January ChaiLights Newsletter 2012.pub - Kahal Kadosh Beth Elohim

Religious School Updates
Page 4 ChaiLights January 2012 • Tevet ~ Shevat 5772
Amy I. W. Horner, M.A., Temple Educator
Keep the dream alive,
Keep the dream alive.
Every time we say a prayer, we keep the dream alive.
Sam Glaser, “Keep the Dream Alive”
In 2010, our Religious School hosted Sam Glaser, thanks to the Danielle, Julie and Stephen Ziff Youth Education
Endowment. During his visit Sam led all of the students in our Religious School on a musical walk through the
Torah, through Jewish history. “ Keep the Dream Alive” was one of the gorgeous songs that Sam and our students
sang together while parents and teachers watched and listened. To see our children relive our path from creation,
to Abraham and Sarah, to Egypt, and back to the land of Israel was an absolute joy. To know that our history and
traditions are alive in their hearts? There aren’t really words to express that feeling, although Sam’s lyrics help.
It was a delight to see some of those students, members of our sixth grade class, return to the bimah on
December 11 to perform “ Judging Antiochus,” a one-act play that was created by their teacher, David Frederick,
and edited by the students themselves. Our sixth graders studied the full history of the Chanukah story, and then jumped enthusiastically into their
play, the hypothetical trial of Antiochus for his crimes. As you can see from the photos (on page 8), the students took their roles as judge, bailiff, and
prosecuting and defense attorneys seriously while still creating a production that had their parents and fellow students laughing out loud. Once again,
there aren’t really words to fully express the feeling I had seeing our children tell the Chanukah story in their own way, making it crystal cle ar that they
have internalized the story, the importance of religious freedom, and the sense of their own (important) places in the Jewish community. Note: the jury
(played by completely unprepared parents) let Antiochus off easy, in the opinion of this writer...
December 11 was a busy day in the RS. Students participated in the play or watched it, welcomed Rabbi Alexander into their class (seventh grade)
and fried latkes (the fourth grade thanks Claudia Strobing for teaching that day!) And every student had the opportunity to visit the Dreidel Shop for
their holiday shopping. Many, many thanks to Karen Forman, the Dreidel Shop committee, and our ninth grade volunteers, for their hours of hard work,
shopping, setting up, helping with gift selections and wrapping. By the end of the morning, everyone was tired! Fortunately for the faculty, we were
invited to the home of Steve and Julie Ziff for a delicious, homemade lunch. What a treat to enjoy famous Ziff cooking with friends! Thank you, Julie
and Steve.
Quite a few of us then jumped into travel preparations, as the eleven-person-strong KKBE delegation packed up and headed to Washington, D.C. for
the URJ Biennial and WRJ conference. The photo (see page 3) shows our group, joined by Carrie Langsam and PJ Schwartz, enjoying dinner
together.
Keep the dream alive,
Keep the dream alive.
When we sing together, we keep the dream alive.
Sam Glaser, “Keep the Dream Alive”
And sing we did. Those of us who got up early for T’filah on Thursday found ourselves singing Oseh Shalom as we walked out of our service, Torah
scroll in the arms of the line leader, and joined those who had attended other services, also singing. Thanks to careful planning on the parts of the
service leaders, we all walked together, singing, to another room for the remainder of the morning service. I am grateful for the beautiful experience of
walking through a hotel with a few hundred fellow Reform Jews, singing a song of peace together.
We sang again on Friday afternoon, as the crowd of several thousand Reform Jews awaited the arrival of keynote speaker President Barack Obama.
Musician Josh Nelson led us in several planned and several spontaneous songs, keeping us all singing and laughing as we waited. It was well worth
the wait, as President Obama joined us to wish us Shabbat Shalom (“ a few hours early”) and share his thoughts, including comments on the week’s
Torah portion and his “unwavering” support for Israel, with us. Definitely, hard to put the feelings in that room into words!
When we return to “ regular” schedules in January and begin a new secular year, I encourage all of us to add experiences that “ keep the dream alive” to
our days. Whether we are celebrating a holiday, at home or at KKBE, talking to our children or a friend’s children about Religious School, participating
in a KKBE event, or “ living Jewishly” in any way, as our seventh graders discuss, we are taking our places in our Jewish story. And if we can sing while
we are there, so much the better.
Important Dates:
January 1, 2012 No Religious School or Hebrew classes
January 6 Grades 3, 4 and 5 participate in 7:00 p.m. Family Service, and bring treats for the Oneg Shabbat following. Why not come for
dinner (RSVP required) at 5:45 p.m., too?
January 8 Religious School and Hebrew classes resume
January 15 No Religious School or Hebrew classes (MLK weekend)
January 22 Religious School and Hebrew classes in session
January 29 Religious School and Hebrew classes in session; Simcha Fair, in the Pearlstine Social Hall, open until 1:30 p.m.
No admission charge this year!
— Amy Horner