The CBH Blog

Explore Judaism through taste, touch, smell, sight, and sound. Delight in the Jewish holidays and Shabbat through experiential activities that awaken the senses.  Engage with Jewish customs and traditions, and connect with your children through meaning making.  

5 Senses of Judaism programs take place at Congregation Beth Hatikvah, 36 Chatham Road, Summit, NJ, 9:45 am – 11:00 am. These programs are open to the community and free of charge.  Join us for one or all.  

2022-2023 dates:

Nov 5 - Five Senses of Shabbat
Dec 17 - Five Senses of Hanukkah
Feb 4 - Five Senses of Tu B’Shevat
March 4 - Five Senses of Purim
March 25 - Five Senses of Passover

Interested in joining us?  Please register here!

We are excited to have three events for children and families this High Holiday season. If you are planning on coming to any of them, please fill out the survey below.

The Bible Players in Apples & Funny! - A Rosh Hashanah Family Comedy Show: Tuesday, Sept. 7, 1:30 PM (In-person, outdoors, rain date is Wed, Sept. 8^th at 1:30)

You won’t want to miss this very special High Holiday family event in the park! The Bible Players infuse comedy and laughs into tales from the Torah and beyond. In Apples & Funny! - A Rosh Hashanah Comedy Show, the Players will help us connect to the simcha/joy in our lives through gratitude and prayer. Kids will love the interactive improv, and we’ll all be reminded of the joy of gathering together. Open to all and best for kids ages 5 – 12. Bring a picnic blanket or low chairs to sit on.  Stay afterwards to hang out!

Location: Loantaka Brook Reservation at Kitchell Road, Morristown (use 115...

Shabbat Young Family Park Program

Sat, July 10^th 10 – 11:30am at Mabie Memorial Playground in Summit

**find us on a grassy area right near the playground**

 Bring a blanket to sit on and join us for casual and uplifting Shabbat songs with guitar playing, prayers, and a special treasure hunt.  We’ll have plenty of time for playground playing.  Leave with a challah and grape juice! 

 Please wear a mask if you are not vaccinated.

Best for 8 year olds and under, however older children are absolutely welcome! 

FREE and open to the community – Bring your friends!

Please email Leemor Ellman, Education Director at Congregation Beth Hatikvah to let us know you will be joining us at [email protected]  Or feel free to reach out to Leemor at 917-674-2845 if you have any questions!

Songs | Prayer | Shabbat Meaning | Friends 

Leemor Ellman

Education Director

Congregation Beth Hatikvah

36 Chatham Road

Summit, NJ 07901

This week’s lesson was all about mitzvot, or commandments, found out in the Torah. If you were to count them all, there would be 613 in total. In our two groups,

Younger students:

• Took part in a mitzvot scavenger hunt
• Ate pomegranate seeds
• Sang songs about the mitzvot
• Played “Guess the Mitzvah”

Older Students:

• Discussed the purpose of mitzvot and why we feel compelled to do good
• Discussed how we could do mitzvot in our lives
• Acted out various mitzvot

--==Dungeons and Dreidels==--

Dear heroes and heroic 4th grade parents,

Today we explored the next chapter of the Purim story, with our own creative and theatrical twist.  Mordecai discovered the plot of two rotten guards to overthrow the king – but the corrupt cronies caught Mordecai listening in, and he ended up in some hot water!  After some madcap antics and a poolside chase, our newly appointed royal heroes got Mordecai out of his jam and brought the news to the...

Our Religious School program in the CBH Parking Lot this week was an absolute blast! The students continued working on their Mt. Sinai re-enactment, to take place on May 15th. Within the two groups,

Our 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders:

• Discussed the meaning of Shehecheyanu and how it relates to our own experiences and firsts

• Reviewed the Israelite perspective as Moses climbed Mt. Sinai

• Sanctified Shabbat with wild movement and songs (as shown in below image)

• Climbed our own Mt. Sinai (aka the playground) to retrieve mitzvot and discuss them

Our 4th, 5th, 6th, and 7th graders:

• Wrote the words “DO FIRST, UNDERSTAND LATER” and discussed when studying or action should come first

• Ranked a list of mitzvot important to Judaism (as shown in below image)

• Finished with meditation, much to the students’ enjoyment

--==Dungeons and Dreidels==--

As our trusty Game Master Aaron Cooper has summarized

“Dear rockstars and rockin’ 4th grade parents,

...

