Where is Israel on your list?

 Write a list of the 5 most important mitzvot in Judaism. Does living in Israel make the list? If yes, explain why. If not, how far down on the list should it be and why?

You do not have to use the mitzvot below, but here are some ideas and options you may use:

1. Kibbu Av Va’em/Honoring your parents
2. Kashrut/Kosher
3. Pesach
4. Tzniut/Tzizit/Kippah
5. Shabbat
6. Tefillah
7. Tzedakah
8. Learning Torah
9. Circumcision/Brit Milah
10. Marrying Jewish
11. Living in Israel
12. Belief in Gd
13. Gemillut Chassadim/Chessed
14. Visiting the Sick
15. Yom Kippur

הללוי–ה, הללו את ה'!

Here is the link to our new class song!

https://soundcloud.com/shoshbalk/hallelukah

קמח תְּהִלִּים

א  הַלְלוּ-יָהּ: הַלְלוּ אֶת-יְהוָה, מִן-הַשָּׁמַיִם;    הַלְלוּהוּ, בַּמְּרוֹמִים.	1 Hallelujah. {N} Praise ye the LORD from the heavens; praise Him in the heights.
ב  הַלְלוּהוּ כָל-מַלְאָכָיו;    הַלְלוּהוּ, כָּל-צְבָאָו.	2 Praise ye Him, all His angels; praise ye Him, all His hosts.
ג  הַלְלוּהוּ, שֶׁמֶשׁ וְיָרֵחַ;    הַלְלוּהוּ, כָּל-כּוֹכְבֵי אוֹר.	3 Praise ye Him, sun and moon; praise Him, all ye stars of light.
ד  הַלְלוּהוּ, שְׁמֵי הַשָּׁמָיִם;    וְהַמַּיִם, אֲשֶׁר מֵעַל הַשָּׁמָיִם.	4 Praise Him, ye heavens of heavens, and ye waters that are above the heavens.
ה  יְהַלְלוּ, אֶת-שֵׁם יְהוָה:    כִּי הוּא צִוָּה וְנִבְרָאוּ.	5 Let them praise the name of the LORD; for He commanded, and they were created.

May we continue appreciating the world around us, just like דוד המלך in the פרק תהילים!

What is preventing Mashiach today?

Imagine you are a prophetess. You are given 2 minutes to speak to the entire Jewish people and say whatever you'd like. What is it that's preventing Mashiach from coming? What do we need to change to make our ideal world? Be as specific as possible.

Quiz, Monday 3/14

What's on the quiz?

1. Shomer Negiah - handout with Halacha sources and conversations

2. The Books of Tanach 

Mashiach, Olam Habaah and Techiyat Hameitim

Answer both questions in the comments below.

1. What are 5 questions you have about any of the topics above?!

2. Write 3 things you have heard about the times of Mashiach that you are curious about.

"וְאָהַבְתָּ, אֵת ה'"

What's your Love Language?

http://www.5lovelanguages.com/

שמע in our lives?!: Due Monday 9am!

The  First Time in Midrash

כט וַיֶּאְסֹר יוֹסֵף מֶרְכַּבְתּוֹ וַיַּעַל לִקְרַאת יִשְׂרָאֵל אָבִיו גּשְׁנָה וַיֵּרָא אֵלָיו וַיִּפֹּל עַל צַוָּארָיו וַיֵּבְךְּ עַל צַוָּארָיו עוֹד:

1. How do you think Yaakov felt at this moment?

ויבך על צואריו עוד: לשון הרבות בכיה ...והוסיף בבכי יותר על הרגיל

אבל יעקב לא נפל על צוארי יוסף ולא נשקו,

ואמרו רבותינו שהיה קורא את שמע:

2. Why do you think the Rabbi’s say he he said Shema?!

BLOg ASSIGNMENT:CAN YOU THINK OF A TIME WHEN YOU OR SOMEONE YOU KNOW WANTED TO PROCLAIM GOD’S GREATNESS/SAY SHEMA? OR THINK OF A TIME WHEN SOMEONE WOULD? 5-8 SENTENCES.

Blog Response Due: Dec. 28th 9am

בָּרוּךְ אַתָּה ה' אֱלהֵינוּ מֶלֶךְ הָעולָם. אֲשֶׁר נָתַן לַשּכְוִי בִינָה לְהַבְחִין בֵּין יום וּבֵין לָיְלָה.

