#27 updates

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Shaloh House Update #27 (5772) Friday, May 11, 2012 Light Candles at 7:37 pm Page # 1

Shaloh House

UPDATE May 11, 2012 19 Iyar, 5772 #27 The Shaloh House Jewish Dאy School Newsletter

SHAVUOT

ICE CREAM PARTY SUN, MAY 27, 5:30 PM

OPEN HOUSE

MON, MAY 21

SHAVUOT—NO SCHOOL

MON, MAY 28

Small Moments, Enormous Wonder, Where are we?

A discussion with a group of students during recess offered a great moment

of reflection that I’d like to share. It may have stemmed from our discus-

sion of verb tenses, as we’ve been focusing on past, present and future

tenses, or it may have stemmed from discussions about the active and pas-

sive voice in our writing, as we’ve explored the differences between talking

about something and doing it, whether in life or in our writing. Alterna-

tively, it may have come from talking about how writers can take a moment

in their lives, experiences, or wondering and turn them into a message for everyone.

The question posed was why is “everything” in the newsletter about what we have done or about what we’re

going to do? Why don’t we ever talk about what we ARE doing? Part of question was quickly addressed by

the group as the nature of a newsletter is to give notice about upcoming events, or to report on past events.

However taking a moment or two to consider where we are in the moment is well worth doing, and “news”

worthy in its own way.

So…where are we?

Shaloh House Jewish Day School is nearing its 50th year; our preschool, elementary school, shul, and com-

munity center have all been steadily growing in scope, expectations, and population. We have a broad spec-

trum of families drawn to us for many wise and wonderful reasons. However, to go into all of them puts the

focus back into our past, though as always with an eye to our future as well.

Continued on page 9

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Parshas Emor

Tom’s House & Harry’s Car

By Yanki Tauber

Chassidim like to tell a story about a certain individual

who was flippant with his financial obligations. It

reached the point where his debtors felt they had no

recourse but to inform their rebbe of the

situation. The chassidic sage summoned the

man and asked him: “Is it true what they

tell me—that you borrow money and don’t

repay, that you buy on credit and then

evade payment?”

“But Rebbe!” exclaimed the chassid.

“Haven’t you taught us that the world is

nothing, material cares are nothing, money

is nothing? Why are they making a fuss

about a few rubles? It’s all nothing!”

“In that case,” said the rebbe, “how about if

we take this ‘nothing’”—and here the rebbe pointed to

the body of the spiritual fellow—“and we stretch it out

upon this ‘nothing’ (the table), and with this

‘nothing’ (his belt) administer a dozen lashes to the first

‘nothing’?”

Behind this humorous story lies a serious question. If, as

the Psalmist proclaims, “The world, and all it contains, is

G-d’s,” is there, in fact, such a thing as “theft”? Can

something that does not in truth belong to you, be taken

from you?

Of course, G-d said, “You shall not steal.” Those are the

rules of the game. But maybe that’s what it is—a game.

G-d is saying: “Let’s make believe that this house be-

longs to Tom. And let’s make believe that this car be-

longs to Harry. Now, Harry, you mustn’t burn down

‘Tom’s house.’ And Tom, you’re not allowed to use

‘Harry’s car’ without his permission.” Is that what it

amounts to?

---------------------------------------------------------------------

According to the Midrash, the Third Commandment,

“You shall not take G-d’s name in vain,” and the Eighth

Commandment, “You shall not steal,” are one and the

same. Indeed, the Torah (Leviticus 5:20) refers to finan-

cial fraud as “a betrayal of G-d.” “Because,” explains the

great Talmudic sage Rabbi Akiva, “in defrauding his fel-

low, he is defrauding the Third Party to their dealings.”

On the face of it, this can be understood along the lines

of our “rules of the game” thesis. The problem with

stealing is not that a certain person’s “ownership” has

been violated (since everything belongs to G-d anyway),

but that the divine command “You shall not steal” has

been transgressed.

But if that were the case, asks the

Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Men-

del Schneerson, of righteous memory, why

does Rabbi Akiva describe G-d as “the

Third Party to their dealings”? Isn’t He the

only party? Aren’t we saying that it’s G-d’s

car that’s been stolen, and the fact that He

chose to register it in Harry’s name is basi-

cally irrelevant?

