Preparing for Simchat Torah in Ganon Aleph

In preparation for Simchat Torah, the children practiced doing "hakafot" in the Beit Midrash with the little Torahs they made.  While we were there, we looked at the Torahs in the Aron Kodesh, as well as the yad and the choshen on each Torah.

We then came back to our classroom and each child had a chance to roll and unroll at either end of a long sheet, just like a real Torah!!

Bringing Relevance to the Parasha in Ganon Aleph

In this week's Parashat Teruma, the children learned about all the special objects that B'nai Yisrael built for the Mishkan. We took a walk to the Beit Midrash to see some of these same objects which every shul has, among them: the Aron Kodesh, the parochet, the menorah, the shulchan, and the ner tamid. Some of the children even drew up their own plans for different structures, like the Mishkan, and attempted to build them in our block corner.

Shabbat Assembly

This morning we gathered in the Beit Medrash for our monthly Shabbat assembly. Binyamin played his keyboard and led us in spirited songs about Shabbat and the upcoming chag of Chanukah. Rabbi Penn gave a d'var Torah on parashat Toldot. The children loved taking a turn to sing into the microphone! It was an uplifting, communal end to our week. We walked back to the classrooms singing "Am Yisroel Chai"!