Ideas for Shavuot

Resources for Shavuot

Shavuot’s origins are as an agricultural holiday celebrating the wheat harvest and the first fruits of the year.  Later Shavuot also became the day that we celebrate the giving of the Torah at Mt Sinai.  Today on Shavuot many people stay up late into the night studying Jewish topics, decorate the synagogue with flowers, read the Ten Commandments in the Torah and the Book of Ruth, and eat dairy meals (there are various reasons given for this tradition).

Books

4-6 year olds

Miss Rumphius by Barbara Cooney

The Gardener by Sarah Stewart

Little Mount Sinai by Barb Rosenstock

2-5 year olds

The Surprise Garden by Zoe Hall

Flower Garden by Eve Bunting

Grow Flower Grow by Lisa Bruce

The Carrot Seed by Ruth Krauss

Activities for kids:

http://www.kveller.com/activities/Holidays/shavuot-activities.shtml

Go hiking

Go strawberry picking

Background for parents:

http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Shavuot/Shavuot_101.shtml

The Book of Ruth (yup, the traditional one) is a beautiful story.  You can find it online: http://www.mechon-mamre.org/e/et/et2901.htm

Recipes:

Cheesecake: http://www.myjewishlearning.com/holidays/Jewish_Holidays/Shavuot/At_Home/Foods/Cheesecake.shtml

Blintzes: http://judaism.about.com/library/2_cuisine/recipes_holidays/blshavuotblintzes.htm

Discussion on Jewish Parenting with Mark Oppenheimer

Raising Jewish Kids:

A Discussion with Mark Oppenheimer

“Beliefs” Columnist for the NY Times

and NPR Commentator

From Biblebeltbalabusta.com

June 9^th 10:30 a.m.

following regular Havurah services

**Free babysitting will be provided to allow parents to attend. 

RSVP to Rabbi Nicole**

Climbing the Mountain

Late this month, we celebrate Shavuot, the holiday commemorating our receiving the Torah at Mount Sinai.  This holiday has been linked to Jewish scholarship.  Adults study texts late into the night on Erev Shavuot, and traditionally in Eastern Europe the next morning young children would go to the house of study for the first time.  

I think it is not a coincidence that we received the Torah atop a mountain.  As we Jewish parents strive to educate our children Jewishly, it can sometimes seem like an uphill battle, another commitment in heavily committed lives.  There are many paths we can choose - day school, Hebrew and Sunday supplementary school, Jewish camp, trips to Israel, family study at home, or some combination - and each presents unique challenges.  Different parents may envision different peak moments when they will enjoy the view yielded by their labor: their child’s bar or bat mitzvah, confirmation, standing next to the huppah as their child marries a Jew, Jewish grandchildren. 

My children are still young, and like other parents in the Young Families Havurah, I am just beginning the climb.  Traditionally when children went to the house of study on Shavuot for the first time, their teachers would write words of Torah on a tablet and pour honey overtop.  The children would lick the honey off as they learned their first lessons.  Afterward they enjoyed cakes on which words of Torah were written.  What a wonderful introduction to the sweet words of Torah!  From my vantage point still near the base of the mountain, I appreciate the wisdom in this custom.  I do not know where my children’s Jewish education will lead them.  But I want to make the assent, their education, full of the excitement of learning and the joy of celebrating our tradition.

Yom Ha'atzmaut

For Israeli Independence Day, our wonderful Israeli guides Lena and Yoel Smicun led us on a trip to Israel.  First we made our passports and Israeli flags, and then we boarded our plane to Israel.  Customs was remarkably painless, and the trip was a breeze...

Once we arrived in Tel Aviv, our guides showed us a map of Israel.  Then we boarded our bus and went to a kibbutz in the Galilee.  We tasted delicious oranges there.

 At the Dead Sea, we did an experiment to demonstrate how the salt in the sea makes everything buoyant.

In the Negev Desert we helped to water tomato plants, dug in the sand and learned about all the irrigation needed to make plants grow there.
Finally we took the bus to Jerusalem where we danced and sang to celebrate Israel's birthday.  

Before we went home, we feasted on delicious Israeli felafel.

Thank you to the Dizney family for sponsoring our trip to Israel!

Yom Ha'atzmaut

Yom Ha’atzmaut: Celebrate Israel

with the Young Families Havurah

Saturday, April 28 9:40 a.m.-12:00 p.m.

Learn about Israeli songs, dance, culture and food with Israeli teachers Lena and Yoel Smicun. 

Free Israeli-style lunch from Layla's (plus Jenn's famous homemade mac n' cheese for the kids). 

*Thank you to the Dizney family for sponsoring this event! Please RSVP so we can purchase enough food.

Second Annual Strega Nona Maimouna

We had a fantastic time at our second annual Strega Nona Maimouna!  

Most importantly, the food was delicious.  We started out with a wonderful key-shaped challah (traditional for the Shabbat after Passover) baked by Jessica and Benjamin.  

Then we feasted on carbs, carbs and more carbs: gourmet pizzas, pastas, breads and cake.  

Afterward we made homemade pasta to bring home.

We made noodle paintings.  What wonderful, messy sensory play!

We even watched a wonderful performance of Strega Nona with a Jewish twist. 

Missed the annual Strega Nona Maimouna this year?  Check out more pictures here, and we will see you next year!

Discussion with Brad Kerner

After a Havurah service focusing on freedom (we read a wonderful book, Nachshon Who Was Afraid to Swim: A Passover Story by Deborah Bodin Cohen, and made pillow cases for reclining at the seder as a symbol of freedom), Havurah parents were treated to a thought-provoking discussion by Brad Kerner.  Brad is an International Public Health Specialist at Save the Children and a wonderful Havurah dad.  He connected with our theme of slavery and freedom by demonstrating how girls and to a lesser extent boys in modern rural Egypt are shackled by rigid gender roles.  Girls are rarely allowed out of their homes and often do not get to go to school.   They have few hopes for their future.  Boys feel they must appear macho at all times.  Save the Children is working with children to begin to challenge these norms.  We also discussed how our own children are limited by societal gender expectations in our own country.  For a great op-ed on this topic click here and see Brad's handout below.