But Rabbi Akiva is being consistent. Re-

member the verse, “The world, and all it

contains, is G-d’s”? Rabbi Akiva, quoting

this verse in the Talmud, interprets it to be saying, “He

acquired, and bequeathed, and rules His world.” What

does this mean? Isn’t it G-d’s world because He created

it? And if He “bequeathed” it, than it’s not His anymore!

What Rabbi Akiva is saying, explains the Rebbe, is this:

Obviously, it’s His because He created it. But then He

desired to make it His in a deeper and more meaningful

way—by bequeathing it to man.

To own a world because you made it is basically mean-

ingless. In human terms, that’s like dreaming up a life

and trying to derive satisfaction from your own fantasy.

For something to be real for us, it has to have existence

outside of ourselves. To derive pleasure from something,

we have to share its existence with others.

G-d desired to derive pleasure from His world. That’s

why He gave it to us, and asked us to share it with Him.

That’s why He said: “Tom, this is your house. I mean it;

it is really and truly yours. Now this is what I would like

you to do with it. I want you to put mezuzot—little

scrolls inscribed with the main points of your relationship

with Me—on its doorposts. I want its kitchen to be ko-

sher. I want it to be a place that shelters a moral family

life, a place in which hospitality is extended to the

Continued on page 10

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How Strong Are You? Ethics 4:1

By Michoel Gourarie

In Pirkei Avot (Ethics of the Fathers) there is a passage

that reads: “Ben Zoma said: Who is strong? He who con-

quers his evil inclination, as it says, ‘. . .

he who masters his passions is better

than one who conquers a city.’” The mes-

sage here is clear: dealing with and

changing negative behavior is extremely

difficult. Why does discipline and self-

control need so much strength?

The mystics explain that two forces oper-

ate on every one of us—the animal soul

and the divine soul. The animal soul is the

source of our ego, and encourages he-

donism, aggression, laziness and empti-

ness. The divine soul is the source of

moral reasoning and spiritual consciousness. It inspires

an awareness of a higher purpose, and gives us the abil-

ity to think rationally and objectively, making decisions

for ethical behavior and giving appropriate responses to

everyday experiences.

Each soul has its own dominant force. The animal soul is

driven by instincts that are highly emotional, whereas

the divine soul is dominated by the power of intellect

and reason. Both souls fight for control of the person.

Both struggle to shape our personality and define our

identity.

This is where the challenge of self-control lies. The ani-

malistic force is quick. It is emotional and instinctive, and

prompts a very swift response. The divine soul is intel-

lectual. It needs time to cognitively process the appropri-

ate and moral response. So, when we are insulted, or

provoked, or presented with temptations and ethical di-

lemmas, the immediate response will be the feelings

generated by the instincts and explosive

emotions of the animal soul. We are tempted

to get angry or do the wrong thing before

we give the moral reason a chance.

Self-control, therefore, needs the incredible

strength of restraint. It requires holding back

for just a few seconds between the things

that happen to us and our response, creat-

ing a little space to think and process the

point of view of the divine voice. It is what

Stephen Covey calls the “pause button be-

tween the stimulus and the response.”

We need to train ourselves not to act quickly and instinc-

tively. We need to use the unique ability of the human

being to stop and ask ourselves the question: is this

wrong or right? It takes amazing strength to wait a few

seconds, but those few seconds can be the difference

between an animalistic act and a divine one.

Next time you are faced with a challenge, give yourself a

few seconds for the voice of the soul to be heard.

From www.Shaloh.org/Magazine

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Toddler Room

Another busy week has gone by in the toddlers class.

On Monday we made another spring project : beautiful butterflies.

On Tuesday we introduce letter R

for rainbow and rain.

This week we celebrate a holiday called Lag B' Omer. On Lag B'Omer we are so

happy because Hashem stopped punishing the students of Rabbi Akiva.

Lag B'Omer is characterized by a day of outing. The day is celebrated with

picnics , ball games , and mock bow- and-arrow play . It is also customary

to light bonfires and sing and dance around

them.

