Beth Shalom Students Enter the World of Tefillah

Temple Beth Shalom Religious Schools students are being introduced to the all-important world of prayer, a major contact point between Jews and their Judaism during their life-long journey.

Teaching on Jewish prayer seeks to familiarize students with the structure of the prayer service and to explain the meaning of the various prayers and the theology of prayer, why Jews pray.

The curriculum of the Beth Shalom Religious School under the direction of Robyn Shapiro seeks to teach how to pray so that prayer works as a spiritual practice, so that it moves young people spiritually. The goal is for students to achieve during prayer an elevated state of mind so that they actually taste and experience the nearness of God. That is what is meant by "real davvening."

Hasidic literature particularly contains many techniques to achieve this kind of davvening. Most of these techniques are fairly simple, such as controlling one's glance in order to concentrate better. These hasidic davvening practices are part of the curriculm. When practiced faithfully, as students are taught, praying will be immeasurably higher than before. Young people get deep satisfaction from davvening and will experience the profound pleasure and joy of the nearness of God. Many people today find prayer difficult. Somehow prayer doesn't seem to provide enough reward or satisfaction for them to see it as their pathway to spiritual fulfillment. But this lack of enthusiasm for prayer is primarily due to the fact that most people have not been taught how to pray. The rote praying that many people are accustomed to and that fails to provide powerful results is not the same as real davvening. Prayer is a form of meditation and to benefit from any meditation one must learn and apply the proper methods. Only by knowing how to pray can anyone really davven and progress spiritually by davvening. Sometimes this takes time; students can't expect to reach the final goal in their first attempts.

A diver may find no pearls the first time one dives in the ocean but must not conclude that there are no pearls there. Divers must dive again and again to find them. Students can find God by prayer, but must be taught to persevere. They are be encouraged to persist in their efforts when they experience the life and vitality they infuse into your davvening.

Both beginning and experienced davveners, men and women can benefit by using the many traditional meditation techniques for prayer. Once people realize that there is something to learn about davvening as a spiritual practice, a synagogue will be on the path to a renewal of Jewish prayer. The following parable helps to explain the situation today: There was once a king who so loved music that he directed his musicians to play before him each morning. The musicians came to the palace and performed, to obey the king's command, but also because they loved and respected the king and valued their chance to be in his presence. So every morning they played for the king with enthusiasm and delight. For many years all went well. The musicians enjoyed playing each morning for the king and the king enjoyed listening to their music. When, at last, the musicians died, their sons sought to take their places. But, alas, they had neither mastered the art of their fathers nor had they kept their instruments in proper condition. Worse still, the sons no longer loved the king as did their fathers. They just blindly followed their fathers' custom of arriving each morning at the palace to perform. But the harsh sounds of their music were so offensive to the king's ear that after a time he ceased listening. But then some of the sons developed a renewed love and reverence for the king, however pale compared to the love and reverence of their fathers, and they realized that the king had stopped listening to their uninspired music. Although they wanted to perform to honor the king, they recognized that their inadequate skills made them unworthy to play before him. So they set about the difficult task of relearning the forgotten art that should have been their inheritance from their fathers. Every day, before coming to the king, they spent time tuning their instruments. Upon entering the palace concert room and hearing the racket of the other musicians, they sought out an obscure corner for themselves where they could play undisturbed. They also remained long after the other musicians had departed, so that they might improve their skill. And in their homes they continued to practice and to struggle with their instruments as best they could. The king was aware of their efforts and was pleased, for even though they did not play with the same talent as their fathers, still they strove, to the best of their abilities, to once more bring pleasure and joy to the king. Thus was their music received by the king with favor. One lesson of this parable is that if students want to progress spiritually by davvening, they must be helped to develop their davvening skills. But an even more important lesson is that students, and all Jews, must davven with devotion, for only devotion wins God's favor.

Beth Shalom School Students follow 2nd Century Rabbi Akiba

Temple Beth Shalom Religious School students, with their educational director Robyn Shapiro, took to the outdoors, just as the students of Rabbi Akiba did around 110 in the Common Era, to celebrate Lag B'Omer, the thirty-third day of the counting of the barley harvest and the days between Pesach and Shavuot.

