Freedom School 11/4 Class Recaps
In Freedom School this week, students begin to explore the curricular themes for the year, visited t’fillah, and celebrated a Bat mitzvah. We also started our electives.
K/1 w/ Laura: This week in K/1 we talked about Creation. We asked big questions about the first seven days: Why light on day one, but no sun until day four? Who created God? Why did God create Shabbat? Then we made our own creations: Shabbat candles!
2/3 w/ Anyssa: Last Saturday, the 2nd/3rd grade cohort spent some time reading and learning about the story of Jacob’s ladder - and that God can be found anywhere and everywhere. We did a class scavenger hunt to search for Ladder clues and find God’s presence in all kinds of places. Then we made a class Dream Vision Board where we talked about our hopes and dreams for ourselves, our communities and the world.
4/5 w/ Doria: The 4/5 class spent Saturday immersed in the story of creation (Bereshit/Genesis 1). Students had a lively discussion with excellent questions about the story of how the world was formed, including questions about whether G*d might have been able to "erase" what G*d created (based on the phrase "And G*d saw that it was good"). Another great discussion circled around whether G*d made the world out of chaos or whether G*d emerged from chaos to create light. Students then got the chance to experience tohu v'vohu - the expansive void or 'chaos' of the world before creation. The students were given random materials and instructed to create a sculpture (representing order) that was at least 7 x 7 inches. The sculptures were amazing and the students' creativity and teamwork was very inspiring. Please see pictures below of some of the results.
6th w/ Jaime: This week at Freedom School the sixth graders ventured into the realm of Torah exegesis. We learned about PaRDeS, a four step sacred reading practice from the Middle Ages, that takes Torah scholars through layers of text to discover a deeper meaning. We practiced PaRDeS on a universal story (Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, as recapped in two minutes by Jaime) and discovered teachings on found family and making meaning of events outside of our control. Then we turned to Torah and read vignettes from Parashat Beha’alotcha (in Bamidbar/Numbers) to practice PaRDeS with our original text to uncover teachings about community and revolution. In the spirit of revolutionary learners everywhere, students recorded their Torah explorations in zine form. We also visited services in time to learn from Mady’s profound bat mitzvah d’rash.