On Wednesday we made a special project for

Mothers Day. The kids were so excited to make

something just for their Mommies and Imas.

On Thursday we moved ahead with the letters, learn-

ing about S for Sun and Stars, and more…

Learning numbers from 1 to 5 is a part curriculum this year. So this week we started

working on our numbers.

This week we read Parshat Emor . The themes of this Parsha are difficult for young

children, so we only spoke about Yomim Tovim: Pesach, Shavuot and Sukkot are called

the "Shalosh Regalim". That's because when these Yomim Tovim came around, people

headed up to Yerushalayim to the Bait Hamikdash to offer korbanot.

The weather this week was so rainy, but we took advantage of the time indoors to do lots of projects!

We wish you and your family a Good Shabbos,

Morah Anna, Morah Leah and Morah Masha

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Preschool Room

Do you know what this week’s parasha, Parashat Emor, talks about? Sefirat Haomer!

Sefirat Haomer is the forty-nine day period beginning on Pesach, in which we count down

the days towards Matan Torah, the giving of the Torah. Of course, for our parasha project we made a Sefirat

Haomer chart. We glued forty-nine boxes onto our chart, one for each day. We chose a different color for

each week, so we can see when the seven weeks will be complete. We hope Imma or Abba can help us write

the rest of the numbers in the boxes as we count the days.

We really enjoyed learning about and experiencing Lag BaOmer this past Thursday. We learned all about

Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai who had to hide with his son. We made a project of the cave he hid in, the river

that gave him water and the tree from which he ate. We also had a whole

Lag BaOmer party. We had so much fun dancing around the candle we lit.

Please ask me about Lag BaOmer:

• Where did Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai hide? (in a cave)

• Why was he hiding? (the goyim wanted to catch him)

• What did he do in the cave? (he learned Torah)

• Who came to learn with him in the cave? (Eliyahu Hanavi)

• When he was hungry, what did he eat? (fruit from the tree)

• When he was thirsty, what did he drink? (water from the river)

• Why are we happy on Lag BaOmer? On that day Rabbi Shimon Bar

Yochai taught us a lot of (secrets of the Torah.)

In Aleph-Bet, we are up to the letter Shin. We did Shin Shofar. A shofar is what we blow on Rosh Hashana.

Remember that? We have one more letter to go!

In A-B-C, we did the letter U for Umbrella.

(Sung To: “My Bonnie Lies Over the Ocean”)

Let’s stand up and sing for umbrella,

Umbrella starts with U.

Let’s stand up and sing for umbrella,

And for letter U.

U, U, U, U,

Let’s sing for the letter U, U, U.

U, U, U, U,

Let’s sing for the letter U, U, U.

Mother’s Day: Happy Mother’s Day! We hope you enjoy our present. Please use it to daven for us that we

become Talmidei Chachamim and N’shot Chayil!

Shabbat Shalom,

Morah Ruti, Morah Polina and Morah Basya

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Kindergarten Junior 1

In honor of Lag Baomer we have been singing some new songs in our class.

1. BaMeiron (clap) Sham Rabbi Shimon (clap) Adoneinu Bar Yochai (clap). 2x

2. (TTTO oifen pripetchik)

A long time ago, a poor shepherd boy watched the sheep all day

Akiva didn’t even know the Aleph Beis which all of us can say. 2x

Rochel his smart wife, gave him good advice, this is what she said

‘It’s never too late to start learning Torah, if you use your head’ 2x

3. Amar Rabbi Akiva 2x

V’ahavta L’reiacha Kamocha

Sheli shelach shelach shelach 2x

Zeh klal gadol batorah

Whats mine is yours I’ll share with you 2x

This is part of Ahavas Yisrael.

Parsha and Lag BaOmer Questions:

1. The Parsha of the week is______. Emor.

2. What does it mean to make a Kiddush Hashem? To show people that Jewish people who keep Mitzvot

are kind and helpful and polite.

3. Which Jewish Holidays are listed in the Torah? Rosh Hashana, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Pesach, Shavuot.

