Monthly Archives: March 2023

One powerful voice can effect powerful change.

An example of that truth is the story of Rose Schneiderman, a young Jewish immigrant teen who began speaking out for better working conditions in the early 20th century.

She was just thirteen years old, working in a cap factory in New York City when she noticed women workers earned much less than men and the factory wasn't safe or healthy for the workers. Rose helped organize 20,000 women to walk off the job, leaving factories all over the city empty and still. Following the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory fire in 1911, Rose's speech at the Metropolitan Opera House galvanized support for better working conditions. The International Ladies Garment Workers Union was born.

Planning a seder? You'll need a haggadah.

Which haggadah you use makes a big difference in how participants experience the seder.

Consider who's on your guest list. Of course it also matters how long you want your seder to last and what tone you want (solemn, inquisitive, or with a touch of whimsy). 

Here's a guide to point you in the right direction.

Singing the Mah Nishtanah gives children a chance to participate in the Passover seder.

But there's more to the Four Questions than just a song.

As educators, we can prepare children for the holiday by building connections between the Mah Nishtanah and:

• Understanding that stories and knowledge spring from questions
• What it means to relive the transition from slavery to freedom
• Jewish values of fighting injustice and slavery

Through Passover we are providing you with three free lessons about Mah Nishtanah and the seder from Hebrew in Harmony - our innovative music-based prayer curriculum.

In 1934 young Hank Greenberg had his dream job--playing first base for the Detroit Tigers. 

Unlike some other Jewish baseball players of that time, Hank had not changed his name to disguise his Jewishness--he was not going to pretend he was something he wasn't. But there were many people who did not want to see a Jewish baseball player on the field. They booed and jeered and called him names, and most of his teammates were just standing by and letting it happen.

But Hank knew what he liked - baseball. So he played his best, kept quiet, and let his batting average speak for him instead.

Hank on First: How Hank Greenberg Became a Star On and Off the Field, the newly published book by Stephen Krensky and illustrated by Alette Straathof, tells the story of

"With overtones of Maurice Sendak's Where the Wild Things Are (1963), this read-aloud brings a creative element to the holiday.  . . . Marine fun and fantasy make for a magical Passover celebration." -Kirkus Reviews

In Under the Sea Seder, by Ann D. Koffsky, Miri is having trouble focusing during her family's Passover seder. Her parents would like her to sit quietly and listen, but she just CAN'T. 

So Miri slips under the table where her spirited imagination can be free, and with her cat at her side imagines leading her own seder, under the sea, with some friendly, very colorful sea monsters as her guests. 

Miri sings the Four Questions and whirls and twirls in celebration with her new marine friends. And soon it is time to dance and sing above the

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

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 to prod students to ask questions. And we too are b

This year for Passover, Matilda's grandmother invites her to help make the matzah ball soup—a dish that’s essential to Jewish cuisine, especially for holiday meals.

Matilda Makes Matzah Balls, by Rhonda Cohen and illustrated by Francesca Galmozzi, tells the story of Matilda, who has always loved watching her grandmother make soup. Now she wants to try out some of her own ideas. Adding lemon and dill to the matzah balls seems like a great idea. But making one GIANT matzah ball is a giant mistake.

Yet Bubbe is encouraging. "The best part of experimenting is you can always try again," she tells Matilda. 

And so the grandmother-granddaughter cooking team continues the kitchen experiments, with some unusual (and unusually delicious!) results.

Matilda’s enthusiasm and her grandmother’s uncondi

In Teach Them Diligently, Bonnie K. Stevens writes how the joyfulness and energy of Purim celebrations provide educators with opportunties to reflect on the role arts can play in Jewish education.