Apr 2021 19