The BiG Story
At Beth Shalom,
where she teach-
es kindergarten,
Harriet Drissman
leads the chil-
dren in a learn-
ing/play activity.
which introduces children to the
Hebrew letters and vowels.
1 These are among her other tea-
: sures:
• The Mitzvah Tree — Children
cheek off -mlizvot (commandments)
they have accomplished, such as
hearing the shofar (ram's horn) on.
1 Rosh HaShana, showing respect for
•I the elderly and lighting Shabbat can-
: des. Additionally, parents may write
their own "mitzvah leaves," to
I describe a partiCular incident when
their child was kind or thoughtful.
1 • Interactive Bible Pictures — A large,
orange-covered booklet in which chil-
dren may draw their own yersions of
I God's creation of Adam and Eve,
Joseph. and his multicolored coat, and
thejewish people receiving the Torah. I
1 Once completed, the papers are
removed from the booklet and can be I
1
1 attached to one another to form a
I scroll, like a Torah scroll.
. I
I • Shabbat-in-a-Box — Includes plain
I candlesticks, Kiddush cup, tzedaka
box•and challa cover, all waiting to . .1
•
be decorated.
• Bar/Bat Mitzvah Guide — Focuses •
not on the ceremony or the party, but
on the child. The guide notes that the
bar/bat mitzvah needs to fulfill all
•
sides of themselves: the intellectual,
phySical, emotional and spiritual: To
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Every child gets
a chance to
add to her own-
mitzvah tree.
help b'nai mitzvah develop spiritually,
Drissman's guide asks the boys and
girls to consider how they communi-
cate with God and•how they help
their community.
• Freida's Frozen Face — A book
that teaches the importance of kind-
ness and respect. A girl named Freida
suddenly finds her face frozen in a
mean expression. Members of her
desperate family gently apply a blow
dryer in an effort to melt poor Freida's
grimace, then•give it a massage.
Nothing works. At last, a friend
explains that Freida . has a frozen face
because her heart. is frozen.
• Pesach Activity Book — Features
crossword- puzzles, .dot-to-clots and •
instructions for children.to draw their
own versions of the Four Sons from
the Passover seder.
• Get Ready for Shabbat — What
Drissman calls "our most ambitious
project," this is a board game marked
with all the places a family might visit
before celebrating. Shabbat. There's a
flower shop, a butcher, a candle
store. The game has three levels of
play and comes in a pizza box ("I
discovered there are. no boxes for
sale which fit the standard games,"
Drissman explains. "The companies
that make these produce their own. •
So I•caime up with the idea of a •
pizza box, which is compact and fits
on a teacher's shelf.".):
While Drissman says she loves
working on her books, games and
mitzvah trees, -she has encountered a
•
number .of challenges. She greets
. •
them all with aplomb and humor.
Take her Creation Wheel: It teaches
about how God made the seas and
Heaven, man•and the•animals, Shab-
bat — and everything else in the
world.
"There are, of course, seven days of
creation," Drissman explains, "but it's
so much easier to make a wheel with
eight spaces." She went ahead and
made the eight, then filled the blank
spot with the words, "And it was
good," which is what God said
when He was finished.
Good, old-fashioned creativity and
determination saw Drissman through
artistic struggles like the Creation
Wheel, but it was modern technology
and family support that have_helped
I her through a whole new set of busi-
ness challenges.
"If it wasn't for Avi, this [Beit Avot]
would never be," she says of her son ;
Avi Drissman, who holds a master's
degree in computer science from
Wayne State University.
.Avi is not exactly subtle. He shakes
his head, woefully, as he recalls how
his mother used rub-on lettering to
.
make her first catalog. The prices
stayed the same for years because
Harriet couldn't bear the thought of re-
doing the catalog.
Then Avi introduced his mother to
something the rest of the world had
discovered — years ago. "He said,
om,,there's this new thing called a
Harriet says.
computer
At first, Avi's main job was design-
ing the Beit Avot catalog. Today, he
also oversees the company's mailing
list and the numerous e-mails.
The rest -of the family is involved, as
i well. After Harriet designs the charts,
puzzles, books and games, husband
Michael figures out how to get them
mass-produced. - The two Drissman
daughters, Shiro and. Talya, have cre:
ated a few of the items for sale
through Beit Avot. Everyone, including
youngest sons Ezra and Ari, help with
the mailings.
"We have a good time," Harriet
says.
*ell, most of the time we have a. • •
good time," Avi chimes in, recalling a cer-
tain•Texas synagogue that asked for a
massive order — to arrive the next day.
"There can be.some minor panic."