Monthly Archives: May 2023

Think about a time when you stepped into a classroom or event or any room full of unfamiliar faces. Daunting, right?

Using creativity, practical tools, and a little prep work, you can help your students and staff break the ice and begin building relationships quickly and successfully.

Relationships lie at the core of successful education, and icebreakers help initiate and grow relationships, according to Batsheva Frankel in The Jewish Educator's Companion: Practical Tools and Inspirational Ideas. Icebreakers accomplish many things — they can create a sense of community, encourage trust, and allow for better bonding experiences.

Frankel includes an entire chapter in 

Communities of Meaning: 

Conversations on Modern Jewish Life Inspired by Rabbi Larry Hoffman 

Coming January 2024

Larry Hoffman has had a singular impact on contemporary Jewish life in North America. He has taught us that Judaism is an unending conversation and as a tribute, 36 leading thinkers have engaged him in dialogue about the big questions in American Jewish life. The resulting book invites us into that conversation and challenges us to think creatively about the ideas and institutions that will shape Jewish life in the twenty-first century.  

This book takes stock of the century of transformation in American Jewish communal life and celebrates the diversity of expressions and ideas that define modern Judaism. It is thus a fitting guide for Jewish communal leaders engaged in organizational transformation and for observers of American religious

Apples & Honey Press is honored and delighted to have four titles make the list of the 2023 Edition of Bank Street College of Education’s “Best Children’s Books of the Year”!

This list “includes more than 600 titles chosen by the Children’s Book Committee as the best of the best published in 2022.” Apples & Honey Press titles were featured in four different categories between two age lists.

Family/School/Community, ages 5-9

Summer break is nearly here. 

Whether children are at home or off at camp, there will be plenty of opportunities for quiet activity. Build in some chances to deepen Jewish connection and keep Hebrew skills sharp with card games.

Hooked on Hebrew is a series of card games that reinforce Hebrew letters and prayers - whether in school or at home or over the summer - and are full of both social and academic benefits. Plus, card games are time-tested sources of fun for both children and adults.  

Melissa Pescatore, director of religious education at Temple Shaari Emeth in Manalapan New Jersey, purchased a deck of cards for each student in her school - grade K-6 - and gave them out as take-home

Apples & Honey Press has four new children's stories coming out this month.

Picture Books

Daddy, Can You Make Me Tall? 

By Rona Novick, PhD, illustrated by Ana Sebastian

Shabbat is coming! I can't reach my shirt. Daddy, can you make me tall?

I can't