Regular activities throughout the year

Mekom Torah High School Band

At our organizational meeting in September, 2009, a number of students expressed interest in learning and playing Jewish music. Tenth grader Sarah Shulbank-Smith, talented musician and natural leader, volunteered to direct the Mekom Torah High School Band. Almost half the students participated at various times, playing piano, drums, bass, trombone, clarinet, trumpet, saxophone, and violin. Starting from sheet music with chords, Sarah helped the students develop arrangements that allowed each player to shine in solos as well as to be part of the ensemble. Michael Fackenthall's terrific piano playing was the backbone that held the group together. The group was a great hit at the joint Ohev Shalom / Beth Israel community Shavuot celebration, where they performed two of our favorites, "Hinei Ma Tov" and "Od Yavo Shalom".(video coming soon)

Modern Hebrew

At our planning meeting, the students were very enthusiastic to begin Modern Hebrew. It is a challenge to teach a meaningful amount of a foreign language in a program that meets only once a week. We started with the lyrics of a popular Israeli rock/rap song and used it as a jumping off point to study some common expressions, and the present tense form of simple verbs. Given the time available, considerable progress was made. When these students find their way to an Ulpan program in Israel, they will have a bit of a head start!

Discussion Topics

Each week we discussed a topic of concern to contemporary Jewish life, sometimes in a large group and sometimes in smaller subsets. These discussions were marked by thougtfulness and passion, and almost everybody participated. Here are some issues we considered:

- How can someone believe in the Bible and in evolution?
- Why do bad things happen to good people?
- What happens after you die?
- Is there a difference between the Jewish and the Christian God?
- Who wrote the Bible? Did it really happen?
- What is a miracle? Are they possible?
- Why does it matter if you are good?
- How much do we owe to poor and unfortunate people?
- Keeping Kosher: Does God really care what you eat?

Prayer and Meditation

Among her many other interests and skills, Danielle is trained in Jewish meditation practices. She introduced the students to the topic of Jewish mysticism from which these practices derive. On a number of occassions Danielle used imagery or texts from the traditional liturgy to lead the students through quiet meditation. Much to Rabbi Helen's surprise, the students were very receptive to these exercises. We discovered that if we followed meditation with discussion, the students were alert, serious, and receptive, and somewhat better at calming their natural teenage exuberance.