Anne Stein's Writings

This Sunday is teacher appreciation at Etz Chaim.  Each year the school committee prepares a delicious breakfast for our teachers.  The children in the primary grades all make cards for their teachers and we do our best to make them feel appreciated.  These amazing teachers volunteer their time every Sunday morning to come and teach the children of our religious school.  There is no other school in the country with a school our size that has a volunteer Judaica staff.  People around the country constantly ask me how I do it.  I explain that it is the culture of our congregation and it is a wonderful culture.

The buzz word among Jewish professionals today is Relational Judaism.  The “new” trend is to try and figure out how to build relationships within the synagogue.  There is a wonderful article by Ron Wolfson in Reform Judaism recently which can be found at here.  

I feel so fortunate to be a part of a synagogue that already is doing so many of the things listed in this article.  We work hard to find ways for all of our congregants to be involved if they choose to do so.  The school is just one example but the school needs and uses more volunteers than any branch of the synagogue. 

I encourage you, if you are not already involved in one of our wide range of activities, to become involved.  If you are interested in helping out in the school next year, please let me know.

This past Sunday a teacher told me that her daughter who just graduated from college said that the nicest adults she has ever met are people she met here at Etz Chaim.  I took that as a wonderful compliment to all of our teachers who obviously had a big impact on her as she grew up.  A big public thank you to all of our teachers.  If you see any of them in the upcoming week or weeks, make sure you stop them and let them know how much you appreciate what they do for us at Etz Chaim.  This includes all of the amazing teens that are here every week to help out too.  They always are my shining stars!

The school committee has been very busy this year. Aside from our normal tasks which include helping me in any way I need with the school, setting policy when needed, running special programs such as Hanukkah family night, book fair, Bagelfest and teacher appreciation, we have spent the year working on a project to get our school accredited with the National Association of Temple Educators.

The whole process is very intense. It has made us look inward as to who we as a community are and what our educational program really is to the community. The first part was a check list of dozens of things we needed to acknowledge or gather materials or discuss if it was something we felt we did or did not do. We looked at our mission statement and made one change to it, based on what we feel is important. When it was first written over 15 years ago we did not include anything about the importance of learning about Israel. Now we feel that is very important. We submitted part one and were given approval so now we move on to part two. If you would like to see a copy of the materials we submitted, it is on my credenza. It is a thick binder filled with documents.

For part two, everyone on the committee will be conducting interviews and/or observing in classrooms. Every teacher will be observed. For the interviews we are looking for families or individuals that have been affected by some educational program here at the synagogue. We will be interviewing students asking them to tell us about their most memorable learning experience here at Etz Chaim. We will be asking students and/or parents to tell us a way in which they feel Etz Chaim is a home to them or a way that their home is like a synagogue because of something they learned or made here.

Everyone on the committee is really enjoying learning more about the school and the synagogue.  It is really a way for us to be reflective as to who we are. Gary Friedlander is heading up the project. If any of you would be interested in submitting an answer to any of the questions above, please contact Gary or Anne. We hope to complete all of the interviews before the school year ends.

This Sunday the tenth graders will be cooking for PADS.  They will do this during class and then some of the students will come and help out on Sunday night.  This has become a tradition for our students.  The eighth graders will do the same thing in May.

Our seventh and fourth grade Shabbaton activity is always participation in the Friday night service.  The seventh graders lead the entire service as well as put on short plays totally in Hebrew.

The fourth graders recite Mother Goose nursery rhymes partially in Hebrew.  Both groups prepare most of the dinner on the Wednesday before.  This includes making challah, chicken soup, matzah balls and kugel.  The students have so much fun participating in the Friday night services and makes them feel very connected to the synagogue.

Every Sunday morning and Wednesday afternoon Rabbi Bob leads an assembly.  On Sunday it is for the primary grade students and their parents; on Wednesday afternoon it is for the Hebrew school students.  At every assembly there is a lesson to be learned.  Last week all of the students demonstrated their knowledge of the “Purim sign” by making a hamantashen with their hands.  Every student in our school knows this sign. 

In the fall when we are reading the stories in Genesis, they come alive at assembly time.  Sometimes Rabbi Bob can be found on top of a ladder discussing Jacob’s dream and the angels going up and coming down.  Another week he can be found with a huge pot explaining the story of Jacob stealing the birthright from his brother Esau.  Last fall one of our bima chairs became a camel as he rode in the desert to observe Rebecca at the well.  In the winter he can be found making the letters of the dreidle with his body and having everyone standing and doing the same thing.

