Collective Memory is a Jewish Custom

Before we sit down at tomorrow’s Seder table let’s take stock of the collective memory months we are observing. In Adar, we recall Amalek, perfectly embodied by Haman. We seamlessly transition to the month of Nissan, retelling the story of our slavery under Pharoah, our eventual freedom and entry into nationhood. Our long memory doesn’t end here. A mere six days after Passover we’re declaring “Never Again” by marking Holocaust Remembrance Day. We want our children and students to do more than just memorize the date. We want them to etch the message in the deep recesses of their mind. The question is “how?” Last year I devoted my Holocaust Remembrance Day blog to telling you what we do in Israel. This year I’m going to keep you on Israeli shores by urging you to take a virtual visit to the Ghetto Fighter’s Kibbutz and Museum – an appropriate place to “go to” since Holocaust Memorial Day has purposely been positioned on the 27th of Nissan, the Hebrew date of the Warsaw Ghetto Uprising in April 1943. Pictured above is the museum’s model of the Treblinka Concentration Camp. You’ll also see a second photo of the museum’s Children’s Memorial. Expand your trip’s horizons by taking it to a different dimension provided by an 8 minute film on the kibbutz and its museum. Even if you don’t understand Hebrew, you’ll get the gist. There is an English translation of sorts and the archival footage is wonderful. You decide if it fits in with your Holocaust Memorial Day lesson plan.

So, as you sit down at your Seder table and say the blessing of “She’Hecheyanu” bear in mind everything that Jewish nationhood has gone through – from Pharoah to today – to get us to our present point. Also think about this appropriate word play. The word "remember" is actually "re-member". Each generation of the Jewish people has to repeat the historical memory of its national past in order to continue being a member of our wonderful nation!
Chag Sameach…Tami

In Byelorussia a Different Child Asked Each of the 4 Questions

One of the standard Passover customs is having the youngest child in the family ask the Mah Nishtana -- The 4 Questions. Sometimes the child is embarrassed and the adults chime in. A custom practiced by many families in Byelorussia decades gone by, solved this problem. All the children in the family knew the Mah Nishtana by heart and each one would ask a different question, starting from the eldest down. If there were more than four children in the family, they would pair up. This custom got me thinking about how we could continue the Passover Play that we began with the Turkish custom and continued with the Moroccan custom mentioned in my last blog. The answer is obvious: Divide the Mah Nishtana into four parts and have each child playfully illustrate what the question is about. Let the script continue with The 4 Sons and make sure it is not gender based. After all, children are children and both boys and girls enjoy dressing up. Think about what the wise child could wear, the bad one, the one who is simple with very few interests, and finally, the one who is so small s/he doesn’t know how to ask questions. Once you’ve determined the costumes and who should play which role, ask your chosen actors if they would like to read the matching passages as well.

We’re half-way through Act I of the Seder night and there’s still more fun in sight: acting out The 10 Plagues, singing Dayenu Persian style (see my book Passover Around the World), eating a fabulous feast followed by singing favorite Passover ballads.
Enjoy your model Seder at school, your seder at home, and savor the sweet taste of freedom.
Happy Passover, Pessach Sameach…Tami

Dress Up Your Seder Plate with this Moroccan Custom

True, we’ve just finished with Purim, but that doesn’t mean you should pack up your costume kit. If you read my Passover blogs last year, you’ll remember that I suggested a Turkish custom revolving around a play complete with costumes to start the Seder night. If you haven’t read it, then please go into this blog’s archive. I still think it’s a wonderful way to involve children, plus it serves as a great companion for the following Moroccan custom. With the food symbols in place, some Moroccan Jews “dress up” their Seder plate by covering it with a beautiful scarf. It is brought out to the table once all the guests are seated, so that it can be passed around. Apparently the scarf is removed at this point. Background music accompanies this practice, with everyone singing songs expressing a love for Israel. The last stage of this ritual is gently placing the plate on a child’s head and tenderly turning it around so that all can see the different symbols. Although everyone is sitting, this is a custom that keeps you on your feet – one small slip of the plate, and ooops, you’re a slave to cleaning up the mess.

