Week of May 23

If you need help getting onto Zoom during school on Sundays, text or call Rob Manson at (269) 270-2825.

Last Day of School Celebration

PreK-7

This Sunday, 5/23 at 11:15 we will have our Last Day of School Celebration. Each child has an envelope that contains their awards. Parents will present the awards to their child when directed to do so during the celebration. As we planned the celebration, I kept telling the teachers that “something was missing”. Finally we realized, we were missing the food we Jews usually share when we celebrate. We did include some sweet treats in each envelope but we encourage families to plan their own food celebration at home as well.

High School

We are planning an in person get together for the high school soon which will be their end of year celebration.

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What students NEED for school this week

PreK-5

Bring these things to Hebrew Through Movement class:

  • A “box”. Any kind of box will do.
  • Challah (Children will only need a small amount of challah each week.  Buy or make a loaf, freeze it and give them just the amount they can eat each week.
  • “Wine” glass. Can be a cup, plastic glass, water bottle. Optionally filled with liquid of your choice (we can also “pretend”).
  • Two candles (PreK-3 can use the Shabbat candles from activity box)
  • Two candlesticks
  • Kiddush cup
  • Bread (that is not challah)

Grade 4-5 will also need:

  • braided Havdalah candle
  • spices

Grades 4-7

Students need their Hebrew in Harmony booklet.

  • Mannaberg – Havdalah
  • Spivak – G’vurot
  • Schicker – Kaddish (Please let Rabbi Schicker know if you or your family has suffered the loss of a loved one. We want to make sure to be sensitive especially to those deep losses each of us carries.)

The transliterated name of the prayer is at the bottom of the page. Let Nora know if your student doesn’t have this booklet.

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Join Us for Havdalah!

The children really seemed to enjoy Havdalah last Sunday. The PreK-3 students are beginning to get exposed to the lovely ceremony while the 4th graders are learning the prayer with Hebrew in Harmony and the 4-5th graders are learning the vocabulary in Hebrew Through Movement.

Havdalah may be performed as late as sunset of the Tuesday following Shabbat. We will do Havdalah during Assembly for the remainder of the year. Please feel free to join us. Bring your own Havdalah set if you have one. We will allow adults to light Havdalah candles but not the children!

Here’s more information about Havdalah from PJ Library.

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Hebrew Through Movement (HTM)

We will be reviewing the words we have learned this year. All of the HTM vocabulary words can be found in the sidebar.

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Sunday’s Schedule

  • 9:30-10:00 Socializing with Friends (optional)
  • 10:00-10:15 Assembly with Havdalah (families please feel free to join us)
  • 10:15-12:15 High School
  • 10:15-10:55 Hebrew
  • 10:55-11:10 Mr. Mannaberg’s Hebrew Through Movement (4th & 5th Grade)
  • 11:15-12:15 End of Year Celebration

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Message from Camp Tavor

Dear Kalamazoo Families,

We are delighted to announce Legacy Heritage Fund has established an incentive program at Camp Tavor for new campers for two summers, starting in summers 2021 and 2022.
New eligible campers enrolled in a 3-week program or longer will save $1500 off tuition this year and a guaranteed $1500 for summer 2022.
The program’s goal is to enrich children’s Jewish learning and identity by giving them the opportunity to attend camps with strong Jewish content and programming. Families from West Michigan are eligible. All first-time campers in a 19-day program are also eligible for the One Happy Camper Grant which could be up to another $1,000 off this summer’s tuition.
That means this summer you could save up to $2500 on tuition.
Qualifying campers must be first-time campers entering 4th -10th grade.
I would love an opportunity to talk to you more about Camp Tavor and our program. Feel free to contact me directly at Randy@camptavor.org.

Randy Lubratich (She/Her/Hers)
Community Engagement Coordinator | Habonim Dror Camp Tavor
269-215-1399 | Randy@CampTavor.org
Want to talk, feel free to schedule a date and time: https://calendly.com/camptavor/connecting-about-camp-tavor
Stay Connected on Camp Tavor, Facebook, Instagram, YouTube

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Accepting Applications for our 2021-2 Teaching Team

OKCJS has open positions on our teaching team next school year. Contact Nora Chaus at (269) 373-4138 or director@okcjs.net to apply.

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Elijah Thompson’s Bar Mitzvah Project

Elijah’s bar mitzvah project request

For my Bar Mitzvah project I have chosen to bike from Kalamazoo to South Haven to raise money for an organization called Food Not Bombs. In order to support this organization I am asking for donations of any amount to help stop hunger across the world. What makes Food Not Bombs different from other organizations is that they distribute food worldwide during war protests and provide only vegan and vegetarian meals. They also distribute food after natural disasters, strikes, and do everything non violently with peace. My biking event takes place on Saturday May 29th 2021  with my family and I’ll make sure to show some of the ride on my project portion of the service. If you choose to help, any donation is welcomed (ex. Someone who donates 10 dollars would be 1/35 of our goal, or paying for one mile of the trail). Thanks for reading this and have a great day. (:

Also if you have any questions about the project or the bar mitzvah my email is elijah.thompson12321@gmail.com and the Food Not Bombs website is http://foodnotbombs.net/new_site/.

If you choose to donate, please write a check to me and I will compile the donations in one total gift.  

Thank you! Elijah Thompson