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Kollel's Highlights from 2021-22
In honor of Shmita, the biblical sabbatical cycle, the 2021-22 curriculum focused on renewal, the creation story, and Shabbat practice.
If you have questions about the program, you can email Liora, the Education Director, at liora@newsynagogueproject.org.
Unit 1: Creation and Being Human
In our first unit, students explored the beginning of Bereisheet (Genesis) through poetry, art, and personal interpretation.
We read the creation story as told in Being Torah, a children’s text (inspired by a translation by Everett Fox, which “reproduces the literary forms, linguistic features, and rhythm of the original Hebrew”), and a selection of stories from Arthur Waskow’s “Before There Was a Before.” Examining the story as a whole, students identified poetic tropes and refrains, and created their own acrostic, concrete or alliterative poems to accompany the story.
Pictured: Two students wrote a concrete poem that responds to Day 3 of the creation story.
Focusing on the first few days or moments of creation, students created their own paper collages that responded to the story and to examples from art history and contemporary art. Some students focused on one particular moment or idea in the creation story; others considered the shapes and colors from our artwork examples. I was particularly taken with one “Creation and Destruction” piece, which sprang from the idea of opposites within the story.
Pictured: Two students wrote a concrete poem that responds to Day 1 of the creation story.
After reading a story about the creation of humans, students conducted partnered interviews based on the story.
They asked each other,
- “What makes you yourself?” (What do you like to do? What words describe you? What makes you different?)
- “What is your ‘humus’?” (What do you need to be happy? What are you good at?) One child replied that they need many, many hugs in order to be happy.
- “Do you have opposites in you?” (Are there words that describe you that are opposites? I.e. “shy” and “friendly.”) One child described herself as “both nervous, and a daredevil.”
Pictured: Two students wrote an acrostic poem that responds to Day 4 of the creation story.
When vaccines were approved for children ages 5+, Kollel kids chose or wrote their own brachot for this momentous occasion.
You can view all of the brachot for vaccination that we used. Some kids chose shehechiyanu, and some chose a brachah for wisdom or for good news. Some kids chose to write a brachah for something special that they’ve been waiting to do once they get vaccinated, like go on an airplane, or take a gymnastics class.
Pictured: Three students wrote an acrostic poem that responds to Day 6 of the creation story.
Unit 2: Menorahs from Around the World
In the weeks leading up to Chanukah, the students studied menorahs from around the world.
They learned early on in their Jewish journeys that Jews have lived around the world and practiced Jewish ritual in similar and different ways.
Pictured: Two students presenting their menorah project.
In pairs, students chose two menorahs to compare, examining and describing the imagery, motifs, materials, and structures across regions.
They presented their learning at the NSP community Chanukah party.
Pictured: Two students presenting their menorah project.
"They both have lions and crowns. The shamash is on top super high." (Menorahs from Iraq and Poland.)
"These menorahs are made from different types of material. Both of our menorahs are bench menorahs. They also both have branch menorahs and Hebrew writing on them." (Menorahs from Morocco and Germany.)
"They both have circles and flowers." (Menorahs from Bosnia and Tunisia.)
Two bench-lamp menorahs from Morocco. "We can't find the shamashes!"
"They are both made of metal. They also both have a very nice pattern." (Menorahs from Austria and southern France.)
"Bird Menorahs: They all have birds!" (Menorahs from Austria and Mexico.)
"They both have fruit on them. They both have oil lamps. They are both made of metal." (Menorahs from the Netherlands and Germany.)
We see "Flowers, accidental turtle hands, branch menorahs, deer, peacocks." (Menorahs from Spain, Iraq and Persia.)
"Put together cup menorahs. Both share circles, triangles, and Hebrew writing. Both are also bench menorahs. One doesn't have a shamash." (Menorahs from France and Bukhara, Uzbekistan.)
"Both of these menorahs are made of limestone, and they were crafted at the same time, in the 1800s. Although menorah 2 has more motifs than menorah 1. They are from the same place." (Menorahs from Yemen.)
"Both are made of metal and have glass oil cups." (Menorahs from Italy, and India or Pakistan.)
The unit concluded by imagining and designing what a “Menorah from Washington, DC" might look like.
Children took inspiration from local plants, murals, buildings, and their schools. They used an embossing technique based the common repousse technique found in metal menorahs from around the world.
Pictured: A child's embossed menorah.
Students considered Shabbat as a time of rest for both humans and animals.
We read stories from Rabbi Marc Gellman’s “Does God Have a Big Toe?” and “A Child’s Book of Midrash” by Barbara Diamond Goldin about Shabbat as a time of rest for all living creatures. We circled back to the word “Eden,” and discussed what “paradise” or a “perfect place” might look like. One child suggested that in a perfect place, “There would be no money - you would get things by just saying please.”
