K'en L'Av"i, Bricks and Mortar, and Bride Swapping

In 5th Grade JS, we have had quite a week! In fact, it's been quite a 2 weeks! In Lashon, we have been learning about Eliezer ben Yehuda, the father of the modern Hebrew Language. Last week, we held a debate between Eliezer ben Yheuda, who argued that Hebrew should become an everyday language, and the Charedim, who believed that Hebrew should be preserved as a holy language, and therefore only used for prayers and Torah study. Rabbi Seltzer joined us as the judge, and though both teams made very convincing arguments, ultimately, the judge ruled in favor of Av"i (Eliezer ben Yehuda). This week, we are sharing our knowledge with the rest of the school by presenting a biography of ben Yehuda through skits at the Fridat Assembly. We have been working very hard on learning about one of our modern Jewish heroes, and I am so proud of all the students have accomplished!
In Chumash, we contniue to watch the enslavement of the Jewish people. We have learned more details about slavery that students can incorporate into their Biblical Narratives, like the bricks and mortar that slaves needed to create and the fact that their numbers continued to increase despite harsh physical labor. Students have been raising great questions about this story: How is it that the slaves became enslaved? How did fear play in to dehumanizing the other? How are modern examples of slavery similar to the Biblical one that we are learning about? Fabulous questions from fabulous students!
Miss Weiss taught the students Torah project this week, and students had the opportunity to learn about Lavan's trickery. As always, they had to write a commentary about this parashah. In the words of Jacob Hammarstrom, "the big idea of this parsha is 'midah k'neged midah'- what goes around comes around." Yakkov deceived his father, so he had some deception coming back at him. Let's try to act in ways that we remember what goes around comes around, and that hopefully we will all be getting lots of kindness int he coming week.
Shabbat Shalom!
Eliana