All of our students are actively engaged in the assemblies.   Many students as teens remember being turned upside down by Rabbi Bob to demonstrate how to dip an apple slice into a jar of honey.  When he is not here Rabbi Cosnowsky leads the Wednesday assemblies and I do the Sunday assemblies.  We too make them interactive so there is learning going on both for the adults and the students.  If you do not have children in the school or you have children too old for assemblies,  but would like to see an assembly in action, come into the sanctuary any Sunday morning or Wednesday afternoon.

18 months ago we began a wonderful relationship with Meged school in Ranana, a suburb of Tel Aviv. With monies from a grant through the ICenter, we have now had two classes of students with help from their parents involved with the students in Israel. 

Last week the program reached a new high. One of our fifth graders, who went to Israel with her family to Israel over winter break, had the opportunity to meet her pen pal as well as all the sixth graders at Meged. Sandy Elbaz, the teacher at Meged had this to say about Macy’s visit:

Dear Anne!

We had a wonderful time with Macy and her family. They are so nice!!  My kids were very happy to welcome Macy, we had a party for her. We ate falafels and danced a lot. Macy is an amazing girl, she kept thanking us the whole time- she is so sweet. May, her pen pal was overjoyed  to spend some time with Macy. The best part was seeing all the kids together, it was so emotional!!

I feel truly blessed to be a part of this project and today I felt the real meaning of what we do. No matter who we are or where we come from, we are connected in so many ways.

Below are Macy’s reflections of the experience.

I walk in through the gates of the Meged School after having to wait for the teacher (Sandy) and my pen pal, May, to get us.  As we get closer to the front door I hear kids screaming from the top floor windows, “Welcome to Israel”.  I felt so special.  As I walk in to the school I notice how big it is, a lot bigger than my school.  We continued down the hall and I could see some of the kids from lower grades playing outside on the playground.  All of the sudden I see all of these sixth graders running up to me.  May was with another girl who had lived in London and spoke perfect English.  They started to introduce me to some of the kids but the teacher led them to another area and we kept walking to get a tour of the school. I looked at the walls and saw how colorful they were and what the kids had made. We finally got to a huge room which was their gymnasium. It was a party!  I was so surprised and they gave me a crown that was a little small but “pretty”.  May introduced me to more kids and I even met the principal and one of the counselors.  As I looked around I saw a big table filled with a lot of food and a giant circle of chairs.  Then the principal got everyone to sit down and told the kids to ask me questions.  None of the kids said anything and I am guessing that was because I don’t speak very good Hebrew and they would have to speak in English.  So the principal started asking me questions like where did we go in Israel?  What was my favorite sport? Stuff like that.  Then she told me to ask the kids questions.  I asked what sports they play and I think some of them said basketball.  It was so cool but I also felt like a million eyes were just staring at me.  The principal saved the day and told May, me, and all of the sixth graders to go eat.  It turns out that each of the kids helped make all of the food except the falafel.  Well it was so good and I was still in shock that they did all of this for me, just one person, and that is amazing.  I ate hummus and falafel but my sister is a peanut butter addict so all she ate were these peanut butter puff things and she loved them.

We then sat down and ate but it wasn’t long before the boys started to dance.  Two of the boys were the DJ’s and they played a lot of American songs.  I got up and joined the fun leaving my half eaten falafel and hummus pita on the chair.  I walked up to a circle of girls with May.  They told me their pen pal names and I am supposed to tell Jen and Brooke that their pen pals said, Hi!  The teachers called the kids together in a circle and they sang a song in Hebrew and put their arms around each other so I did too.  I didn’t know the song so I just mumbled a tune that I thought matched what they were singing.  They then sang a prayer that I knew so I could sing a long this time.  I was about to walk back to my pita sandwich but then my sister told all of the sixth graders to have a dance party.  I’m not much of a dancer because I’m not very good so I finally got to eat the rest of my sandwich and watch the boys versus the girls in a dance-off.  There was one boy who had one ear pierced and had a white t-shirt.  He was really good at dancing and so were the other boys.  They all break-danced and would spin around on their heads, it was really cool.  Then it was the girls turn.  May was in it and they made up a dance with some other girls.  They had like four different dances they would do and their moves were so cool.  If I had to choose I would say it was a tie between the boys and the girls.  I mean kids in America can’t do half of that.  Then my mom wanted my sister Jade to help the girls win by doing some flips.  She did some flip flops but didn’t want to do a back flip on the cement so she went back to my parents.  The sixth graders wouldn’t give up and they wanted to see her do a flip so they pulled out a mat and my sister did a back flip.  We danced a little longer and then it was time for the worst part of my vacation, saying goodbye.