Many of the kids suggested that a perfect place would be “beautiful,” or full of flowers and gardens.
Pictured: A student's drawing, inspired by stories and artwork about Gan Eden.
In pairs, the kids described their own perfect place, and then drew their partner’s description.
Then we looked at some depictions of Gan Eden, including contemporary and historical artworks, paintings, weavings, and a Menorah, and Jewish, Islamic and Christian depictions. Several kids in the younger cohort described their perfect place as containing unicorns or dragons, and lo and behold, some of the artists who created these images also imagined unicorns or dragons!
Pictured: A student's drawing, inspired by stories and artwork about Gan Eden.
Taking inspiration from both historic challah covers and a short story, “The Rest of Creation,” by Arthur Waskow, students created their own glue-resist challah covers.
Pictured: A student's drawing, inspired by stories and artwork about Gan Eden.
Unit 5: Purim
We focused on humor and “being silly” as a Jewish value!
Kollel learned the Purim story through improv games and puppetry. The older cohort re-wrote the story using the surrealist “Exquisite Corpse” writing technique. Everybody collaborated on “Exquisite Corpse” puppets, which we displayed proudly at NSP’s Purim family-friendly party.
Unit 6: Passover, Safety and Freedom
Kollel kids talked about safety and Jewish practices of protection, meditating on the times that make us feel the most safe.
Some common themes were: being with family, playing with pets, reading before bed with a parent and spending time at school. Looking at these historic amulets for inspiration, the children made their own amulets, and chose specific things that made them feel safe, such as “love” and “friendship”.
Students proposed new seder supplements based on current events.
Students learned about the symbolic significance of traditional items on the seder plate, and some modern seder supplements. They connected the seder plate items to three values as described in Jewish tradition: freedom, gratitude, and remembering. We turned to the subject of current events and big changes from the past year. Students split into groups according to the topic that interested them most. In their small groups, they read an abbreviated news article about their topic and discussed it. They talked about how the story made them feel, how people are helping, and what people should know or remember about the story. Then, they proposed a new seder supplement and action items to commemorate the big changes or issues of their topic.
We ended our Passover unit with a lively discussion on freedom in relation to both the Passover story and our own lives.
Some students were quick to differentiate between the freedom discussed in the Exodus story - freedom from slavery - and personal freedoms, or how generally “free” people can be. Many argued that because we live inside of bodies, we cannot be free from human needs or limits - and real “freedom” would mean being limitless. The older students listened to two poems: “Maror” by Marge Piercy which discusses a personal exodus, and “Red Sea” by Aurora Levins Morales which discusses freedom as a mutual obligation.
Current Event Seder Supplements
Vaccines: A Mask
Vaccines: A Carrot or a Flower
Vaccines: A Carrot or a Flower
Two groups read about vaccines for kids. The older group proposed a mask on the seder plate. Their action items included maintaining our regular pandemic protocols like masking and distancing, and encouraging people to get vaccinated.
Vaccines: A Carrot or a Flower
Vaccines: A Carrot or a Flower
Vaccines: A Carrot or a Flower
The younger group proposed both a sharpened carrot and a flower on the seder plate. They wrote, “The carrot represents the shot. The covid vaccine is sharp and pointy and the carrot is sharp and pointy.” To explain the flower, one child wrote: “Everything is byoodifle (sic) in its own way/ Even the virus/ It looks like a ball with a crown on top/ I want everyone to realize that there is good in the weird.”
PPE Polution: A Tomato
Vaccines: A Carrot or a Flower
Schools Reopening: Recess
One group read about the rise in PPE pollution and its effect on the environment, and proposed a tomato on the seder plate. They wrote, “The tomato symbolizes the connection between humans and animals.” Their action item is to pick up trash!
Schools Reopening: Recess
Schools Reopening: School Supplies
Schools Reopening: Recess
Two groups chose the topic of schools and activities re-opening, and read about schools re-opening in Uganda after two whole years! The first proposed “recess at the seder.” I think that speaks for itself.
Schools Reopening: School Supplies
Schools Reopening: School Supplies
Schools Reopening: School Supplies
The second group proposed paper hearts, scissors, glue sticks, and pencils on the seder plate, both to celebrate schools and to show love for teachers. Their post-seder action item is to tell your teacher “thank you!”
War in Ukraine: Symbols of Peace
Schools Reopening: School Supplies
Schools Reopening: School Supplies
Two groups read about the war in Ukraine. The older group proposed both an Egyptian symbol of peace and a stop sign on the seder plate, and tore off a corner of the poster that said “war” and crumpled it up.
