Category Archives: Jewish Identity

Raffi’s Secret Shoah Song

Posted on 04/20/2012 by | 2 Comments

Dear Holocaust Education curriculum creators, teachers and parents,

Do you know about Raffi’s Holocaust song?  No one else seems to, either.  If Raffi knows, he’s not telling.

“The Changing Garden of Mr. Bell.”  You’ve probably heard it.  It’s gorgeous.   I found a YouTube clip of the whole thing (which might be illegal?), and I’ve typed the lyrics below.

Raffi didn’t write “The Changing Garden of Mr. Bell.”  Janice Hubbard and Michael Silversher co-wrote it for an album by Parachute Express: Happy to Be Here (1991), and Raffi recorded a different arrangement on the humongously successful Bananaphone (1994).  Millions of kids and parents have heard the song.  But how many of us have really heard it? Continue reading →

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Blood Buddy: the drop o’ blood sleep lovey

Posted on 04/04/2012 by | 2 Comments

“I love you, Blood Buddy,” came a sweet croon from the back of the car, “I looooove blood!”

Way to perpetuate a stereotype, kid.

And at Passover, too.  As my friend Joanna P. would say, “and that is how you make a blood libel joke, Sarah Palin.”  Although, maybe she wouldn’t.  Joanna P. is right this moment trying to remove an entire jar of Mod Podge from her carpet, so I can’t know for sure.

All I do know for sure is that blood and Jews and Passover are a tricky trinity, and that my Jewish child is in a booster seat singing love songs to a plush blood drop clutched to his cheek. Continue reading →

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Posted in Jewish kids in nonJewish school, Passover

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Nature’s classroom: blow bubbles with flowers

Posted on 03/29/2012 by | 4 Comments

cross vine, spring bloomer

At breakfast, we looked out the window and discovered that the wild crossvine had bloomed (Bignonia capreolata). Every spring it crawls up through the evil winter creeper (a euonymous that would encase the house if I let it) and over the redneck wire fence that divides our property from the neighbors’.  We abandoned our gluten-free, Marmite-covered toast and ran outside to see it. Continue reading →

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Posted in Jewish Identity, Jewish parenting, Nature

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“Why We Celebrate Passover:” book review

Posted on 03/22/2012 by | Leave a comment

Looking for one Passover picture book that tells the story of Passover without scaring the Underoos off a kid?  One book that describes basic Passover customs and assumes no prior knowledge?  And a book with attractive artwork, rhythmic text and not too many words on a page?

Here it is: Why We Celebrate Passover, written and illustrated by Howard M. Kurtz (Pigment & Hue, Ages 3-8, paperback, 24 pages).  Not sold at Continue reading →

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Posted in Jewish kids in nonJewish school, Passover

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Passover Parent: classroom Show and Tell resource

Posted on 03/16/2012 by | Leave a comment

Me and Moses down by the school-yard...

New here: permanent pages (see top menu) for parents who want to lead a Jewish holiday Show and Tell in the classroom. I’ve made quite a few of these visits myself (I have a teenager and a preschooler), and my observations, mistakes and successes might help you plan your own.  I’d love to hear about your experiences, so please comment on the Passover (or Hanukkah) page to share what’s worked or not worked for you.

Passover’s coming, and if you feel the urge to share your family’s traditions with your kid’s school, see the obsessive detailed guidelines at the Passover Parent page.  You can select elements that appeal to you and make your classroom visit as short and simple Continue reading →

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Posted in Jewish kids in nonJewish school, Passover

Too Santa: a letter from my Jewish Kid

Posted on 12/30/2011 by | 3 Comments

an interesting development

My nearly-five-year-old knows how to address an envelope, where to put the return address sticker and where to put a stamp.

What I didn’t realize was that he intended to put these skills into practice with a letter: “Too Santa.” Continue reading →

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Posted in Jewish kids in nonJewish school

Duplo Rosh Hashanah (with mini shofar, challah, and apples)

Posted on 09/16/2011 by | 4 Comments

Handmade polymer clay accoutrements for Duplo folk

Twee, yes, but groovy: the Duplo Rosh Hashanah.  This is what happens when I find a baggie of clay at a yard sale—random Fimo and Sculpey packs already opened, slightly hairy, and obviously from the Year Gimmel—right around the time when we determine that our Duplo people just don’t have what for Rosh Hashanah.  Now they have what.

