This past Sunday, I had the opportunity to lead the first family education program at the synagogue. This is a program I have been working on all year, and it finally came to fruition. I wanted to create something that connected the parents with their child's education, made them be actively involvedin the learning process. When talking with the education director, we decided to do celebrate a holiday together with the family. After looking at the calendar, we decided Tu B'Shevat would be the perfect holiday; we would have enough time to plan the program, and it wouldn't be around days off from Hebrew school like Purim or Passover.
The concept for the program was that families would be working together to create their own Tu B'Shevat Seder. Tu B'Shevat is the new year of the trees, a holiday to mark when the trees had aged one year, information necessary to know in order to eat the fruit of the tree. So the families would create the Seder, they would be responsible for teaching the rest of the group about one of the cups of juice or types of fruit. During this holiday, we drink four different cups of juice: one white, one white with a drop of reed, one half red and half white and one all red, each cup symbolizing a different element and part of creation. There are also three kinds of fruits traditionally eaten: fruits with pits, fruits with peels or shells and fruits that are entirely edible. Each of the fruits represents something different about interpersonal relationships and relationships with G-d. One of the days activities was to create a poem, skit, reading, something that explained the part of the Seder this group was responsible for to the rest of the community.
The second station was parsley planting. Families were given sheets of text to read and discuss, they then chose one piece of text and used it to decorate a terra cotta pot in which they would plant parsley (that could be used to celebrate Passover in two months).
The third station was a scavenger hunt. Families had to read and interpret clues that sent them to different parts of the building. At each location, they had to gather information about the people and land of Israel.
After each group had finished all three stations, the day ended in a Seder, where the whole community was responsible for leading a different part. Some groups performed an interpretative explanatn for the importance of seeds, while others drew pictures depicting what the different cups of juice represented.
The families seemed to be enjoying themselves, and overall I think it was a fantastic program. I had a lot of fun putting it together and certainly learned a lot about programming for a religious school.
The concept for the program was that families would be working together to create their own Tu B'Shevat Seder. Tu B'Shevat is the new year of the trees, a holiday to mark when the trees had aged one year, information necessary to know in order to eat the fruit of the tree. So the families would create the Seder, they would be responsible for teaching the rest of the group about one of the cups of juice or types of fruit. During this holiday, we drink four different cups of juice: one white, one white with a drop of reed, one half red and half white and one all red, each cup symbolizing a different element and part of creation. There are also three kinds of fruits traditionally eaten: fruits with pits, fruits with peels or shells and fruits that are entirely edible. Each of the fruits represents something different about interpersonal relationships and relationships with G-d. One of the days activities was to create a poem, skit, reading, something that explained the part of the Seder this group was responsible for to the rest of the community.
The second station was parsley planting. Families were given sheets of text to read and discuss, they then chose one piece of text and used it to decorate a terra cotta pot in which they would plant parsley (that could be used to celebrate Passover in two months).
The third station was a scavenger hunt. Families had to read and interpret clues that sent them to different parts of the building. At each location, they had to gather information about the people and land of Israel.
After each group had finished all three stations, the day ended in a Seder, where the whole community was responsible for leading a different part. Some groups performed an interpretative explanatn for the importance of seeds, while others drew pictures depicting what the different cups of juice represented.
The families seemed to be enjoying themselves, and overall I think it was a fantastic program. I had a lot of fun putting it together and certainly learned a lot about programming for a religious school.
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