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COMPILED BY ELIZABETH APPLEBit
May You Find Learning Sweet
JULIA GREENBLATT SPECIAL TO THE JEWISH NEWS
T
here is an old custom regarding a
child's first teaching of Torah. Hon-
ey is put over each Hebrew letter
written on a slate. After a letter is
recited, the child gets to lick the honey
from the letter.
As we begin a Jewish New Year, and
Tidbits from
Jewish history.
atan Scharansky was a
leading figure in the re-
fusenik movement,
and today remains ac-
tive on behalf of Soviet Jews
now living in Israel.
Because of his Jewish and
Zionist activities, Mr. Scharan-
sky was held for nine years in
Soviet prison. He was released,
in February 1986, only after
longstanding pressure from the
U.S. and other governments.
Mr. Scharansky's mother, Ida
Milgrom, and brother, Leonid,
also were refused permission
for many years to emigrate from
the Soviet Union before being
released in August 1986.
Speaking at a rally in New
York soon after he was let go,
Mr. Scharansky said, "My KGB
interrogators, my prison guards,
they tried to convince me that I
was alone, powerless in their
hands. But all the resources of
a superpower cannot isolate a
man who hears the voice of free-
dom, a voice I heard from the
very chamber of my soul."
Today Mr. Scharansky, with
his wife, Avital, lives in Israel,
where he also is an outspoken
supporter of Ethiopian Jewry.
N
Blowing in the New Year.
with it a new school year, we, too, should
strive to ensure that our children's en-
counters with Jewish education are just
as sweet, exciting and rewarding as eat-
ing honey.
Julia Greenblatt is program coordinator for
JEFF.
The following idea will help your fam-
ily celebrate a sweet new beginning in
Jewish education.
Growing Jewishly Throughout
The Year
Create a Jewish growth chart for the
new school year.
1. Trace your child's outline
onto a large sheet of roll paper.
2. Secure a measuring tape
to the outline. Be sure that the
tape begins at the feet and ex-
tends past the head of the out-
line.
3. As your child encounters new
areas of Jewish study and values,
record them on the growth chart.
For example:
Giving tzedakah
Helping feed the hungry
Helping others
Saying blessings
Celebrating Shabbat and holi-
days
Reciting Hebrew letters and
words
4. One chart can be used to
track the learning of all children
in the family. Trace one outline
over the other, using a different color for
each child.
For a free measuring tape, contact the
Jewish Experiences For Families office
at 21550 W. 12 Mild Rd., Southfield, MI
48076. Include your full name, mailing
address and phone number.
Happy Days
With a little imagination, photos, maga-
zines, paper and crayons, you can cre-
ate your own Jewish calendar for the
upcoming year.
Start by drawing all the days of each
month, with every month on a separate
sheet of paper. Or, you can buy a calen-
dar at a business-supply store, but make
sure the squares for each day are large
and not already filled with too much
14 tell us that the Torah is and on the minus side the
print.
not an esoteric book of phi- things that should not have
losophy but a practical been done.
Next, go through and mark all the
guide to Jewish living, ac-
Or, for younger children:
Jewish holidays. But instead of simply
cessible to every person Make a collage of the key
writing the date, do something to illus-
who makes the effort to concept words of the se-
study and learn from it.
drah, including Torah, brit
trate the occasion. You could draw a tiny
Verses 30:15-20 explain (covenant), chayim (life),
sukkah to mark the beginning of Sukkot,
that adherence to the eretz (land) and nitzavim
Torah brings goodness, (standing).
for example, or cut out a picture of an
that the Jewish attitude is
apple for Rosh Hashanah. Use stickers,
positive and always life af-
paints and markers. If you make the
firming (30:19 — "There-
fore choose life").
calendar from scratch, you can do
Do you have an idea
For a project: as we are
or photo that would be
it on really large sheets of paper
poised to begin a new
good for The Jewish Neu' Fun
year, think about the
and attach photos of your fam-
for the Family section?
way you have lived
ily. Maybe you have a picture
Please send to
your life over the
Elizabeth
Applebaum,
of you dressed up for Purim,
past year. Consider
Family Fun, c/o The Jewish News,
those acts that have
which you could place near
conformed with the
27676 Franklin Rd.,
the date of next year's holi-
concepts expressed
Southfield, ML 48034.
in Parshat Nitzavim
day. The more art, the better.
and those that have
This calendar also makes a
not. You might even
terrific gift.
draw a balance sheet to
show on the plus side the
good things you have done,
Parsha Project
T
he coming week's
Torah portion,
Deuteronomy 29:9-
30:20, is Nitzavim,
the shortest sedrah in the
Torah.
This sedrah, read on the
Shabbat before Rosh
Hashanah, appropriately
expresses some funda-
mental concepts of Ju-
daism:
Verses 29:13-14 state
that God's covenant was
not just with the Jews at
Sinai, but with the Jewish
people of all generations
thereafter. The Torah is the
Jewish inheritance and our
covenantal relationship
with God is eternal.
Verses 30:1-10 assure us
that the Diaspora is not for-
ever and that the Jewish
people will return to and
restore the Land of Israel,
living under the rule of
Jewish law.
Verses 29:28 and 30:11-
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