Featured here are two whole-wheat raisin challot, braided in a circle for the holiday that celebrates the never-ending cycle of the year, and a plate of apple slices ready for some Duplo honey. Duplo Toddler holds a Yemenite kudu shofar, and Duplo Girl sports a standard ram’s horn.

Note to parents of lively children: Continue reading →

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Posted in Activity, Crafts, Jewish Identity, Jewish Toys, Rosh Hashanah / Yom Kippur

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Making Toys Jewish

Posted on 05/06/2011 by | 5 Comments

Dollhouse Purim teaparty

Kveller.com published my article on Converting Toys to Judaism.  Do please read it at Kveller.com and leave a comment if you have ideas to share.

What does converting toys mean, exactly?  It means we can use all the toys we already have, Jewishly.  From Lego to play kitchens to Barbies to bath toys.

Here are a few more ideas and pictures I couldn’t include in the article, plus a few quotes.

“A Jewish toy is a toy that can accessorize a Jewish story.”

Torah and Bible stories, midrashim, folktales, holiday stories and the latest PJ Library selection can all be re-enacted or embellished Continue reading →

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Posted in Jewish Identity, Jewish parenting, Jewish Toys

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Grow Your Own Maror (after Passover)

Posted on 05/04/2011 by | Leave a comment

Grating horseradish root for Chain. No, the goggles don't help.

Passover has passed.

Did you buy a big ol’ horseradish root at the grocery store for Maror this year?

Did you toss it on the compost heap yet?

Well, run right out and pull it back off.  You can use it to grow a new one for next year’s seder. Even a small piece should take root just fine. Your kid can help you, and then proudly claim ownership at Passover.

HOW WE CAN USE IT WITH KIDS

Horseradish satisfies two places on a seder plate: Maror and Chazeret. Traditionally, a piece of the whole root is best for the Maror, while the Chazeret can be an “adulterated” version of horseradish (see next paragraph) or a bitter lettuce like Romaine. Chazeret is fine to use for the Korech step of the seder (aka the Hillel sandwich).

A much more satisfying way to refer to adulterated Maror is chrain.  Chrain/chrein is Russian for horseradish, but it means the grated kind. Use it plain as a condiment or add vinegar or beet juice. I prefer the plain, as vinegar seems to turn it a weird shade of turquoise at the edges. Either way, the potency is fleeting, so don’t plan on Continue reading →

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Posted in Activity, Jewish Identity, Jewish parenting, Passover

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Passover S’mores: the Deathly Mallows

Posted on 04/25/2011 by | 3 Comments

Passover S'mores

I want my kids to think Passover is fun.  What’s more fun than marshmallows and fire?

Plus, I’m adding a dash of the just-released penultimate Harry Potter DVD (solely in order to justify the bad pun on Deathly Hallows).

Passover lasts 8 days, and at this point, keeping things fun is starting to wear as thin as a piece of Tea Matzah.

Passover S’mores are not new, but they work. Apply the toasted marshmallow to a piece of matzah spread with Elyon chocolate chips (or whatever chocolate is still around at this point), top with similar-sized piece of matzah and by the time it’s cool enough to eat the chips will have morphed into a pleasant smooshiness.  If there is actual chocolate matzah still at hand, Continue reading →

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Posted in Edible Craft, Jewish Identity, Passover

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Converting Valentine candy: Mishloach Manot

Posted on 02/16/2011 by | 1 Comment

Mishloach Manot

Whether or not you do Valentine’s Day at your house, there is a world of half-price Valentine candy in shops right now, and some of it can work just dandy for the next Jewish holiday, Purim.  Kisses, especially. Because of the chocolate preferences of certain grandmothers in our family, our Purim Mishloach Manot baskets always include Hershey’s kisses. Valentine kisses are usually robed in red: simple, bright, fun red.  Without the outer packaging, red kisses are deliciously generic and ready for conversion. And of course, they are kosher. (So are Tootsie Rolls, by the way, and I Continue reading →

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Posted in Edible Craft, Jewish Identity, Jewish parenting, Purim

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Seder Plates by Target

Posted on 01/23/2011 by | 1 Comment

Seder plate at Target: cheap and cute

At Target yesterday I found an endcap full of seder dishes. This discrepant event was so discrepant I almost didn’t believe it. Five bucks for a large, melamine seder plate with shallow depressions for each symbol, and with the English and Hebrew name for each.