War in Ukraine: An Apple with a Worm in it
War in Ukraine: An Apple with a Worm in it
War in Ukraine: An Apple with a Worm in it
The younger group proposed an apple with a worm in it on the seder plate. They wrote that it represents “Helping people,” and that “red is the color of a heart,” and “worms poop owt fertol soyol [poop out fertile soil].” (You might say, “wait, what does a worm in an apple have to do with war in Ukraine?” To which I would respond that this group of kids did a pretty good job making their proposal as abstract and baffling as the traditional items on the seder plate.)
LGBTQ+ Rights in Schools: A Rose
War in Ukraine: An Apple with a Worm in it
War in Ukraine: An Apple with a Worm in it
One group read about the “Parental Rights in Education” (or “Don’t Say Gay”) bill, and proposed a rose on the seder plate. They wrote, “The rose represents the LGBTQ community,” and proposed pricking oneself with a thorn to “remind ourselves of how cruel” the bill is.
Workers Unionizing: A Wrench
War in Ukraine: An Apple with a Worm in it
Workers Unionizing: A Wrench
One group read about the first Amazon workers’ union and other low-wage workers’ efforts to unionize. They proposed banging a wrench on the seder plate and wrote, “The wrench represents work. When you bang it on the table it represents uprising and protesting.”
Unit 7: The Omer, and the Cycles of Jewish Time
During the Omer, we connected the cycles of 7 in Jewish time to the mystical Sefirot, and to the story of creation. We celebrated Lag Ba’Omer with the greater NSP community with a picnic, fire, and s’mores!
We learned about the cycles of 7 in Jewish time, and considered why 7 is a special number in Judaism.
We read “Before There Was a Before: Resting” by Arthur Waskow, in which the Humans suggest that the reason is, “No two numbers can be multiplied to make seven, and seven can’t be multiplied by anything to make any number that is ten or less. So seven isn’t a product, and it doesn’t produce. It’s the only number up to ten that’s like that. So it’s the resting number.”
Pictured: a child's reflection on the Sefirah of Hod, glory: “When I finish soccer and win.”
Then we read a very participatory story in which the people of Chelm learn about the 7-year Shmita cycle, and the importance of rest and shabbat for the land. The kids broke off into pairs and chose an action that people should either STOP, or do more of in order to listen and let the land rest. One pair taught us about the importance of compost through a very silly skit. Another pair gave a nuanced presentation about how camping is fine, but we have to do it right - clean up!
Pictured: a child's reflection on the Sefirah of Gevurah, strength: “When I feel strong, if I can break bars I feel like I can be free.”
We used the Sefirot to consider the question: How am I b’tzelem Elohim, “in the image of God?”
We re-examined Bereisheet 1:26-27 and discussed what it means to be b’tzelem elohim, in the image of God. Most of the kids agreed that that does not mean we look like God, but that we might think or behave in similar ways. Someone in the younger cohort suggested that it might just mean “God sees us.”
We talked about how Jewish mystics explained that there are 10 Sefirot (or qualities/attributes) of God that we can find in ourselves. During the Omer, we focus on the seven that have to do with our emotions and our actions. The kids considered a series of prompts based on each Sefirah and began making collage books to reflect on these questions.
One child told us that Chesed, lovingkindess, can be hard because sometimes we have the urge to be mean. Another said that they see Tiferet, beauty, in people’s souls, but that nothing is “perfect”. Another, reflecting on Netzach, told us that something they want to stick with is Kollel!
On Tiferet (beauty or compassion): “I see in the Earth in people that are kind.” And on Netzach (endurance): “I am sticking to ballet.”
On Gevurah (strength): “I have been strong when I overcame problems. I have been strong when I am overcoming a challenge.”
On Chesed (lovingkindness): “It feels good when someone is kind to you.”
We learned more about Jewish mysticism and its connection to Lag Ba’Omer.
We read “Light,” a short story/poem by Jane Breskin Zalben, based on Isaac Luria’s midrash on creation.
Our Greek mythology experts pointed out that the myth of the shattered vessels is sort of the reverse of Pandora’s box, in that all the good things are released instead of the bad things.
The older cohort read an ever-so-slightly adapted contemporary poem by Peter Cole called, “Song of the Shattering Vessels.”
Then we learned about Rabbi Shimon Bar Yochai and his connection to Lag Ba’Omer and mysticism. We read “Rabbi Shimon, the Cave, and the Carob Tree,” from A Child’s Book of Midrash by Barbara Diamond Goldin.
We connected this story to the tradition of having a bonfire on Lag Ba’Omer. We talked about what it might have felt like to live in the cave. Some people thought it would feel scary and lonely or confining, but others thought it might be kind of nice to just hang out. One child suggested that it would feel like being in the Hunger Games.
On Lag Ba’Omer, we hosted a community celebration with a picnic, campfire, s’mores.
Several Kollel students led a blessing for the 33rd day of the Omer.