Grade 5 – Tali

Shalom everyone.
We started our class by differentiating between Mitzvot – commandments, and Minhagim – customs. There is a difference and we will review both of these throughout the year.
As Yom Kippur approaches, we talked about the importance of Se’licha – forgiveness. It is the time of year to ask for forgiveness (especially throughout the ten days of repentance between Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur). As we reviewed Rosh Hashanah, we reviewed the story of Avraham and the binding of Yitzhak. This  blends so beautifully with the prayer that we are learning in Hebrew – the Avot (which is all about Avraham and Yitzhak). We also told the story of Jonah the Prophet who understands that God does forgive if people are sincere when they ask for forgiveness. We talked about the Mitzvot of Yom Kippur and listened to” Kol Nidrei”- the prayer that is sung on the eve of the holiday (this year Tuesday evening).
As part of our wishes for the New Year, the students wrote about things they are proud of themselves and things they would like to do better in the coming year. Interesting how almost all want to be better students, better at sports, better friends and know more about their Judaism.
We looked and learned that the Bible has three parts. Torah, Prophets and Writings. In Hebrew it is called Tanach.   ת – for Torah,  נ – for Nevee’im, כ- for ketoovim.
In Hebrew, we are working hard on improving our reading skills. It will take time and I need your help. It is essential for the kids to practice at home. They have a copy of the prayer and the best is to read out loud.
Another great way for practicing is the website www.behrmanhouse.com . It is an excellent tool to learn, review and catch up with the class. Enter the site practice prayer, click on the tool bar- learn, choose from the drop menu Hebrew, click on @home, click on Hinneni 2 (Red) and choose the prayer you want. Musical notes located by the prayer signify that you can listen to the singing of the prayer.
One last thing , please send a binder to school, as we have material that we will work on  more than one lesson and it is best to be kept together.
G’mar Chatima Tova.
Next week we will look at what does Torah mean to us and the role it plays in our lives, and we will talk about Sukkot.
Tali Weiss
Come help and decorate the Temple Sukkah at 12:30 pm…..loads of fun!