Hebrew at Target?

And for $1.99 you can get a coordinating square matzah plate with just the three little Hebrew letters that spell matzah.

So very surprised and happy.  Maybe melamine isn’t the earth’s friendliest material, but I am overlooking this fact in favor of the bigger fact that Target is selling dishes for my holiday.

Maybe this is a yearly occurrence where you come from, but not around here.

Todah rabah, Target.

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Posted in Jewish Identity, Jewish parenting, Passover

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Matchbox Mezuzah

Posted on 01/23/2011 by | 1 Comment

Matchbox Mezuzah

Here’s another easy mezuzah for kids to make, but this one is genuinely pretty. We used a photocopied klaf (parchment) inside the matchbox and mounted it low enough for a preschooler to actually reach.

My three-year old made this with his dad’s help, which would not have been much help, so I believe any kid can create a sweet mezuzah with these materials. The kicker is the lovely, golden Shaddai sticker (the shin with the crown), which makes the whole thing look and feel legit. The stickers come in a sheet of 48 from Benny’s Educational Toys, and the blank matchbooks come from Oriental Trading.

I must mention that playing with matchboxes is irresistible for any age, so this is a particularly hands-on craft. I organized a Matchbox Mezuzah group project for a Shema workshop last weekend at our synagogue and the parents were just as pleased to open and close and open and close the boxes….

Need:
Tape (I used blue painter’s tape)
Blank white matchbox (or used ones if you’ve got them)
Craft sticks (I used the broad, tongue-depressor size that comes in colors)
Tissue paper squares (cut from gift wrap)
Liquid starch (or white glue) in a small bowl or jar lid
Small brush
Shema scroll (see previous post: Glue Stick Mezuzah for ideas about this)

  • First, tape the stick to the back of the matchbox. It doesn’t matter what kind of tape because you will cover it with starch and tissue in a moment.
  • Brush thin layer of starch or glue on matchbox—including over the tape—and then place individual layers of the tiny tissue paper squares everywhere except the open ends.
    Keep brushing starch and affixing layers until you or your child needs to be done…
  • Top with a crowned shin sticker if you have it, or any shin sticker. Or, wait until the box is dry and write a shin with permanent marker or rubber stamp.

The only trick is to make sure you don’t starch the matchbox shut. If you do, you can run a sharp knife through the seams after all is dry.

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Posted in Crafts, Jewish Identity, Jewish parenting, Mezuzah

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Glue Stick Mezuzah: or, Make a Green Mezuzah for Free

Posted on 01/10/2011 by | 2 Comments

A Glue Stick Mezuzah

Here’s a new use for an empty glue stick tube: a mezuzah case. If you collect a bunch, you have a cost-free craft for a whole class.

Glue Sticks don’t last very long. Manufacturers seem to keep shrinking the volume of glue without shrinking the actual container, and the glue has a fairly short shelf life (about two years).  Thus, empty glue stick containers multiply, especially at a school.

A mezuzah is really the scroll inside of a mezuzah case: a klaf, or piece of kosher parchment upon which a sofer—scribe—has written (special ink, special quill) the first two passages of the Shema, Judaism’s central prayer.* The Shema is comprised of key verses from Deuteronomy (6:9 and 11:13-21), and begins, “Hear, Oh Israel, the Lord our God, the Lord is One.”

Mezuzah literally means “doorpost,” and it is on our doorposts that Jews are obliged to mount a mezuzah. Doing so is a mitzvah—a commandment—and, what a coincidence, it is a biblical commandment found in the Shema itself: “you shall inscribe them [these words] on the doorposts of your home.”