4. What mitzvah do we do between Pesach and Shavuot? We count the days – Safirat HaOmer.

5. What special day is on the 33rd day of the Omer? Lag Baomer.

6. Who passed away on Lag BaOmer? Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai.

7. So why then is it such a happy day? Rabbi Shimon told us not be sad when he dies but rather to be

happy for all the Torah he taught us.

8. What are some things we do on Lag Baomer? We go out to the fields or park and play and sing and

light fires to remind us of the great light of the Torah.

9. When Rabbi Akiva was 40 years old he still didn’t know Aleph Beis. Who encouraged him to start

learning? His wife Rochel.

10. What is the biggetst lesson we learn from Rabbi Akiva ? To love and care about every person. V’A-

havta Lereiacha Kamocha.

Have a Good Shabbos,

From Morah Yael and Morah Dasha

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Kindergarten Junior 2

This week in Kindergarten Juniors 2 we spent most of the week getting ready for the

two hiolidays that are happening this week—Lag B’Omer and Mother’s Day! For Lag

B’Omer we learned about treating our friends the way we want to be treated—

this is a mitzvah called V’Ahavta L’Rayacha Kamocha. We talked about how this

is a really important mitzvah for the whole year, but it’s also special to Lag

B’Omer because it reminds of the story of Rabbi Akiva and his students who

needed to work on being nice to and working together with their friends.

We also learned the story of Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai, a tzadik who really wanted

to learn Torah and do mitzvot, but couldn’t because the Romans wouldn’t let him.

Rabbi Shimon ran away with his son and lived in a cave where he learned Torah.

We learned about the miracle that Hashem made for Rabbi Shimon—a tree grew

with carobs to eat, and a river appeared with water to drink. We enjoyed making our own caves, trees, and

rivers for the Rabbi Shimon puppets that we made.

For Mother’s Day, we discussed the Mitzvah of Kibud Av V’Em—being nice to our mothers and fathers. Like

V’Ahavta L’Rayacha Kamocha, this is a mitzvah that we should do all the time,

not just on Mother’s Day. We talked about some ways that we can be nice to

our mommies and daddies, and even made a present to give to our mommies

on Mother’s Day.

In English we are continuing to read with the short vowel A sound. We are

also learning sight words, such as “in,” “on,” “I,” “the,” “this,” and “that.” The

“th-“ sound was tricky at first, but we’re really getting the hang of it. We read

a book called “A Nap on a Map,” which we brought home with us at the end

of the week. Please read it with your child at home to practice and reinforce

the material.

In Math we are continuing to add numbers, and are practicing counting to 30, forwards and backwards.

In Hebrew, the first group is reading and writing answers to questions about the stories they read, and the

second group is practicing reading and recognizing which words are for girls and which words are for boys.

In Music we are practicing our songs and dances for the end-of-year concert. Please make sure that your

child has a white shirt and black pants (boys), or a white dress (girls) for the performance. All children will

also need to wear nice Shabbat shoes.

Reminder: the concert will be on June 8th. Save the date!

In Circle Time, we are enjoying the exciting count towards the holiday of Shavuot. We are also having a lot

of fun observing the many different types of weather that we are having this week!

Have a Good Shabbos,

From Morah Marina and Morah Chava

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Kindergarten Senior

Parshas Emor

Please save the date for our graduation concert on June 10!

English

One group read the story Rose’s Birthday and read words with ‘ow’. The second group read the story

Mother’s Day and continue practicing their writing skills.

Math

One group began learning the concept of bigger than and less than.

The second group continues subtracting numbers less than twenty.

Kriah

Both groups are reading with all the nekudos. One group began learn-

ing exceptions and the second group has already learned many of the

exceptions to the rule.

Parsha

Parshas emor discusses how animals brought as gifts to Hash-m need to be perfect, without any blemish. We

also reviewed the Yomim Tovim and made an exciting project!

We learned the story of how Rabbi Akiva got a late start on his Torah learning. We found out that, at the age

of 40, he didn't even know aleph-bais, but because he kept working at it, he became the biggest Torah

scholar of his generation.

