Hazon Educational Library: Jewish Ritual
Sacred Time and Space: A Stone’s Text Application
This program is an activity meant for a Shabbaton retreat to get people ready spiritually for shabbos and invoke deep questioning.
Age(s): Adults, Young Adults
Young Adult Tu B’Shvat Seder
A Tu B'Svhat Seder is a fun experiential way to connect to a little known Jewish holiday, bringing to life ecological teachings, enjoying fruit from around the world, drinking good wine and of course fostering social connections. This year, with the help of the JCC Rabbi, the Mayerson JCC hosted their first Tu B'Svhat Seder for Young Adults.
Age(s): Young Adults
Day of Awe-some: A Rosh Hashanah Family Program
This program is an opportunity for families with young children to engage in the Jewish rituals and traditions surrounding the holiday of Rosh Hashanah. They will be able to meet families like themselves while spending the morning creating a meaningful and educational connection with a Jewish holiday.
Age(s): Early Childhood
A Sukkot Mitzvah! Welcoming Bug Friends into the Sukkah
This program is designed to foster a deeper appreciation for sukkot and for bugs. Going deeper than the idea that we build a sukkah because ?that?s what we do for sukkot?. Encouraging the invitation of guests and learning about them and appreciating them is a wonderful mitzvah. By having the participants build a miniature sukkah out of things found in nature and then inviting bugs into the sukkah, the mitzvah is upheld on a small but very important level. Fostering an appreciation for playing with nature, learning about bugs and embracing them as a part of this world is what this program is all about.
Age(s): Early Childhood, Elementary
Our Soulful Flame
This program is an exploration of light through utilizing fine motor skills and creating space to experience the wonder of the natural world. Through hands- on opportunities students will connect with the natural world by opening their eyes to all the ways nature shines its light as well as how we shine our own light. Students will leave with an understanding that we can find light all around us in nature and we as a community will begin to question what that light represents for us individually and collectively.
Category: Ritual-Making, Spiritual Nature Experience
Age(s): Early Childhood
An Exploration of Jewish Time and Space
This session activates participants with a philosophical framing of holiness in time and space using Heschel's The Sabbath. Participants then map out the holiday cycle and follow its path around the seasons, moons, solar cycle, and cardinal directions illuminating the layers of connection between the Jewish concept of time and nature's. This brainstorm then leads participants into chevruta to dive deeper into learning of the main harvest holidays using Waskow's Seasons of Our Joy. All of this sets participants up to make a physical representation of Jewish time in the form of a multi-layered calendar. This calendar will hang in our office and will be used as a teaching tool to help us orient visitors to what's alive in time, both Jewishly and environmentally.
Age(s): Adults
Food Justice Shabbat Dinner
This program brought members of the Jewish community together for a Shabbat dinner that highlighted local and ethically sourced ingredients while educating participants about issues of food justice in our city. The dinner included sharing stories, discussion questions, and conversations about ways to help promote equal food access. We partnered with a local food justice nonprofit to help facilitate the discussion and publicize upcoming partnerships between their organization and the JCC.
Category: Food & Climate, Food Systems & Food Justice, Jewish Agricultural Traditions, Shabbat and Holidays
Age(s): Adults
Wilderness Torah’s Passover in the Desert Second-Night Seder Youth Skit: The Four Children Collaborative Performance – Art & Storytelling Around the Fire
As part of Wilderness Torah's Passover in the Desert festival, for the second-night Passover seder, we are doing an off-the-page co-created celebration around the bonfire! The Passover story will come alive through the brilliant and creative minds of each of member of the village, and be experienced through the ancient art of performative storytelling.
Torah Theater: Ancestral Wisdom in the Wilderness
This program draws from the strength of our ancestors and the robustness of Jewish tradition, while preparing for a wilderness challenge.
Age(s): B'nai Mitzvah, Teens
Shabbat: Earth-Based Technology for Young Adults in Silicon Valley
This is designed as a one evening program that frames Shabbos as an earth-based technology of connection. This collective welcoming of Shabbat is designed for young adults ages 22-39 across the spectrum of religious observance (Jewish and non-Jewish alike). This 45 minute program is crafted to lead into Shabbat dinner or another gathering and can function both as a basic introduction to Shabbat practice for those for whom it is new, and a new earth-based framework for those already at home in Shabbat ritual. Also note this program is designed based on the 8 Shields model.
Age(s): Young Adults
The ECO Passover connection
This program connects children to the modern day issues of environmental plagues through an in depth look at text describing the plagues in the passover story, while also getting to appreciate the wonder of animals in a healthy eco-system through observation and touch. We will also touch on the subject of Matzah by discussing the significance of eating a bread that does not rise while making our own pita.
Havdallah Candle Making
This program is an introduction to Havdallah and DIY candle making. Participants will learn about a Havdallah candle and leave with their own candle. Students will leave with an understanding of what renewable resources are.
Age(s): Elementary
Bringing The Stones’ into the 21st Century
'The Stones' text, from Talmud Bavli, Masekhet Bava Kama 50b, brings its readers back to ancient times. However, the lessons that can be learned from this text transcend time. In this program, participants will delve deep into 'The Stones' text, making connections relevant to today's world. Through this discussion, participants will discover what defines a community, and how in order to make an impact in a community, we must find a balance between protecting the Earth and meeting our own personal needs.
Age(s): Adults
Tu B’Shvat Family Nature Hike
This program is an opportunity for families to celebrate Tu B'Shvat through learning about local ecology, connecting to nature, and understanding the essence of this Jewish holiday on a community hike.
Age(s): Families
Turn, Turn, Turn: A Jewish Calendar Garden Mosaic
Any Jewish farm, school, community center or garden can use this document to either create a calendar garden with the community or to lead interactive educational programs that situate the holiday and season in Jewish cycles of time. This document gives an overview of the mosaic design process. It does not give detailed instructions for mosaics; seek this out elsewhere if you are not familiar with outdoor mosaics.