I know you have loads of Passover preparations and lesson plans to get ready, but please don’t tell me you have enough on your plate. This is a custom you can adapt to your classroom. For starters, here’s a link to some favorite Passover songs. The spiritual “Let My People Go” is a perennial favorite. Next, have a scarf beauty pageant. Ask each student to bring in the most beautiful scarf s/he has at home and have a panel of judges decide which is the winning scarf. Finally, hold a model Seder with your class and make sure to start it with the Turkish play from last year, followed by this custom.

Sounds good to you? In two week’s time I’ll bring you another custom to help you get more kids involved on Seder night.

Happy Passover Planning…Tami

Here’s a French Purim Custom that Should Be Carved in Stone

Haman was like Pharoah. He had a heart of stone. Today, the thought of having to live with any type of Haman within our midst leaves us stone cold. Could a combination of these two factors be the reason that French Jews created a unique Purim custom using stones? It seems that at one point in history French Jewish children would take smooth stones and either write or engrave Haman’s name on them. They would then take two stones each to the Megillah reading and bang them together whenever Haman’s name was mentioned. The logic behind this custom lies with the Biblical verse in the Book of Exodus (17:14-16): "And God said to Moshe: Write this for a remembrance in a book, and repeat it in Joshua's ears, that I will surely wipe out the memory of Amalek from under the heavens.” We all know that Haman was the Amalek of his time. By smacking the two stones together the children would wear away his name little by little, so that it would be “erased” by the end of the Megillah reading. In my opinion, this custom is not only a unique alternative to groggers but also a timely way to vent our frustrations about today’s Amalek. He comes from the same country as Haman and his name deserves to be erased as well. Anyone for putting the name Ahmadinejad on two stones and using them as this year’s grogger?

I hope you are enjoying my blogs. I’m off to the States so both this blog and Zvuvi will be on vacation for the next 4 weeks.
See you on February 21st.
Le’Hitraot…Tami

Tu B’Shvat is Three Weeks Away: Adapt an Ancient Jewish Green Custom to Your Curriculum

The original “Arbor Day”, Tu B’Shvat, dates back to the second century CE, when Jewish Rabbis were hard at work writing the Mishnah and developing the first ecology lesson plan by creating the “New Year for Trees”. The lesson plan was expanded in the 1600s, by the kabbalist Rabbi Yitzhak Luria of Safed. Together with his pupils, he began a new tradition – a Tu B’shvat Seder celebrating the fruits and trees growing in the Land of Israel. I found another ancient custom practiced in the Land of Israel, tying in with Tu B’Shvat. Following a child’s birth, a tree was planted on Tu B’Shvat. Cedar trees were planted for boys and cypress trees for girls. As each child grew so did the tree planted for him or her. The pioneers of the modern state of Israel used the same line of thinking by turning Tu B’shvat into a reason to plant trees as a way of symbolizing the rebirth of the Jewish state. The JNF – Jewish National Fund – is responsible for all tree planting in Israel. Their website reports that Israel is only one of two countries in the world that entered the 21st century with a net gain in its number of trees. While Israel is not blessed with natural forests, hand-planting has done the trick.

Today we know that planting trees helps reduce pollution because trees filter out pollutants and help the atmosphere stock up on oxygen. So here’s an interesting way to adapt the above ancient Jewish Green custom to your classroom curriculum between now and Tu’Bshvat. How about doing a research project on the different types of trees mentioned in the Bible and how many of these tree types still stand in Israel today? Have your students find out about the benefits of each tree, the kind of soil and climate they require, the types of fruit or flowers that they yield and in what seasons. If you can, take this a step forward by seeing how many of your students have names that stand for trees and ask each one to research his/her name, including the ecological benefits of the specific tree. Let me get you started: My name is Tami, the Hebrew nickname for Tamar, which is a palm tree. Palm trees grow in tropical or warm climates. They are great for the ecology because they are susceptible to very few pests and diseases. Palm trees supply food (dates and sometimes coconuts) and oil. Palm oil can be used for cooking and making soap. In fact, back in the 1700s the English used palm oil as a medication and a hand cream.
I’ll stop here and let the Tamar in your class continue. Do you have students named Alon or Alona to research oak trees? Anyone named Oren who can look into fir trees?
Have a lot of green fun.
Tami