We learned the story of his student Rabbi Shimon bar Yochai, who shared his teacher's love for Torah. Rabbi

Shimon had to run away from the Roman rulers of Israel and he ran with his son Elazar to a cave where the

two of them learned non-stop for 13 years. He revealed the Torah's deepest secrets to us in his famous work,

The Zohar.

With wishes for a wonderful Shabbos,

Morahs Esther, Shulamis Yehudis and Tova

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Continued from the front page

To try to stay as close to the “now” as possible here is a very small smattering of moments from one day in

our elementary school, which while common here are far from typical elsewhere. Please excuse the fact that

for every one I include easily twenty more were skipped.

Morning routines:

Our early risers show up and help get breakfast ready for everyone- bowls lined up, spoons placed, tea and

cereal readied. A quick assembly line, taking on tasks that need to be done, “just” to help.

Heading outside, I see one of my favorite sights in the world, Smiling and giggling students running to

school. Running to… running to friends, running to teachers, running to learn, running to explore, running to

fun; what wonderful reasons to be running.

During our afternoon snack-recess:

The birthday cake was of course a special treat as was celebrating the birthday itself. However, what domi-

nated playground conversations? “How many places of pie do you know?” Stemming from an extra treat of

pencils with thirty places of pie listed. If “only” our sixth graders cared it would still be pretty impressive,

that the “bidding” war carried across grades with participants from all classes was delightful to hear, espe-

cially as students rushed to show they had the knowledge they claimed.

During a free moment in the 4th/5th grade classroom:

How can we get more of our writing in the newsletter? Before I could answer, the class was off listing things

the writing would need, including proper spelling and grammar as well as covering a range of topics and

styles. This conversation spread like wild fire resulting in an “in basket” of submitted writing for this week’s

newsletter, with even more cued up for next week. (Our submission guidelines have pieces due on Weds for

inclusion in Friday’s newsletter.)

Within grades, a myth debunked:

“When can I do my QRI?” Testing isn’t scary or stressful here. Students delight in checking in on their

growth and measuring their own progress. Standardized tests are a source of fun…really, they are…here. I

suppose it’s because testing isn’t something we do “to” our students, but something we do with them. A

good test shows everyone involved the growth made and highlights the next challenge to focus on. What

could be more fun than that?

As I’m typing this up more moments…

A first grader has brought his cursive book to show me his progress and explain what letters are excellent

and which ones he’ll be practicing more. The review includes why letters are tricky or easy, and which are

similar to previous letters, all shared with the easy confidence of a true scholar speaking of his or her chosen

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field.

Continued on page 10

Continued from page 9

Word has clearly spread to other grades, as the pile of submissions grow from across the grades- so much

for there not being enough time today to meet today’s deadline. Now the challenge is to see from the stack

how many we can type up in time to be submitted.

Too often to truly track:

“Can’t we help out/do/learn…?”

The true answer of where we are is that we are in a place where learning is not only encouraged by every

adult in the building, and supported by all the staff, teachers, and families, but is demanded by the students

every day, demanded of themselves, for themselves, and for others. Helping themselves learn and grow is

only matched by their insistence that everyone gets to learn and prosper.

So where are we? We’re at Shaloh House.

Coming Up…

• Watch for kid’s writings next week

• Book Fair is continued – see lots of wonderful books in our lobby next week

Continued from page 2

needy, a place where My Torah is studied.

“Of course, I could just put you in this house and tell you

to do all this, without really giving it to you. But then you’d

be doing all these things mechanically, like a robot. Deep

down, you would sense that it’s not really your home, that

the things you’re doing are not really your achievement.

And then it wouldn’t ever be truly My home, either. It

would just be something I made up.

“That’s why I gave it to you. You sense it to be yours, be-

cause it really is. You experience what you make of it to be

your own achievement, because it really is. And when you

choose, with the free will that I have granted you, to invite

Me into your home and make Me at home in it, it will be-

come truly Mine, too, in the manner that I desire it to be

Mine.

“And please, don’t steal Harry’s car. Because I have a stake

in every financial transaction that occurs between the two

of you. When you deprive Harry of the ownership that I

have given him over his piece of My world, you are depriv-

ing Me as well. You are making My ownership of My world

all but meaningless.”

From www.Shaloh.org/Magazine

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