The explanations begin with the Omer period itself, those forty-nine days that are counted off one by one between the two festivals. This is a time of semi-mourning, when weddings and other celebrations are forbidden, and as a sign of grief, observant Jews do not cut their hair.
Anthropologists say that many peoples have similar periods of restraint in the early spring to symbolize their concerns about the growth of their crops. But the most often cited explanation for the Jewish practice comes from the Talmud, which tells us that during this season a plague killed thousands of Rabbi Akiva's students because they did not treat one another respectfully. The mourning behavior is presumably in memory of those students and their severe punishment.
According to a medieval tradition, the plague ceased on Lag Ba'Omer, the thirty-third day of the Omer. (The Hebrew letters lamed and gimel which make up the acronym "Lag" have the com­bined numerical value of 33.) As a result, Lag Ba'Omer became a happy day, interrupting the sad­ness of the Omer period for twenty-four hours.
The talmudic explanation makes most sense when put into historical context. The outstand­ing sage Rabbi Akiva became an ardent supporter of Simeon bar Koseva, known as Bar Kokhba, who in 132 C.E. led a ferocious but unsuccessful revolt against Roman rule in Judea. Akiva not only pinned his hopes on a political victory over Rome but believed Bar Kokhba to be the long-awaited Messiah. Many of his students joined him in backing the revolt and were killed along with thousands of Judeans when it failed. The talmudic rabbis, still suffering under Roman rule and cautious about referring openly to past rebellions, may have been hinting at those deaths when they spoke of a plague among Akiva's students. Possibly, also, Lag Ba'Omer marked a respite from battle, or a momentary victory.
A completely different reason for the holiday concerns one of Rabbi Akiva's few disciples who survived the Bar Kokhba revolt, Rabbi Simeon bar Yohai. He is said to have died on Lag Ba'Omer.
Rabbi Simeon continued to defy the Roman rulers even after Bar Kokhba's defeat, and was forced to flee for his life and spend years in solitary hiding. Legend places him and his son Eleazar in a cave for twelve years, where a miraculous well and carob tree sustained them while they spent their days studying and praying. When they finally emerged, Simeon denigrated all practical occupations, insisting that people engage only in the study of Torah. For this God confined the two to their cave for another year, accusing Simeon of destroying the world with his rigid asceticism.
But Rabbi Simeon's otherworldliness resonated with mystics in his own time and later, so much so that tradition ascribes to him the Zohar, the key work of the Kabbalah (although critical scholars attribute it to the thirteenth-century Spanish kabbalist Moses de Leon). And in Israel, on Lag Ba'Omer, people flock to the site of his tomb in the village of Meron in the Galilee, near Safed, where they light bonfires and sing kabbalistic hymns. Hasidic Jews follow the custom of bringing their three-year-old sons to Meron to have their hair cut for the first time. (The custom of not cut­ting the child's hair until his third birthday is probably an extension of the law that forbids picking the fruits of a newly planted tree during its first three years.)
Unrelated to Rabbi Simeon, the kabbalists also give a mystical interpretation to the Omer period as a time of spiritual cleansing and preparation for receiving the Torah on Shavuot. The days and weeks of counting, they say, represent various combinations of the sefirot, the divine emanations, whose contemplation ultimately leads to purity of mind and soul. The somberness of this period reflects the seriousness of its spiritual pursuits.
Finally, on yet another tack, some authorities attribute the joy of Lag Ba'Omer to the belief that the manna that fed the Israelites in the desert first appeared on the eighteenth of Iyar.
Though its origins are uncertain, Lag Ba'Omer has become a minor holiday. (For Sephardim, the holiday is the day after Lag Ba'Omer.) Schoolchildren picnic and play outdoors with bows and arrows--a possible reminder of the war battles of Akiva's students--and in Israel plant trees. And every year numerous couples wed at this happy time, oblivious to Rabbi Akiva or Simeon bar Yohai, manna or mysticism.

Religious School Students Choose Beit Frankforter, Doliner Food Bank

The students of the Temple Beth Shalom Religious School convened their plenary session and the debate began. Over the course of the year, the students had collected their Tzedakah monies in the pushke that was passed around at each session. Now the time came to decide on the allocations process. Who would receive a grant from the students, ranging in age from 9 to 13 years old, and who would not?

After counting the final pennies, nickels, dimes and quarters and arriving at the year's final tally, many different organizations were considered. The merits and shortcomings of each organization were carefully weighed by the students under the supervision of Temple Beth Shalom Religious School Director Robyn Shapiro before a final decision was made. The two recipients this year were the Doliner Food Bank of the Jewish Federation of Volusia and Flagler Counties and Beit Frankforter, a senior center in the south of Jerusalem, Israel.

