c1- 2 <
JCC preschoolers
give their "babies"
a Awish naming
ceremony.
JOHN M. OISCHER PHOTOGRAPHER
Top: The
children hold up
their Beanie
Babies and sing
Hebrew songs.
Right: Rebecca
McKee holds
Bones, her
newly named
Beanie Baby.
Far right: Beth
Greenapple and
Risa Strauss
lead the children
in song.
A
s they welcomed Shabbat last Friday, JCC preschoolers were also
welcoming their babies into the Jewish community.
No, it's not an epidemic of early pregnancy: The newest mem-
bers of the Jewish community were Beanie Babies and stuffed
animals. Fortunately, the animals are not anatomically correct,
so there was no need for a mohel.
Instead, JCC Director of Judaic Enrichment Beth Greenapple
played rabbi and led the ceremony. Each child and Beanie Baby was called
to the makeshift bimah in the JCC Discovery Room and presented with a cer-
tificate stating the baby's parentage and Hebrew and English names.
"Rabbi" Greenapple read an adapted version of the traditional naming
blessing over the babies, lavished mazel toys on the proud parents (ranging
in age from infant to 5), and led the group in rounds of Hebrew songs.
"An important key in education is to find what the kids are already inter-
ested in and use it as a vehicle," said Ms. Greenapple, who credited Risa
Strauss of the JCC's babysitting department with coming up with the idea of
channeling the Beanie Baby obsession into Jewish learning.
Ms. Strauss played the role of "bubble" in the ceremony, using her im-
pressive Yiddish accent to "ooh and aah" over the infants.
Oy! Only 13 years to go until the Beanie Baby Bar Mitzvah! ❑