Most of the boys and girls left when the principal and teacher said it was time to go but they all said bye to me.  Some girls stayed and we hugged and said goodbye.  Two of them asked me to come to their Bat Mitzvah on January 7th but I had to leave the next day to go back home.  After I stayed and hugged all of the people who waited, May invited me to her house but we couldn’t stay.  I felt really bad and I wanted to go to Mays’ house.  They gave me some presents and also some T-shirts for the kids at our school.  May walked me half way out and we hugged and then I said goodbye to her and her teacher.  It was really sad but I was so happy to meet so many great people.  This was my favorite part of my vacation!

This program has had much more of an impact on some people that I ever really thought it could do.  I am so pleased that it all worked out for Macy and her family.  I look forward to her sharing her experiences in person with all of our families at our family program this Sunday.

All of the students in our school participated in the letter writing campaign for Make-A-Wish Foundation by writing letters to Santa asking that he keep Gabriella Miler in his prayers.  We have never asked students to write letters to Santa before but Gabriella’s mom grew up at Etz Chaim and her grandmother, aunts, uncles and cousins all still belong.  Gabriella, who lives in VA has a cancerous tumor on her brain.  Gabriella is Jewish and she has been granted a trip through Make-A-Wish but she wanted to give back to the organization and help others get a trip too.  We had several students that took this project to their public school, scout troop, skating group, etc and we collected over 3000 letters.  So far Gabriella’s group has collected over 60,000 letters.

This past Saturday night, December 1, 2012 at our fifth grade sleep-over we skyped at midnight with our Israeli pen pals. It was 8:00 in the morning and they were just beginning school.  All of our kids now have had a short face to face conversation with their pen pal.  It was very cool.  The rest of the Shabbaton was great fun too. Hopefully lots of new friendships developed.

This coming Sunday, December 9, 2012 will be our seventh grade family program where parents join their child for the hour of Judaica to learn Torah together. This is always a well attended and interesting program for the parents.

The following Sunday will be our third grade family program where parents will spend half of the morning with their parents learning about Hebrew names. Each family will make a beautiful Hebrew name plaque that will be hopefully hung somewhere at home.

We have had a couple of exciting programs in the past couple of weeks. On November 11th, we had our Power of One program. Three of our terrific teens spoke about their unusual mitzvah projects. 

Kate Gelman talked about her stuffed animal project that has sent hundreds of stuffed animals to children all over the world who have never had any type of toy like this. She has her own organization and distributes stuffed animals to doctors around the United States who are going on missions to countries around the world.

Ben Hall spoke about his cookbook that he co-authored with a friend of his with all of the proceeds going to PADS. In his cookbook are many recipes; all of them are in two formats – one for normal use (whatever the original portion size was) and the other for serving a crowd such as our PADS guests. They have reprinted the book a few times already and have now started work on their second cookbook.

Jared Wiseman spoke about his mitzvah project in which he asked students to donate school supplies to children in a small African village. He then took the supplies to the village, met all of the children and gave out the supplies. He learned so much about their culture and shared some of that with us.

During the program families learned about some local organizations including PADS, Sharing Connections, Maot Chitim and TOV. TOV is a subsidiary of JUF and Hannah and Jacob  Bender spoke about the wonderful experience they had working with the TOV group.

At one point in the morning everyone decorated a bag and filled it with toiletries and other small items/gifts for children that they brought from home. We collected over 300 lbs of supplies and we shipped them to a synagogue in New Jersey that was in an area that was very hard hit during the super storm.

On Monday, November 12th the school committee presented their Public School Teacher institute program. Participants learned about Jewish holidays and life cycle events as well as a little Torah from the rabbis. They also had an opportunity to taste the foods that are important for each holiday as well as what they should know so they don’t put their Jewish students in an uncomfortable situation. The attendance was small but everyone thoroughly enjoyed the program and promised to promote it in the future.