So, every Jewish home, or to be more inclusive, every home in which someone identifies as Jewish, needs a mezuzah on the doorposts. Home in Hebew is bayit, and the home of a mezuzah—the case—is called a beit mezuzah, or mezuzah home.  A beit mezuzah can be made out of just about any material that protects the scroll, and in every price range. This one comes in sticky plastic and is free.

Making a mezuzah case as pretty as you are able can actually Continue reading →

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Posted in Crafts, Jewish Identity, Jewish parenting, Mezuzah

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Jewish Bedtime Rituals for families

Posted on 01/05/2011 by | Leave a comment

Bedtime Sh'ma Coloring Book with your child's photo

InterfaithFamily.com (which is a great site, by the way, full of info and ideas and community) just posted an article about making bedtime Jewish written by Chief Education Officer Karen Kushner, with a link to a free pdf booklet: “Goodnight, Sleep Tight: Jewish Rituals for Your Interfaith Family.”

I am delighted Jewish bedtime is getting attention. Transforming the nightly routine into something Jewish is easy: just add a new element or two–something that feels comfortable and genuine. Whether a family is interfaith or not: it doesn’t matter: what matters is that at least one parent is committed to making every day (and night) more Jewish.

Please see the Jewish Bedtime page at JewishEveryday.com (home of Bible Belt Balabusta) for a detailed breakdown of every step of a typical bedtime progression, with plenty of suggestions about how to inject a bit of Jewishness.

Just a few of the suggestions:

  • Bathtime can include a repurposed Jewish toy, Jewish songs, or Hebrew foam letters that stick to the sides of the tub.
  • Your child’s pillow can wear a Shema pillowcase with easy reference to the traditional nighttime prayer.
  • Your choice of bedtime story is vast: I divide  into categories and review some popular offerings.
  • Links for bedtime suggestions by different Jewish denominations.
  • The book pictured above is still available by mail order from the Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Detroit’s J.E.F.F. program (Jewish Experience for Families). Unfortunately, their adorable Shma pillowcase is no longer produced, but Pitome.com has a kit or you can stencil, rubber stamp or use transfer paper to make your own.
  • See also my review of what I called the best bedtime Sh’ma book, which isn’t even Jewish or about the Sh’ma.
  • And my post about making bedtime Jewish for little kids.

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Posted in Activity, Jewish Identity, Jewish parenting

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Origami Dreidels

Posted on 12/13/2010 by | 1 Comment

Origami Dreidel station at the Chanukah Carnival

This is a classic design, and fairly easy to teach to little kids. It comes from Florence Temko’s book Jewish Origami (still in print).

You’ll need a square of any size paper. To teach kids, it will be easier to have a pretty large square: at least 9 by 9 if you are cutting down from a regular sheet of construction paper. Even better if you have big origami paper that is white on one side.

I used large rubber stamps for the Nun, Gimmel, Hey and Shin, and let the kids choose which letter they wanted on the body of the dreidel.  You can use stickers, foam stickers, stamps made from other materials (potatoes, which would be appropriate during latke season), stencils, foam aleph-bet puzzle pieces or just free-hand it.

No matter what method, please include a visual guide showing each letter and the name of the letter. I also included what each letter stands for.

We loved making these so much we tried it with napkins and even one square of toilet paper.

The dreidels make great Hanukkah cards (unless created from toilet paper), either on their own or glued to a folded piece of paper, or you can string them as a garland as suggested on the cover of Temko’s book. We’ve also used them as placecards at dinner and as gift tags.

Temko’s design is also available online from the Origami Swami, who claims permission to present.

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Posted in Crafts, Jewish Identity, Jewish parenting

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Hanukkah Parent Guidelines: Politically Correct info card

Posted on 12/13/2010 by | Leave a comment

In the Dreidel Cookies post, I mentioned a little card attached to the cookies dressed for a bake sale. I couldn’t bear the thought that the cookies, created with such intent, might get scarfed down without the scarfer understanding what they were scarfing. The card explained the name and meaning of each letter.