The Social Service Council of the Jewish Federation maintains a well-stocked crisis food bank which provides emergency food to people who “fall through the cracks” of the system. The food bank provides staples such as cereals, juices, canned vegetables and fruits, canned meats, peanut butter, pasta, canned and dry milk, paper goods, and other items deemed necessary for survival.
Due to the current state of the economy the Jerry Doliner Food Bank is serving an increasing number of clients in Volusia and Flagler County and the students felt that there is still much more we must do to reduce the growing food insecurity in our community.

A walk through the halls of Beit Frankforter, an old house in Jerusalem’s Baka neighborhood, tells a beautiful story. It is a story of growing old gracefully, with meaningful activities among good company, hearty food, stimulating programs. Going from floor to floor,you might see an Ulpan in session with many recentlyarrived French olim struggling with their new language.
Or, you may come upon the art workshop where people paint silk, knit, hammer copper or, in the next room, a group might be engaged in a very serious game of cards.
On the way to the next floor you will pass the large aquarium where fish swim in lazy circles and where many an Elder might be mesmerized by the calming effects of the water and its inhabitants. Add aerobics and Feldenkreis, computer lessons, a visiting crew of animals
that stimulate the frail elderly and a dentist to help with dental problems and you see just how busy the Center can be. If you arrive very early in the morning, you will get the best treat of all: A group of savtas (grandmothers) come to the Center daily, long before 7 am, where they
prepare more than 500 sandwiches. These are then delivered to local schools where they are enjoyed by children whose families do not have the means to send them to school with a mid-morning sandwich and fruit. In the past school year alone over 95,000 sandwiches
were made and delivered to hungry school kids. Quite an accomplishment.

The Temple Beth Shalom students were impressed by the fact that just $20 feeds one child for one month with hearty luncheon sandwiches.

Beth Shalom U.S.Y. Connects Tu B'Shvat and Pesach

Tu B’Shevat Plantings Yield Passover Fruit for Temple Students

Tu B’Shevat, the second full moon after the winter solstice during the third week in December marks the celebration in the Land of Israel of the produce of the trees and plants. In harmony with Israel, Jews throughout the world mark the occasion and celebrate by planting and eating of the produce of the Jewish National Homeland. At Palm Coast’s Temple Beth Shalom, young students planted as well, just as is done in Israel. This year’s crop included parsley plantings under the supervision of Educational Director Robyn Shapiro.

Students watched as the plants grew seed leaves and ultimately an ample crop under the ideal conditions of the grounds of the synagogue in Palm Coast. By Passover, the Festival of Freedom and the Holiday of Spring, the crops were ready for use as the traditional Karpas, or green vegetable used for dipping in salt water at the Seder meal on the first two nights of the eight day Feast.

Karpas is one of the traditional rituals in the Passover Seder. It refers to the vegetable, usually parsley or celery, that is dipped in liquid (usually salt water) and eaten. The liquid may be any of the seven which make food capable of becoming ritually impure, although salt-water or vinegar are usually used. The idea behind the salt water is to symbolize the salty tears that the Jews shed in their slavery in Egypt. The vegetables symbolize the coming of the spring.

Some have explained the dipping of the Karpas to symbolize the Biblical Joseph’s tunic being dipped into blood by his brothers. Karpas is therefore done at the beginning of the seder, just as Joseph's tunic being dipped into blood began, as the Book of Genesis describes, the Israelites descent to Egypt. Indeed, the word Karpas, in some languages, means cloth.

The educational technique connects students ever more closely to the most ancient of rituals, bringing to life in 21st century Palm Coast customs and ceremonies with 3000 year old roots in the biblical Middle East.

Tu B'Shvat Plantings Beautify Synagogue

During the discussion on the importance of Tu B'Shvat with the students of the Temple Beth Shalom Religious School, young people spoke of how painfully aware they are of the issues relating to global warming. In the next few years, the United States will make, or fail to make, critical decisions regarding global warming pollution and clean technology investments. These decisions will have far-reaching and irreversible impacts on the lives of today’s students and the lives of their children. At this moment in time.

