Hashem's home and being helpful!

This week we learned about The Beis Hamikdash!

Hashem wants His Shechinah (His presence) to be in this world. We learned that the Beis hamikdash was Hashem's home where His presence was felt most.

We feel the most comfortable in our homes too.

(During davening circle we have been talking about how we can bring His presence down even while we are still waiting for the third Beis Hamikdash)

Creating our own Beis Hamikdash scene. 

Esther cutting out the different special items that were found in the Beis Hamikdash.

The Menorah that was lit every single day in the Beis Hamikdash. They used special olive oil that needed to be made from scratch.

We watched a video of the process of making olive oil.

Trying to make it ourselves.

Finding olives on the olive branches.

Shmuel trying to make a mizbeiach with a ramp. It was quite difficult to balance on it!

Chanie and Yanky helped us act out what the Keruvim was. It had two angels on it.  It was miraculous since when the Jewish people were getting along it faced each other and when we weren't they faced away from each other.

With each special item in the Beis Hamikdash we emphasized the holiness and miracles the Jewish people experienced.

Parsha time!

Yakov's name got changed to Yisroel when he was fighting with Esav's angel on the way to Eretz Yisroel. 

We learned about the power of our Jewish names.

Each one of us has a name and we found out the inspiration behind our names.

Decorating our names certificate.

Acting out the Parsha. 

Yakov prepared by davening to Hashem, sending gifts and preparing incase of a war.

 Rochel passed away on the way to Eretz Yisroel after giving birth to Binyamin. 

Arik, creating a Kever Rochel scene. 

Process art using yarn and paint.

Helpful and Hurtful

Our friends have been hearing a lot about the different voices inside of us from when we talked about Yakov and Esav.

One crucial life skill we will be working on, is when we say or hear something hurtful we have the opportunity to do a 'do over' and turn it into a helpful way of saying it.

During our meeting time we drew some different scenarios our friends' might find themselves in. 

With their help we wrote down what would be a hurtful way of saying it and how we can say it in a nicer helpful way.

For example, if a friend needs space instead of saying "Get away" we can say "I need some space please." This was a great way to hear our friends feelings in a neutral setting and discuss how we can make them feel more safe if it happens again. 

Shmuel wanted to come up and draw something that he by mistake said hurtful and write what he can do next time. 

In honor of Yud Daled Kislev, the wedding anniversary of the Rebbe and Rebbetzin we made a wedding cake!