This week we concluded our Chanukah learning. Students debated which was more important and why: Chanukah candles, Shabbat candles or Shabbat kiddush? The Talmud poses the question: If you only had enough money to buy one, which would you buy? Students had a lively conversation about the importance of Shabbat candles and Chanukah candles: If something comes only once a year, is it more important or less important? Ultimately, the Talmud rules that the order of importance is 1. Shabbat candles, 2. Chanukah candles, and 3. Shabbat kiddush. Do you agree with the order?
In Lashon, the students posed their own questions about Chanukah, and then went to the internet to find the answers. They wondered why we get presents on Chanukah, why the Shamash is called a "shamash," how long the battle lasted between the Maccabbes and the Greeks, and why we say the Shehecheyanu blessing only on the first night of the holiday. Students then typed their answers in Hebrew (and learned how to use Davka Writer!) Come check out our class to see their research!
In Chumash, we are learning about the Hebrew Midwives who are ordered by Pharoah to kill all the baby boys. We began discussing the Hebrew ambiguity of the words Meyaldot Ivriyot- does it mean Egyptian women who delivered Hebrew babies or Hebrew women who delivered Hebrew babies? Both are possible, and lead us to think about issues of moral courage: why would someone stand up against the authority to save someone else's life? Do we only stand up for our own community, or do we help save people of a different race, religion, ethnicity? Students will be working on a project next week to deal with these big ideas.
-Eliana
No comments:
Post a Comment