Today’s class in the CBH Parking lot was split into 2 groups (1st - 3rd graders & 4th - 7th graders). Here are the highlights from each

1st, 2nd, & 3rd graders:

• Practiced the 4 questions, incorporating movement, song, props, and food

• Used a chalked obstacle course on the pavement to learn the story of exodus

4th, 5th, 6th, & 7th graders:

• Created a giant seder plate of our school

• Talked about the foods the represent our emotions over the past year

• Reviewed parts of exodus through illustrations and storyboarding

• Had an extensive discussion about the story Exodus

• Designed obstacle courses on the pavement relating to the story of Exodus

• Wrote various names for God on the bricks of the CBH building

Going forward, please note the following:

There will be no classes for the next 2 weeks (March 27 & April 3) due to Spring Break. We will return to classes in the parking lot after that until May 8, when we will have the Lag B’Omer...

Today’s class consisted of a discussion of what defines God in reconstructionist Judaism and determined that

• God is not anthropomorphic
• God can have many names
• God is a force within us and within the universe
• The concept of God is always evolving
• God can lead us to loving and caring for others

(See images for more detail)

Next Saturday, March 13th 10-11:15am we have a Passover Drive-In at the CBH Parking Lot in place of Hebrew School

Shabbat Shalom!

In place of Religious School on Zoom, this Saturday we celebrated Purim in the CBH Parking Lot. The festivities followed the Four Mitzvot of Purim (Gifts for the poor/Matanot l’evyonim, a festive meal, reading the Megillah, and Mishloach Manot) The families that participated:

• Made signs for their windshields saying “Happy Purim” for their windshields
• For Matanot l’evyonim/Gifts for the poor:
• Decorated reusable bags to bring food from home for the GRACE food pantry in Summit
• Discussed Maimonides’ Levels of Giving, with each family ranking them and placing their answers on the windshield
• For Mishloach Manot/Gifts to each other:
• Received one bag of goodies to keep and one bag of goodies to give to any family of their choosing (families also wrote notes to their recipients)
• For Festive Meal & Megillah:
• Ate snacks as Leemor and Jill performed a skit about the story of Purim
• Learned a song from Jill during the story
• Children stood in front...

• Spencer Margulies, David Za, Noah Zall, Soon Pearlman, Jacob Winter. Ethan Imanuel, and Renly Cooper have presented their Moses storyboards
• Special shout out to them
• If your child wishes to present theirs during services, let Leemor know

In class, we

• Reviewed the story of Purim and the commandments that go along with it
• Played a few wacky games of Rapid Fire Purim Madlibs
• Played a game of “Anachnu” to explore the story of Purim using house objects

There will be a Parent Meeting Tuesday, February 23rd from 7:30-8:15 pm (No need to RSVP)

There will also be a Purim Family Drive In at the CBH parking lot on Saturday, February 27th from 10:00-11:15 am

Shabbat Shalom and Happy Purim!

During today’s Religious School class, we:

• Had Jill Kimelman lead Shabbat prayers and the Hatikvah, the national anthem of Israel
• Continued the storyboard of Moses (in storyboardthat.com)
• Discussed with Rabbi Hannah the question of “What one word do you think describes God?” (see the attached image)
• With a bit of a tech delay, continued our adventures in Dungeons and Dreidels:
• Our great adventures settled the medcap argument of the council of kosher animals, impeaching the corrupt chicken, Weatherman
• The heroes convince the council to stand with the Israelites through the plague
• They are granted access to the great lion Lesheron, king of the beasts, but will this mighty beast’s roar be too much for these brave adventurers? Find out next week

It was a splendid day, full of music and fun. See you next week for Zoom Shabbat school.

Shabbat Shalom!