IYAR 5770 4/15/10 – 5/13/10 Volume 7, Issue 9 MITZVAT HaHODESH: Tzionut Zionism

1. IYAR 5770 4/15/10 – 5/13/10 Volume 7, Issue 9 MITZVAT HaHODESH: Tzionut Zionism Featured Woman of Valor: Gertrude Weil ,hasujHOD-SHEETA monthly publication of the Abraham & Miriam Gannes Religious Schoolby Iris Bendahanbendahan@beth-david.orgwww.beth-david.org/education Event Highlighter LAST Youth Services Haverim (10:30 -11:30) 4/24, 5/1, 5/15 Youth Congregation (10 – 11:30) 4/24, 5/1, 5/15* *Haftara Trope Readers Induction Events Yom HaShoahMuseum 4/10-4/22 Museum in MPD Gan-Gimel on 4/18 Dalet – Zayin on 4/21 4/18 – Hazak Green Fair with Jewish Flair 2pm – 5:30 pm 5/2 Yom YerushalyimZimriya/Rabbi Farewell 11- 11:30 Family Jerusalem Art Project 11:30 -12:15 Zimriya Performance (will include farewell songs for Rabbi Schonbrun) 12:15 – 12:30 “Shuk” – Food and Schmooze 5/7 – Last Shabbat Mishpaha/Shabbat Supper Service 6:30; Supper 7:30 RSVP on web! 5/9 – Yom HaAtzmaut Celebration Community Campus Look for Beth David’s “Sderot” booth. MOTHER’S DAY – NO SCHOOL 5/23 – Shavuot Party Last day of school Includes rewards assembly and pancake breakfast prepared by Men’s Club. Up Coming Kadima Events Junior: Chaotic Dinner 5/16 5:30 – 8:30 Senior: Yom HaAtzmaut celebration 4/25 5:30 -8:30 Aiming High from Zionism to Zimriya! Theodore Herzl had his sights set high. He gave birth to a brand of Zionism with a lofty goal: a Jewish state in the land of Israel (and not Uganda), after nearly 2000 years of exile and persecution. Tzionut became infectious. The new Zionists had a longing and a fervor to reach this goal. Young people flocked to the swamps of Palestine to do back-breaking work, to learn Hebrew, and to make Herzl’s ‘dream’ a reality. How can we pass on the feeling of Tzionut to kids who take all this for granted? The Zimriya is one way. Singing songs of love for Israel (and this year Jerusalem) can be powerful. Though the students have been learning the songs all year they don’t feel it yet. But perhaps when they see you out in the audience clapping with pride as they sing, they just might begin to understand the profound message: Israel is of prime importance to us. And with anti-semitism on the rise, we must help our kids begin to feel Tzionut and desire to learn about and support Israel. So I have my sights set high too: 100% participation of students and parents at the Zimrya! See you May 2 at 11.

2. WIKI ON SITE! Hopefully you all have gotten used to checking the Wiki for the latest announcements, homework schedules, photos etc. and you have noticed that you can now access the wiki directly from the Religious School tab on the CBD website. Very soon the format of the wiki will change as it will no longer be housed on Wikispaces. Instead, most of the information will reside directly on the Beth David website mostly in the form of posts to the ‘Religious School Blog’ (which will continue to be called Religious School wiki). The pages of the wiki that you have gotten used to will be categories within the blog site. In general the way the new site works is that once you’ve selected the top menu you’re interested in (for example Education- Religious School), all the postings for that header will be found in the box on the right, along with the scrolling calendar. Once you’ve selected Religious School wiki, you will see the general postings scrolling on the right (equivalent to the announcement page on the old wiki), as well as the specific categories I’ve selected to create such as each grade, parent resources, teacher resources, programs. Once all the new categories are set, you may not ever need to get on to the wikispaces site again. I will be keeping it up with some things I can’t post to the website yet – e.g. Zimriya songs. Please play around with the new site so you can learn to utilize this useful tool. Let me know how I can improve things, and I will work with the webmaster to try make things as easy as possible. Happy Navigating! cuy kzn Iyar B’nei Mitzvah Nathan Zadkovsky 4/18 Michael Riskin 4/24 Anna Drabovskaya 5/8 About Our Woman of Valor for Iyar -Gertrude Weil 1879-1971 “Justice, mercy, goodness should not be held in vacuum but practiced in daily lives”.   Gertrude attempted to better society in countless ways.   She took part in women’s suffrage leagues, child labor legislation, and endeavors to create parks and pools for underprivileged. She also taught religious school and was involved with rescuing Jewish refugees. PinatIvritפינת עבריתHebrew Corner Tzionut – Zionism Yom HaAtzmaut – Independence Day Zemer (Zimriya) – Song Bearing Witness leads to Tzionut: At the time of this writing, I’ve just completed watching the National Jewish TV channel’s broadcast of the March of the Living from Poland. Talk about a way to jump start Tzionut in young people! After a week in Poland bearing witness to the atrocities of WWII Europe (culminating with a 3 km retrace of the death march form Auschwitz to Birkenau), the teens shift gears completely and celebrate Yom HaAtzmaut with their brethern in Israel. The NJTV newscaster in Poland commented that despite the somber location, and state of mourning of the country, the March itself felt like a pep rally for Jews and Israel. Indeed, watching the throngs of teens, many wrapped in flags of Israel, I couldn’t help feel a sense of pride, and perhaps relief, that 10,000 more Jewish teens in the world, will now be knowledgeable enough to help support Israel’s cause. Tzionut is becoming a more difficult prospect every day. Too many Jews are under educated about the complexities of the Mideast crisis and turn away from Israel and her fight for survival. As parents, we must give our kids every opportunity that presents itself to understand what Israel really means, and to learn how they can help her, and her people, stay on track. A large group of kids from Beth David joined this march, and as we anxiously await their safe return, we hope that their sense of Tzionut will be strengthened and they will return ready to ignite the torch in the next generation of kids. (With the Silicon Valley group are my daughter, Arielle, Morah Irene’s son, Jeremy, Morah Miriam’s son, Zach, Morah Davida’s son, Daniel, Morah Hindy’s daughter, Jennifer, Molly and Sam Ball’s dad, Gary, and 9 other x-Beth David Religious School teens).