Same with the little dreidel/candy gifts we brought for my son’s class. (I did cave and add one piece of gelt to the dreidel, but I’m not sure I’ll do this next year. See “Hanukkah Parent Guidelines” post.) I made a slightly different card for the dreidels.

The double-sided card, about the size of a business card, was tucked in with a new dreidel (from Target, surprisingly). It explains the 4 letters and the dreidel rules, plus the briefest of explanations about Hanukkah. Find a reproducible copy at www.JewishEveryday.com.

Informative, politically correct gift/info card

Despite my mentioning the use of “nuts, candy or coins”  as tokens, one mom told me the next day how her son came home and wanted to play the dreidel game over and over with his brand new dreidel. They played so many games she ended up driving to Costco to buy a bunch of chocolate gelt for the “loot” (her term).  While I am thrilled the little boy was thrilled with the dreidel game, I am less thrilled that boy and mom felt like chocolate money was a mandatory aspect of the game.

Again, here’s an opportunity to postpone what may be an inevitable perceived link between Jews and money. We can do this by downplaying the gelt and demonstrating the dreidel game using whatever tokens are appropriate for that group (obviously avoiding choking hazards for teeny kids and nuts for allergic kids).

The take-home message for kids and parents should be that Hanukkah is about miracles and light, not about how much gold you can win by gambling.

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Dreidel Cookies

Posted on 12/11/2010 by | Leave a comment

If I’d known royal icing was so easy, I’d have made it long before now. Two ingredients (plus color) make a gloppy paste easily scooped and squirted onto the baked good of choice, and later, after it dries, it becomes a beautifully smooth concrete.  The perfect medium with which to anchor these little Hebrew letters made from a candy mold.  The mold is the entire aleph-bet, which means I have to make each batch of nun, gimmel, hey and shin one at a time.  Time is the operative word.

Dreidel cookies

But gosh, they’re pretty.

And here, see the little gift plates for a bake sale.

I will not detail the hours I spent trying to package these cookies to maintain optimum visibility while affording some protection from curious and hasty shoppers. I will say that cut-up cereal boxes, shipping boxes, wrapping paper, bubble wrap, packing tape and hanukkah napkins were all tried and discarded. Continue reading →

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Posted in Edible Craft, Hanukkah, Jewish Identity, Jewish parenting

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Lego menorah

Posted on 12/07/2010 by | 6 Comments

We made the Temple out of Duplos and experimented with different menorahs. Not hanukkiyot (hanukkah menorahs), but 7-branched menorahs like what was supposed to be in the Temple in the Hanukkah story.

Here are some examples:

Lego menorah with Lite Brite flames

Turning legos upside-down reveals the little spacer holes just right for “flames.” Had I owned enough of those teeny one-unit, columnar pieces, they could have been flames and the menorah would have been “pure” lego. But yard sales dictate what legos we own, so I made do with Lite Brite pegs.  Tried red Battleship pegs, too, but Lite Brite pegs have graduated thickness and can fit into the upside-down lego holes a bit better.

Building upside-down was a pleasant challenge.

Made three sizes, overall:

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Posted in Hanukkah, Jewish Identity, Jewish parenting

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I made it out of clay

Posted on 12/06/2010 by | Leave a comment

we made them out of clay

We sing the song every year:

Dreidel, dreidel, dreidel, I made it out of clay, and when it’s dry and ready, then dreidel I shall play.
But I’ve never actually made a dreidel out of clay, nor of anything else.  Neither had my 3 year-old.
So this year we got busy.
I found a brick of oven-bake polymer clay in the clay box. (Yes, we have a clay box.) It promised to be light-weight and strong, and we would not have to sit around and watch organic clay dry.
Molding the dreidels was just trial and error. We started with a basic rectangular prism and then added a blob for the tip and a thinner blob for the handle. I’d noticed that on wooden dreidels the more rounded a tip, the more stable the spin. Pointy dreidels tend to wobble right away.
We didn’t go for spherical, but a gentle roundy-moundy.  An outright spherical base spins on a tangential point, so less of the surface will touch the table. Less friction means it should spin longer.  And, if most of the weight is toward the base, the low center of gravity will cause the dreidel to tip less, making the spin Continue reading →

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