Students were asked to calculate, by inspecting nearby vacant lots and counting the trees and shrubs, how many such plants were destroyed to create their homes and yards. Realizing that they had a lot of work to make up for the loss, the students, in honor of Tu B'Shvat, began a process of planting shrubs, bushes and trees around the Temple Beth Shalom synagogue both for beauty and to reduce the amount of carbon while increasing the oxygen in our atmosphere.

The effort is part of the hands on philosophy of Temple Beth Shalom's Religious school that takes learning from the classroom into the surrounding world, making ancient customs and traditions relevant and meaningful to young Americans in the 21st century.

Temple Beth Shalom’s Modern Tu Bishvat Seder Draws on Elements of its Mystical Predecessor.

There is no set liturgy for the modern Tu Bishvat seder such as that created at Temple Beth Shalom during the celebration of the New Year for Trees. This is a ritual that is still in flux. The ritual chosen by Education Director Robyn Shapiro focuses on ecology, Israel, family activities. The texts for the seder may quote from different Jewish books in addition to the Bible. The common elements are the drinking of four cups of wine and the eating of different fruits. While these customs go back to the mystical Tu Bishvat seder, the elements have been interpreted differently in the Temple Beth Shalom celebrations for teens, for middle schoolers and for primary students.

The seder presented was developed by the staff of Babaganooz, a newspaper magazine for young Jewish students, that is a model of a modern liberal seder, and different communities, especially traditionalist ones, use alternate versions. For example, other sedarim (the plural of seder) include the Shehecheyanu, a blessing that thanks God for the ability to celebrate the joyous occasion. This blessing would be done when eating a new fruit of the season. The Shehecheyanu at the beginning of the seder would link the ceremony to the kabbalist seder and its message of rebirth and time change. One could add a concluding reading, blessing, or a portion of the Hallel (Psalms of praise). Between the different sections of the seder, it is possible to include readings associated with Israel, fruit, and trees from both traditional and modern sources. Many sedarim include songs associated with these topics.

The table was set up as for Passover: white or other nice tablecloth, good dishes, flowers, wine, and juice. There is no requirement to light candles, but scented candles add a nice touch and a festive glow. One person led the seder, reciting each reading and making the blessings, while everyone took turns reading the interpretations. The directions concerning which fruit to locate and the mix of the wines were read aloud. As each piece of fruit and each cup of wine is being considered and blessed, that object is held by the reader. After each blessing, the participants tasted the fruit or sipped the wine

Beth Shalom Students Rise to a New Level Celebrating Siyum

Beth Shalom Students Rise to a New Level Celebrating a Siyum

As Temple Beth Shalom students complete a thorough review of the strategies and methodologies of Hebrew reading, they have celebrated a Siyum, a completion and prepare to move on to access ancient Biblical texts, far older than the English language! Under the guidance of Religious School Principal Robyn Shapiro, students have been studying and submitted to rigorous testing. All of the students passed their oral comprehensive Hebrew reading tests with flying colors and are working on the reading of Biblical texts, especially those from the Books of Exodus and Psalms. Thus, they have acquired and are putting to use skills to delve into literature written some 2,700 years ago!

Technically speaking, a siyum (“completion”) means the completion of any unit of Torah study, or book of the Mishnah or Talmud in Judaism. A siyum is usually followed by a celebratory meal, or seudat mitzvah, a meal in honor of a mitzvah, or commandment. Siyum also refers to the celebration.

It has become customary for synagogues to arrange a siyum on the morning before Passover to allow those fasting for Ta’anit Bechorim (Fast of the Firstborn to break their fast, taking advantage of the halachic principle that prioritizes Torah study. A siyum ha-sefer, meaning “completion of the book,” is also held as a ceremonial completion and dedication of a sefer Torah, a handwritten copy of the Torah, the most important Jewish ritual object, which is kept in the Ark of a synagogue. Usually, when an individual or a group conclude the study of any tractate of the Talmud, or even of the Mishnah, a siyum is celebrated. At the end of every volume of the Talmud a special hadran prayer is printed with a set order of prayers and a special kaddish in honor of the completion of that volume, which Judaism considers to be an important achievement and a milestone worth celebrating.

In the merit and honor of a deceased individual, it is customary to undertake Mishnah study with the goal of holding a siyum. Rabbi Moshe Feinstein, based on the Nemukei Yosef, the Ran (Rabbeinu Nissim), the Rashbam, and the Eliyah Rabbah, extends the concept of a siyum to include even a festive meal celebrating the completion of any mitzvah (commandment) that has taken a significant duration of time (such as a number of weeks or months). Thus the applicablity to the students of Temple Beth Shalom, the synagogue and Jewish educational institution of Flagler County, Florida.