THE BEAUTY OF SLEEP

Most people would agree that there's nothing better than a good night's sleep. Stressful day at the office? Long hours doing yard work and housework? All this can be repaired with a nice, long slumber. You awake the next day feeling calm, refreshed and ready for anything - the stresses, aches and pains of the previous day are long gone.

There have been thousands of sleep studies performed over the years, but we still aren't exactly sure why we sleep. The old joke is that the function of sleep is to cure sleepiness. Prior to 1951, scientists thought bedtime was merely shutdown mode for both the body and mind. It wasn't until a graduate student at the University of Chicago hooked his son to a brain wave machine during sleep that we learned about rapid eye movement (REM) -- sleep periods when the brain speeds up its activity. During REM sleep our eyes twitch, our limbs and facial muscles may move and we dream.

Even though we aren't exactly sure why we sleep, we know that we have to -- all mammals sleep. In fact, a lab rat that would normally live for three years will die in about three weeks without sleep. We know that when we get too little sleep we feel lethargic, sluggish and fuzzy-headed. Long-term sleep deprivation has such an impact on the human psyche that it's been used as a form of torture by virtually every military in existence.

Response:

1. IF YOU WERE DESIGNING A HUMAN- WHY DESIGN HIM IN A WAY THAT MAKES HIM COMPLETELY USELESS FOR 1/3RD OF HIS DAY?

2. WHY DO YOU THINK GOD DESIGNED US THIS WAY?

Class Collected Interview Questions

Here is a list of the questions we raised in class! You do not need to ask each of these questions to your interviewee. This exercise was to show you the types of questions you can ask.

1. What connects you to God?
2. How do you block out your surroundings?
3. Where do you get your kavvanah from?
4. Do you think of something specific?
5. What makes you want to wake up and go to shul?
6. Is there someone who you look up to?
7. What makes you daven so hard?
8. What is your favorite tefillah? why?
9. How do you remind yyourself to do everything? wash your hands? do modeh ani?
10. Have you been like this your whole life? Was their a transformation?
11. Do you plan on davening your whole life?
12. Why do you feel so close to God? That you need to daven to him?
13. Do you feel that davening changes anything? does it have an impact?
14. Does it feel like an obligation or a privilege to daven?
15. What is a moment in your life that you felt the most close to Gd?
16. What are you so thankful for?
17. What do you daven for?
18. What’s actually going through your mind?
19. Do you find davening to be too long? how do you handle that?
20. Do you know the meaning of every prayer?
21. Do you ever think that because of you tefillot HaShem willl take care of you? and not thing bad will happen?
22. Does davening change your day?
23. Do you ever pray out of anger?
24. Do you ever feel guilty if you miss tefillah?
25. Have you ever not prayed because you were angry about something? or been annoyed at Gd about something?
26. Do you love being Jewish?
27. How is tefillah different for you now than when you were younger?
28. How is your tefillah different from just a regular tefillah on a regular day vs davening for a sick person?
29. In which parts of tefillah do you feel closer to HaShem?
30. Have you ever gone through a time when you didn’t feel connected? How did you recover?

Yesodot Mid-Year Project

Yesodot Mid-Year Project

Presentations: Friday Dec 4th

• You will have an opportunity to represent your insights into tefillah in a variety of different ways. What you choose is entirely up to you!

• Each assignment will have a written and oral component. You can do your assignment individually or in pairs.

• In each case, your goal is to represent your profound understanding of this person’s approach to Tefillah and what you have learned from him/her.

Interview someone about Tefillah and their experience. It should be someone you’ve seen davening whom you admire. He/she should be at least 5 years older than you. Use what your interviewee has said to complete one of the project options below!

Project Options:

1. Essay: Write a formal essay (2-3 pages) in which you offer an insightful understanding of your interviewee’s approach to tefillah. Analyze what he/she has said and why you agree or disagree.

2. Playlist assignment: Create a playlist. Design an album cover with a unique title and image which represent your interviewee’s internal landscape. Choose one song from the playlist and write an analysis of the lyrics which illustrates how this particular song relates to this person’s thoughts on tefillah.

3. Create Your Own Siddur: Choose a couple of tefillot from Shacharit you or your interviewee find particularly meaningful. Create a commentary, formatted like the artscroll siddur, which explains the meaning of these tefillot. They should not be tefillot we have already covered in class.

4. Wild Card: A super-creative assignment of your own devising that shows your profound understanding of the interviewee’s thoughts on tefillah. Make sure the final “product” can be shared with the class.

Good luck and looking forward to your presentations!