Religious School students continue their tribe work
The NRT tribes have been an enjoyable addition to our program this year. Students are divided into multi-grade "tribes", based on the twelve tribes of Israel with students from every grade in each tribe. Confirmation students act as leaders in the program to help the teachers. The first activity had students learning about Shabbat and then making candles to take home.
For Hanukkah, students made menorahs together. They decorated them using shards that music teacher, Devra Lerner, brought back from Bet Guvrin/Maresha, a town southwest of Jerusalem, pre-dating Joshua, which found itself involved in the Maccabean wars starting in 166 B.C.E. The students were told that when they used these pottery shards to decorate their Chanukiot, they were using material dating back to the Maccabean period. Maybe Judah Maccabee had a meal served to him on one of the plates that produced their pottery shard.
For Passover, students will be decorating plates together. We will have a Seder with all the Religious School students sitting with their tribes tasting delicious food and singing holiday songs.