Sukkah Builders of All Ages Gather At Beth Shalom

The creation of the traditional Sukkah at Temple Beth Shalom was a "hands-on" experience for builders of every age! On the Sunday following Yom Kippur the faithful gathered to assemble the framework, complete the walls and cover the roof with sekhakh, the covering of vegetation that leaves Sukkah dwellers able to count the stars through the roof yet have half the floor in shade during the heat of the day.

The Torah tells us "You will dwell in booths for seven days; all natives of Israel shall dwell in booths" (Leviticus 23:42). In honor of the holiday's historical significance, we are commanded to dwell in temporary shelters, as our ancestors did in the wilderness. The temporary shelter is referred to as a sukkah (which is the singular form of the plural word "sukkot"). Like the word sukkot, it can be pronounced like Sue-KAH, or to rhyme with Book-a.

The sukkah is great fun for the children. Building the sukkah each year satisfies the common childhood fantasy of building a fort, and dwelling in the sukkah satisfies a child's desire to camp out in the backyard. The commandment to "dwell" in a sukkah can be fulfilled by simply eating all of one's meals there; however, if the weather, climate, and one's health permit, one should spend as much time in the sukkah as possible, including sleeping in it.

A sukkah must have at least two and a half walls covered with a material that will not blow away in the wind. Why two and a half walls? Look at the letters in the word "sukkah!" One letter has four sides, one has three sides and one has two and a half sides. The "walls" of the sukkah do not have to be solid; canvas covering tied or nailed down is acceptable and quite common in the United States. A sukkah may be any size, so long as it is large enough for you to fulfill the commandment of dwelling in it. The roof of the sukkah must be made of material referred to as sekhakh (literally, covering). To fulfill the commandment, sekhakh must be something that grew from the ground and was cut off, such as tree branches, corn stalks, bamboo reeds, sticks, or two-by-fours. Sekhakh must be left loose, not tied together or tied down. Sekhakh must be placed sparsely enough that rain can get in, and preferably sparsely enough that the stars can be seen, but not so sparsely that more than ten inches is open at any point or that there is more light than shade. The sekhakh must be put on last. Note: You may put a water-proof cover over the top of the sukkah when it is raining to protect the contents of the sukkah, but you cannot use it as a sukkah while it is covered and you must remove the cover to fulfill the Mitzvah, the commandment, of dwelling in a sukkah.

It is common practice, and highly commendable, to decorate the sukkah. In the northeastern United States, Jews commonly hang dried squash and corn in the sukkah to decorate it, because these vegetables are readily available at that time for the American holidays of Halloween and Thanksgiving. Many families hang artwork drawn by the children on the walls. Building and decorating a sukkah is a fun family project, much like decorating the Christmas tree is for Christians. It is a sad commentary on modern American Judaism that most of the assimilated Jews who complain about being deprived of the fun of having and decorating a Christmas tree have never even heard of Sukkot.

Many Americans, upon seeing a decorated sukkah for the first time, remark on how much the sukkah (and the holiday generally) reminds them of Thanksgiving. This may not be entirely coincidental: I was taught that our American pilgrims, who originated the Thanksgiving holiday, borrowed the idea from Sukkot. The pilgrims were deeply religious people. When they were trying to find a way to express their thanks for their survival and for the harvest, they looked to the Bible for an appropriate way of celebrating and found Sukkot. This is not the standard story taught in public schools today (that a Thanksgiving holiday is an English custom that the Pilgrims brought over), but the Sukkot explanation of Thanksgiving fits better with the meticulous research of Mayflower historian Caleb Johnson, who believes that the original Thanksgiving was a harvest festival (as is Sukkot), that it was observed in October (as Sukkot usually is), and that Pilgrims would not have celebrated a holiday that was not in the Bible (but Sukkot is in the Bible). Although Mr. Johnson claims that the first Thanksgiving was "not a religious holiday or observance," he apparently means this in a Christian sense, because he goes on to say that the first Thanksgiving was instead "a harvest festival that included feasts, sporting events, and other activities," concepts very much in keeping with the Jewish religious observance of Sukkot.

The Temple Beth Shalom Religious School endeavors to avoid separating students from the holidays of Jewish people. Religious School students were very much a part of the Sukkah building process.