Connecting the Fast of the 10th of Tevet to Jewish Genealogy

Today is the fast of Asarah B’Tevet – the 10th day of the month of Tevet, commemorating the day when Babylonian King Nebuchadnetzar blockaded Jerusalem – the first step to destroying our holy Temple on Tisha B’Av, the Ninth of Av. In my November 14th post I mentioned an Italian custom linking Hanukkah with Tisha B’Av, an important Fast Day on the Jewish calendar that falls between the curriculum cracks because it occurs during the summer. It’s true that some of you are on vacation until January 2nd, and that once again another Fast Day will get lost in the shuffle, but I still want to provide you with an interesting way to tuck this day into a lesson plan.
Israel has an interesting take on Asarah B’Tevet. In addition to stressing the historic importance of this fast, it has designated the day as Yom Hakaddish Haklali – the umbrella day of mourning for all Jews whose date or place of death is unknown. Last night I happened on a religious radio program discussing this very topic and linking it to Jewish genealogy. That immediately caught my attention since my paternal grandmother was a victim of the Nazi genocide and to this day the family has no idea as to her exact day of death. The radio panel pointed out that these loved ones lost in time can serve as the bond to family roots. To my surprise, I then discovered that Jewish Genealogy has been transformed into an academic subject taught at and promoted by The International Institute for Jewish Genealogy and Paul Jacobi Center at the Hebrew University’s National Library of Israel.The center is certainly not kid oriented but it might give you some good ideas to pursue. In fact, you may want to use the fast of Asarah B’Tevet as your launching pad for a “Family Roots” project that you can start now and end in June. I’ve already talked about Jewish Genealogy and various kid sources to pursue for the classroom in my June 2nd 2009 post, so you may want to go back and have a look. And you may also want to stop and think about the importance of Fast Days. Yes, we want to make sure they go by fast, but behind each day is a lesson in Jewish history that kids should be aware of. FYI: the next fast day falls on February 25th – Yud Aleph B’Adar. It’s Ta'anit Esther -- the Fast of Esther. While Purim is meant to be fun, fun, fun, without fasting Esther wouldn’t have had the courage to expose Haman and his wicked plot. How’s that for “fast” food for thought for your Purim lesson plan?
Kol Tuv...Tami

Connecting the Jews of Avignon, France with Hanukkah & Rashi

We have just finished this year’s first Shabbat Hanukkah, which brings me to a wine & dine custom practiced by Avignon Jews in Southern France. We all know that the French are masters of haute cuisine and wine making. French Jews have taken on these cultural habits as well, applying them to the evening following Shabbat Hanukkah. That’s when the Jews of Avignon open new casks of wine to sample and toast the holiday. Of course something savory accompanies the wine – sugar dusted beignets. Apparently, this deep fried pastry became a French export, eventually reaching the shores of New Orleans. I have found a wonderful, short video clip to show you how to make this treat. Yes, the voice-over accent is not ours and beignets are certainly not the healthiest dish around for the cholesterol and weight-watching minded, but it’s Hanukkah, so if you want, cheat a bit.

Food aside, how can you connect this custom with Rashi? The link is in the wine. Our great Biblical commentator followed in his father’s footsteps of learning Bible while working to make a living. Rashi was an only child born in Troyes, Champagne, located in northern France. His father was a winemaker. When Rashi was five, his father gave him his first Torah lesson and continued to be his Torah teacher until Rashi reached adolescence. Apparently, Rashi learned the trade from his father as well. Common knowledge has it, that like his father, Rashi was a vintner. His extensive knowledge of the utensils used to make wine comes through in some of his commentaries. The importance to stress to students is not the wine, but “Torah ve Avodah” – Torah study and work…and to that we can say “Le’Chayim”.
Happy Hanukkah…Tami