Jewish Values in Action

Jewish values happen in our classrooms all the time. Kids make a card for a sick friend - bikkur cholim. Invite a friend to sit at the snack table with them - hachnasat orchim. Return a friend's lost glove - hashavat avayda. Often, we don't even notice.  And most of the time, we miss the opportunity to acknowledge the Jewish values all around us. We miss the opportunity to encourage and foster great, menschy behaviors within a Jewish context. Noticing Jewish values leads to Jewish behaviors, and to richer, deeper understandings of what it means to be Jewish.  To be Jewish is not just to eat challah on Shabbat, or to wave a lulav. To be Jewish is to care for our friends who, like us, are created b'zelem elokim (in the image of God), and to care for our world, since we are partners with God in the on-going perfection of the world.

Recently, at the JEA conference in Dallas, a group of Jewish EC directors got to observe and document what Jewish values in action in the classroom could look like.  Check these bits of documentation out:Jewish Values At Snack and Jewish values in teacher/child interactions

Are Jewish values happening in your setting?  How do you make them visible?  How can teachers be empowered to notice and nurture Jewish values in their classrooms?  Join this discussion!

Blogger: Jewish Values - USCJ Early Childhood Vision Documentation Project - Create post

My December 7th Blog was about a little guy in our school who was diagnosed with an inoperable brain tumor.
There has been very little research done on this type of Brain Tumor because of lack of funding.
Two of Finnegan's teachers decided to have a fund raiser to raise money for Childhood Brain Tumor research.  All of the teachers in our school as well as many parents in our school and parents from the Catholic school where Finnegan's sisters attend school volunteered.
We had face painting, a silent auction, food and a concert with 5 different entertainers.

The event raised over $16,000! It has been so heart warming to see our Kihilah support each other and the family!

Jewish Values and Bullying

As educators we are all worried about Bullys and kids being unkind to their peers. 3 and 4 year olds are testing the power of their words and learning how to be good friends but sometimes they cross the line and it can become bullying. We were beginning to have this problem in one of our 4 year old classrooms. One of the teachers in the room pulled the 2 boys aside who were not being kind to some of the other kids and started talking to them about Superheros and what makes a Superhero. They knew that Superheros are kind, ( Derech Eretz),  help other people (creating Shalom Bayit) and do "good" things for people. The discussion was then taken to the whole class about what makes a superhero and what qualities in each of the kids in the class are super hero qualities. The children came up with great examples how each of their friends were superheros. The children understood the concept because when one child was being unkind to his friend another child reported that "Joey" was not being a superhero. This was reinforced even more in another 3 year old class where they were talking about Princesses and how Sarah was the first Princess in the Torah and Sarah means Princess. They talked about the kind of person Sarah was (speaking kindly to others, Shmirat Lasho) and what a Princess should be.

Tza'ar Ba'alei Chayim, Taking care of animals

Taking care of animals whether in the classroom or at home was a great theme in one of the 3 year old classes.
The children leaned that in the Talmud it tells us we should not buy an animal unless we can take care of it and we should feed our animals before we feed ourselves.
In school the kids experienced taking care of the classroom fish as well as some visiting birds to learn about the responsibilities of caring for our feather friends.
The children made bird feeders by stringing Cheerios on a string and hanging them on a neighborhood tree.
All the kids went to the class pet shop to purchase a stuffed pet. They will keep them in their cubbies all week-name them, feed them , play with them and take them for walks.

Shalom Bayit

Our classroom is a family. As the school year progresses, we watch the children grow closer in understanding each other as individuals similar to our personal families. They become more comfortable, forge closer bonds and learn each other’s quirks. The best part is watching them grow in respect and love for one another. The Jewish value that comes to mind is Shalom Bayit: Peace within the home. “Anywhere people live constitutes a home, whether it be an actual house an apartment, at tent, a trailer…” taken from What’s Jewish about Butterflies. Our classroom is our peaceful home away from home that fills us with love, nourishes our spirit and gives us strength to grow and flourish.
We asked the children to draw pictures of their families. We then asked them to tell a little bit about their family. How do they make you feel? Who is in your family? Why is your family important to you? Here are a few of their responses:
Frankie: “Family means there are a lot of people to get together and also they love each other.” Family is very important. My family has Amy, Noah, Ella and Nana, and Grammy, and Pop Pop and that’s all. They can all live in different places and still be your family.”
Iola Mae: “My family, they love me and want to always keep you safe. My family is Tom, Natalie, and Arthur Elliot. They all make me feel really good.”
Leah: “My family is my mommy and my daddy. They lay with me at bedtime. It makes me feel very good. They always give me hugs and kisses. I have a brother, too. I have a grandma and a grandpa in my family, too.”

Bikur Cholim

In one of the prek classes yesterday the teachers and children talked about a child who has been out sick all week. Bikur Cholim, visiting and helping the sick was the focus of the day. The children made a giant class card of hand prints and little pictures for the sick child. Later that afternoon the teacher delivered the card and a balloon to the sick child. The child could not believe her teacher was standing at her front door! The card brought a huge smile to the child's face and she was so happy to see all the pictures and hand prints her classmates had made her.

Do not separate yourself from the community

Kehilla is more than just community.  It is, in the words of United Synagogue, is a sacred community, a group formed by Jews who have joined with each other to seek God, to explore and live out their understanding of Jewishness, to offer and to get support, to share joy and sorrow, to learn and grow together, to explore the meaning of their lives and the wisdom of their ancestors.  The teachers and families at Beth Shalom are busy being just that, a sacred community.  As a staff, we studied what that really means to them, and what the rabbis had to say about being part of a kehilla. (here are the Kehilla texts we studied) The most poignant learning for me was the reminder that while the Jewish community knows just what to do when someone has a baby, a sickness or a loss (do I hear casserole?) and we even have websites to help coordinate (http://www.takethemameal.com/ is my favorite, but there are others), as a community we fall down on the job when someone is going through divorce.  It’s the new whispered disease, like cancer was in the 50’s.  We discovered that casseroles can help comfort someone going through divorce, and cards and calls to say “I care. Can I help?” can take us all a long way down the road toward being a kehilla – a sacred community.