Category Archives: Jewish Studies

Year-End Tefillah Reflection

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  1. What were three of your favorite things we did in tefilah this year, and why? I didn’t have 3 favorite things and to be honest none of Tefillah was that fun for me at all.
  2. What were two of your least favorite things we did in tefilah this year, and why? Regular Tefillah because it was really boring for me. Studying text was also really boring.
  3. We will have tefilah on the calendar again next year.  What would you like to keep or continue in tefilah? I would like to continue not doing regular Tefillah every day.
  4. What would you like to have less of in Tefillah? Regular Tefillah.
  5. What would you like to add to tefilah? Fun days where we can do a kahoot or games related to Tefillah.
  6. If you were telling a student who was new to upper school about Tefillah and trying to get him/her excited about it, what would you share? It only happens 3 times a week.
  7. What other thoughts or ideas do you want to share about your tefilah experience this year? None that I haven’t already shared.

Mitzvah Day

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Who from MJDS was in your group for each activity?
I don’t remember every single person because there were about 10 people in each group. And I had 2 groups. I’ll promise you for sure though that I was in both of my activities.
What was each activity?
My first activity was playing games with residents of Chai Point. My second activity was making dinner with Jewish Home Seniors.
Where was each activity?
My 1st one was at Chai Point. My 2nd was at the Jewish Home. 
How did you travel to your activities?
In a car.
Who did you help when doing your activities?
I guess I helped residents feel better in the 1st activity. In the 2nd one, I helped Adult Day Care participants make their dinners.
What did it feel like to participate in the activity?
It felt great to be helping them and making their lives easier.
What did I learn while doing the activity?
I learned how important it is to get out into the community and do things.
If I had the opportunity, would I do this activity again? On my own? As Part of MJDS?
No, because I would like to try different things.
How did I grow from the experience?
I try to think of people who need help.

How do we resolve the differences between the Two versions of the Ten Commandments?

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I chose the Rashbam method as my method. The “method” is that Moses changed the words the second time he talked about how you should observe/remember the Sabbath. It just seems the most likely to me. The most probable. Doesn’t it seem more likely that Moses forgot a few things after a few decades than some impossible explanation? The main problem with this method is mostly known by speculation and we have no evidence that is what he actually thought.

Trip to City Hall

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A couple days ago we went to the city hall for Yom Ha’atzmaut(is that how it’s spelled?) to listen to the mayor make a proclamation about Israel. I was told to write about what happened so here it is.

We got on the bus at 12:05. They gave us a coach bus so we could arrive in style or something. We sat on the bus and prepared to leave. We did that for 40 minutes until Hillel finally came 45 minutes late. We started towards the city hall. We initially planned to eat our excruciatingly dull meal of turkey and veggies in a pretzel bun before the people started talking. Because we were 45 minutes late they hurriedly shoved us into the city hall and had us eat while they were talking. We then proceeded to eat for 30 minutes while a bunch of people talked about how important this event was and whatnot. Then finally the mayor(with the shortest speech of all that was definitely short enough to get him a free jetski) said the proclamation and we got to eat some cake(that was nowhere near as good as Gev. Gray’s).

After that, we did this activity with the shinshins that was really confusing but kind of fun once we got the hang of it. Then we just walked around waiting to get on the bus for a little bit. Some of us went up to some of the top floors. Then we got on the bus and went back to MJDS.

Experiential Exodus Reflection

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  1. Was the Experiential Exodus objective met? How do I know kindergarteners learned what was intended?

I’m not actually sure what our objective for EE was, other than the fact that it was an MJDS tradition and the kindergarteners loved it. I don’t a reason for another objective other than making sure the kindergarteners had fun. I think(depending on what group they were in) the kindergarteners may or may not have enjoyed it.

I believe they were always engaged and involved in the activity… whether it was playing duck, duck, goose in the middle of the rotation! while waiting for Pharaoh to finish up with the group ahead of them(true story) or throwing tennis balls at a cardboard pharaoh.

In between some rotations, I altered my plague a little bit because the kindergarteners were having trouble fake dying while already laying down.

The main thing we needed to make it better was time. We didn’t get nearly enough of this and it proved disastrous.

I’m not sure how much differently I could’ve done it. There wasn’t much time for decisions that weren’t obvious so I just had to go with the flow.

Monday Tefilah Reflection

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Which tefilah elective have you been in?

Prayer Art

Describe what you have been doing in your elective.

I have been attempting to make a wood hotel(mini model).

What has been the best or most meaningful part of this elective?

Choosing mi sheibarach as a prayer to model.

What is one thing you have learned in your tefilah elective?

That there is more to a prayer than you see at the surface.

What is one thing you would change or improve about your elective?

I would give it more time.

What (related to your tefilah elective) do you still wonder about?

I don’t wonder about anything.

If there is anything else you want to share about your elective, please add it.

None.

GodShopping Experience

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How did GodShopping make you think differently about God? It made me realize my beliefs and give me a chance to think about them.

What surprised you about the statements around the room? What surprised you about the statements you picked out for yourself? I was surprised by all the different things people believe about God.

How did you feel about the page of statements you made? I feel proud of my choices and decisions.

Pick two of your statements and explain why you chose them. 1 of my statements was God gave human beings free will. I chose that one because if God really was controlling everyone, what’s the point of making everyone go to war against each other and kill each other?

Another statement I chose was God allows bad things to happen to good people. I mean, unless MLK wasn’t a good person that’s all the proof you need.