Gan Camarillo Preschool: Chessed Guard, Assemble!

This week we continued learning about Rivkah our matriarch.
Rivkah, was known for her beautiful kindness and what it really means to notice others. We read together a story that showcased this.

To bring Rivkah’s kindness into our classroom, we created a Chessed Guard! A Chessed Guard is a special team whose job is to make sure everyone feels safe, cared for, and included.

Here you can see Theo working on his Chessed Guard vest, and Chana helping Golda when she fell. Chana helped her get back on her feet, asked if she needed anything, and brought her an ice pack — real kindness in action!

We also made “Get Well” cards. Mordy was our Refuah Sheleima Helper, and he delivered a card to Moshe, who smiled so big — it truly made his day. That is the power of a small act of kindness!

Another beautiful project we did was “Mail a Hug.”
We traced the children’s arms open wide, like a giant hug, and mailed them to someone special.

Yehudis, chose to send her hug to a woman in the community who isn’t feeling well.

Yossi, sent his to a friend he misses.

Golda and Miya, decided to mail their hugs to their cousin who is having a hard time at school, and Avraham sent his hug to a friend who recently moved away. 💛

After all these beautiful acts of caring, the children truly earned the Gem of Kindness for their crowns!

Parasha time!

In Parashat Toldos, we learned that after Yitzchak and Rivkah got married, they did not have children for many years. They davened to Hashem, and finally their tefillot were answered — Rivkah became pregnant, and she was carrying twins!

One twin, Yaakov, was kind, gentle, and loved doing mitzvot. He listened to his “Yaakov voice” and made thoughtful choices. The other twin, Esav, was born red and very hairy, and did not always make good choices.

But even though Esav wasn’t always doing the right things, we can still learn something special from him. Esav, showed tremendous kibbud av v’eim — he respected his mother and father in beautiful ways. This taught us that every person has something we can learn from.

Here you can see Eli F. and Avraham creating their Yaakov and Esav puppets. They even made Esav’s puppet red! We also explored different textures of fur to imagine how Esav might have felt.

When we were talking about ways we can do mitzvot of kindness, Eli B. shared that he helps his mommy take out the trash, and Theo said he helped his grandpa carry a heavy box. These were perfect examples of kibbud av v’eim 💛

Esav was a hunter. He would go out into the fields to catch animals. One day, when he came back from hunting, he was starving. As he walked into the tent, he smelled the most delicious smell — Yaakov was cooking lentil soup!

We made our own lentil soup, just like in the parasha!

When Esav arrived, he didn’t say “please.” He simply said, “Give me some of that lentil soup.”

Yaakov answered, “I’ll give it to you on one condition — you must sell me your birthright,” the special honor that belongs to the older child.

Esav said, “The birthright? I don’t need it!” And he sold it for a bowl of soup.

Later, Rivkah told Yaakov to put on Esav’s clothing and go to Yitzchak to receive the bracha. Yitzchak was older and could not see very well. When Yaakov entered the tent, Yitzchak heard him coming. He touched Yaakov’s arms, which Rivkah had covered with furry material so they would feel like Esav’s, and he smelled Esav’s clothing. Yitzchak said the famous words: “The voice is Yaakov’s voice, but the hands are Esav’s hands.”

Yaakov received the special blessing that Hashem should give him goodness, food, and plenty, that he should grow into a great nation, and that Hashem would always be with him and protect him.
This is the beautiful blessing that was passed down through Yaakov to all of us, the children of Am Yisrael 💙