Principal's Letter

For over a year, our Beth Am Religious School students have had a special treat
– regular visits from our Community Shaliach/Israel Emissary, Daniel
Sonnenschein. Daniel is a young Israeli who came to the US thanks to a
partnership between the JCC Rockland, the Jewish Federation of Rockland, and
the Jewish Agency. In his position as Shaliach, he goes to all Hebrew schools
in Rockland County and creates programming at the JCC for all ages. In January,
Daniel led two workshops for over 50 of our students. He created an engaging
experience that got students looking at social consciousness and social action.

Drawing inspiration from an Israeli woman, Daphni Liff, who bridged the
gap between caring and doing, Daniel asked the students to write down one of
their top dreams/goals for the future. He then put these in a hat and read and
discussed some of them, anonymously, with the group. Daphni Liff recently
emerged as a leader of the Israeli people, which Daniel says “symbolizes my
generation in Israel and how passionate we are to pursue social justice.”

After discussing some of their dreams and goals, Daniel used a
coordinates plane he’d already set up on four opposing walls of the room, with
one axis (2 facing walls, see photos above) being “care” versus “don’t care,”
the other axis was “do something” versus “do nothing.” When he read a fact, the
students had to physically place themselves on the plane accordingly. The facts
discussed included 1) every fourth Israeli child is poor, 2) 1 of every 20
Israeli high school students will drop out of high school eventually, 3) 15
percent of Americans rely on food stamps, and 4) every fifth American child
lives below poverty line.

Daniel’s activity got the students out of their seats and into a
thinking mode that was inspiring to see and hear! We look forward to seeing him
again in the next few months, and will miss him when he returns to Israel this
summer after the JCC Maccabi Games (the end of August). To learn more about the
Shaliach program and how you can become part of it, contact Daniel at:
daniels@jccrockland.org

Kol tuv (all the best) ~Marian
845-735-5858, ext. 15, principal@bethamtemple.org

Dates to remember....

Please click here to see additional important religious school dates

FEBRUARY/MARCH DATES

Tu B’shevat Seder and catered dinner    Fri, Feb 10
Grade 5 leads Shabbat Service    Fri, Feb 10
Hamantaschen Bake-A-Thon    Feb 12 (eat some and freeze some)
Congregation Israel Trip    Feb. 16-27
No School (President’s Day)    Sun, Feb 19 - Wed, Feb 22
Grade 5 Wedding, Sun, Mar 4
Purim Service & Shpiel, Wed, Mar 7,  6:30 pm - 7:45 pm
Grade 6 leads Shabbat Service, Sat, Mar 10
Purim Carnival, Sun, Mar 11 - Special Schedule
Pearl River Parade, Sun, Mar 18 - Special Schedule