Monthly Archives: March 2022

If I saw a big fish,

twice the size of a ship,

and she swam by my boat in the sea,

if that fish opened wide

showing Jonah inside,

I would holler,

"Hey, fish, wait for me!"

What would you do if you met Jonah and the big fish? Would you make them a seaweed snack? Join them for a swim in the sea?

Maybe you'd show Jonah how to help others.

If I Swam with Jonah, by Pamela Moritz and beautifully illustrated by MacKenzie Haley, is a new picture book for ages 3-6. It includes a note for families with a brief explanation of the story of Jonah, struggling with doing things we should but don't want to do, and helping others.

If I Swam with Jonah is now available

Deepen the holiday learning by focusing on the big ideas to make best use of your limited time and attention spans to create rich learning.

Passover offers so many opportunities for learning - about Jewish history, the importance of home and holiday observance, and the value of repetition, for example. Here are some two resources you can use with students to explore many aspects of the holiday.

Asking Good Questions

In Teach Them Diligently: A Midrash on the Jewish Educator’s Year, Bonnie Stevens describes the haggadah as "our greatest textbook, laying out the lesson plan for a class so important that every Jew must repeat it yearly - the seder." One of the lessons the haggadah teaches us is about the role of questions in learning.

The haggadah doesn't rely on children to devise questions on their own. The Four Questions, for example, are spelled out. Sometimes we may use the haggadah's techniques t

We understand that planning a curriculum, whether for a single grade or for an entire school, can feel overwhelming. That's why we offer a variety of resources to help you navigate the process.

Planning Guides

Consult our downloadable pullout guides - organized by grade level, subject and ability - to match your needs with the best Hebrew and Jewish heritage materials for your students.  Download the Judaica Planning Guide or the Hebrew Curriculum Guide.

Consider three BIG IDEAS that encompass the key values and purpose of part-time

Planning a seder? Start by considering your guest list. Who’s coming largely dictates what kind of haggadah to use. Using the right haggadah makes a big difference in how participants experience the seder.

Other factors to consider: The length of the seder you want and its tone (solemn, inquisitive, or with a touch of whimsy). This guide will help lead you in the right direction.

Hosting some remote seder participant? Here are tips for engaging remote guests.

Contact us today at customersupport@behrmanhouse.com to learn about quantity discounts for any of our haggadot.

The Essential Seder: A Contemporary Haggadah

By Deborah Gross-Zuchman

This concise haggadah contains the essential elements for a short, authentic seder. Its small trim size, straightforward text, and bright collage art will capture the attention of all seder participants and spark lively conversation about social justice, freedom, and history. Ideal for the host or seder leader who wants to run a short but meaningful seder, bring a modern sensibility and fresh language to the observance, and add beauty to the seder table.

 What we overheard when we showed it at the URJ Biennial in December: “This has all the parts I want and none of the stuff I usually have to skip over!! And the good songs, too!”
40 pages.

With Passover just around the corner, show students how the humble matza - the cornerstone of the seder - comes into being. 

How It’s Made: Matzah, by Allison Ofanansky, explores all the materials and activities involved in creating a matza, when and why we eat it, and why we celebrate Passover in the first place. 

More than 100 full-color photographs by Eliyahu Alpern provide a fascinating behind-the-scenes look at the people who make matzah — by hand or in factories — and see how they keep to the strict 18-minute limit, mirroring the Israelites' race

Books make for fun and playful gifts that the entire family can enjoy while growing together in their Jewish learning. Here are some holiday-themed stories from our children's imprint, Apples & Honey Press.

In

Reprinted from ReformJudaism.org

By Rabbi Leah Berkowitz

A few years ago, on the morning of Purim, I woke up with a rhyme in my head: I am not in the mood to dance, for I am in my comfy pants!

I had been wanting to write about Queen Vashti for a while. A big part of my rabbinate and my writing focuses on uplifting the stories of women in the biblical narrative, especially those who do not get enough attention.

Queen Vashti only gets a few sentences in the first chapter of the book of Esther, yet she has captured the imagination of rabbis, modern feminists, and fiction writers because she said "no" to a group of powerful men - including her husband.

No

Our books are on the move. 

The first three trucks of Behrman House and Apples & Honey Press books have been unloaded in their new warehouse in Tennessee, and another is on the way this week. In all, we are moving more than half a million books from Ohio. 

Beginning this spring, Two Rivers Distribution, an Ingram company, will handle warehousing and distribution for Behrman House’s school and online orders.

We are also putting the finishing touches on the systems that will be used to transmit your orders. 

When we begin shipping from our new location in four to six weeks, you can expect to a dramatic improvement in shipping times for your orders. 

As we transition to our new facility,