As part of this years Mitzvot Unplugged, I wanted to talk about a classic method of teaching kids mitzvot creatively, the Jewish youth group. As you may know, Birkat Chaverim was started to support Bnei Akiva of North America through the sale of birkonim for family celebrations. I grew up in Bnei Akiva and was also a madricha or counsellor. I also atte ...
Kotel Pop-Up Card for Yom Yerushalayim
My daughter made this Kotel pop-up card in her art class this year for Yom Yerushalayim. She agreed to share it here. In the scheme of pop-up cards, it is not all that complicated a pop-up card to make. This is basically a tab style pop-up card. You can see how to make these types of pop up cards in this WikiHow post. A Little Kit? She is considering ...
Blue and White Fingerprint Flag
For those of you looking for a very simple Yom Haatzmaut project for the younger set, I bring you the blue and white fingerprint flag. The depicted flag was made by my then three year old. It took two minutes to set up, he enjoyed the activity and was pleased to hang it up afterwards. We have other Yom Haatzmaut resources on the site, please do c ...
Post Shiputzim Book Swap Update
The community book swap has been closed for the past month or so due to shiputzim/repair work in the stairwell which is its usual home. The Vaad Bayit has informed us that in order for the book swap to return to its location, it must have nicer bookshelves. Do you want this free community service to continue? We need your help to pay for new shelves. ...
Shmitta Resources for Children
This is a short list of Shmitta resources for children. If you have any that you would like to add please comment below: Resource list from Matal (Merkaz LTochen Limudim) Shmita at Tora Land- This is in Hebrew but very cute, and some of the games are easy Hebrew. There are games and videos to learn about shmita.This is from the Machon HaTorah VHar ...
Benchers in Use: Camp Moshava IO
We love getting photos from events and this one is a fun one. Bar Mitzvah boy, Edward Jonathan Leibowitz celebrated his Bar Mitzvah at Camp Moshava, IO this summer. He used the Bnei Akiva bencher with a custom Bar mitzvah cover design, during the celebration. His family kindly sent in a picture from the weekday morning Torah reading, and allowed us to s ...
Yoram king of Israel and the famine
I have had very little to say in the past few weeks. Just so sad about all four boys who were killed. King Yoram Piece I don't know why, but I was reminded of this piece that I made quite a number of years ago when I was also feeling sad about events in the news. It is a depiction of a terrible story in Melachim Bet (Kings 2) when there was a famine a ...
Kotel Bencher covers and cupcake wrappers
Since it is Yom Yerushalayim, I thought I would take the opportunity to mention that we have Kotel bencher covers and matching digital cupcake wrappers available in the shop. Take a look and let us know what you think. Feel free to look at some of the other designs as well. Enjoy!
What are the 70 names of Jerusalem?
My daughter, aged seven, decided to add her own question to her homework this week. And so, she wrote in her notebook: What are the names of Jerusalem? I liked her question and asked her to see how many names she could come up with. There are actually seventy. I think this is a fun activity or at least an educational activity that can be fun. What ...
Blue and White Cornettos
Hi,
I teach Judaism and Israel-related subjects online. I have been involved in the Irena Sendler project for the past year and teach about it in my online Hebrew school classes.
Sendler was a non-Jewish Polish woman who saved 2500 children from the Warsaw ghetto. One of the most amazing aspects of her story is the fact that her activities were almost forgotten, and would never have been publicized if not for a group of (non-Jewish) Kansas schoolgirls who heard a rumor about her activities and, as part of a school project, investigated. Their research led to a renewed interest in Sendler’s story and wide recognition including a website, a book and a performance.
I’d love to write a guest blogpost about the Irena Sendler project for Birkat Chaverim.
laurie