Character Counts Week begins October 20th. Building character is something we tend to agonize about in our family (are we modeling appropriate behaviours? do our kids understand our values and have they internalized them? are they being mentchen when we are not around? are they interacting with their friends in appropriate manners? are we putting them i ...
New cupcake wrappers and matching bencher cover
We have two new designs for Rosh Hashana both for use on the Bnei Akiva bencher and as part of our line of cupcake wrappers and toppers. Its a repeat pattern of apples, bees and honey. To purchase these or to view any of the other wrappers, check out the gift section of the Birkat Chaverim store.
Judaic Visual Arts Mentoring Program
Do you have or are you an artistic junior or high school student who is interested in creating Judaic art? The American Guild of Judaic Artists has started an interesting new project: The Judaic Visual Arts On-Line Mentoring Program. This program is open to students all over the world in grades 7-12. Students interested in creating Judaic art will be ...
Teaching the mitzva of “respecting the elderly”
We are happy to have gerontologist, Rakel Berenbaum, as part of our Mitzvot Unplugged series, writing about a creative program which both teaches the value of Chesed and of valuing our elders. "It is very fulfilling to give. When you give, you get something too." Meira, Bat Mitzvah program participant Melabev Beit Shemesh has created two unique pr ...
Mitzvot Unplugged Interview with the Maccabeats
The Mitzvot Unplugged Series has to do with teaching kids Jewish values in a creative way. One of the ways of doing that is through music. I want to thank Julian/Chaim Horowitz from the Maccabeats for agreeing to an interview, as part of this series. How does being representatives of Orthodoxy and the concept of Torah uMadda come out in your song ...
Tiny Ninja Theater’s M’amati (From When)
As part of the Mitzvot Unplugged series we are pleased to have Dov Weinstein, director of Tiny Ninja Theater, talk about a creative way of teaching gemara with Tiny Ninja Theater's M'amati. "Tiny Ninja Theater presents M'amati (From when?)" is an educational performance piece based around the opening Mishna in (tractate) Berachot. It uses everyd ...
Turning Jewish values into Concrete Actions through Areyvut
Teaching our kids Jewish values also is about contributing to the community. I'm happy to have a guest post by Daniel Rothner, director of Areyvut as part of the Mitzvot Unplugged series to talk about some of Areyvut's creative projects, including Mitzvah Clowning. Jewish Values to Action Areyvut believes in turning Jewish values from abstract ideas i ...
Kol HaOt – Illuminating Jewish Life through Art
We are happy to have a guest post from Kol Haot as part of the Mitzvot Unplugged Series. A fuller version of this post appeared in the Lookstein Journal Jewish Educational Leadership: The Arts in Jewish Education A short note, although i have never participated in the series, many years ago I visited David Moss's Jerusalem studio with my parents and my ...
Cupcake Wrappers for Celebrations
Remember the Purim cupcake wrappers? Just wanted to let you all know that they've been joined by a bunch of new wrapper designs. This time, these designs match with some of our bencher designs. That means they could be used in conjunction with a bencher order, or alone at a family celebration. Note the Kotel design is particularly useful for Yom Yerusha ...
100 Acts of Chesed- A community birthday present
I had to share this idea organized by my cousin Shmuel, rabbi of Congregation Ohev Shalom, and his shul. In honor of the 100 birthday of one of his congregants, Anna Yuter, the synagogue organized a "drive" in January. What was unusual about the drive was it asked members to do an act of chesed or kindness. The synagogue then collected the acts into a b ...