Mitzvah Moments on the Israeli Kibbutz!

This week, we visited a Kibbutz, a place full of animals, farming, and most importantly… TEAMWORK!

"What is teamwork?" Morah asked. Mendy said, "It’s when we work together!"

We looked at pictures that showed examples of teamwork — a busy beehive, a soccer team, farmers in the field, and a Minyan (10 Jewish people davening together). Each one showed how we work together to get something important done.
In the picture of the soccer team, all the players were smiling when one teammate scored a goal. We talked about how we can all feel happy when something good happens to a friend — because we’re one big team! Shai remembered when a real beehive came to visit our Gan last year. He shared, “A bee only makes less than one teaspoon of honey in her whole life!” That’s why bees need to work together — so we can have lots of sweet honey! When the Jewish people work together, daven together, and feel joy for one another, we bring so much nachas to Hashem 💜

We created a beautiful "Teamwork Tree," where each child added a leaf showing something they’re good at. When we bring all our special talents together, we make one amazing team!

In a kibbutz, everyone works together to care for the land and animals, that’s why our week was full of hands-on farming fun! The children loved meeting real animals when the petting zoo came to visit, and we all enjoyed petting the duck’s silly little hairdo! 

Axel had a blast “milking” our pretend cow, Mooo-linda, while Yossi proudly took on the role of mashgiach to make sure the milk was kosher! We spoke about the beautiful mitzvah of Chalav Yisrael — how lucky we are that our milk is watched and prepared especially for us, just like Hashem watches over the Jewish nation with so much love.

We explored how sheep give us wool by creating a fluffy cotton sheep craft, and we even watched a video of people shearing a sheep that hadn’t been trimmed in so long she couldn’t even see!

The kids enjoyed decorating and sharing adorable animal-shaped cookies with their friends. Our class also put on a puppet show starring some very silly animals!

And just like kibbutzniks who love flowers and nature, we pressed colorful blooms — Mordy, had everyone giggling when he used his whole body weight to press them really flat! We used the pressed flowers to decorate beautiful bookmarks and even stamped them into our Eretz Yisrael passports!

Planting flowers! Now we watch Hashem’s creations grow...

Hashem gave us the special mitzvah not to mix meat and milk. By keeping them separate, we make our homes holy and filled with kedusha! To help us remember, we made our very own “Meat” and “Dairy” signs for our kitchens. The children carefully used stencils to form the letters.

Thank you, Rabbi Lang for coming in to do a rally with us! This week we celebrated the 13 of Tammuz which marks the day when the Frierdiker Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef Yitzchak Schneersohn, was released from Soviet prison after being arrested for spreading Torah and Judaism. His release is a celebration of Jewish strength, faith, and the power of standing up for what’s right—even in the face of danger. 

Lechaim!

Academics

We pulled the carrot we had been growing for the last few months!

Aftercare

Draw your dream kibbutz! Let’s explore our creativity by drawing what your dream kibbutz would look like! Think about the homes, the nature, the people, and how everyone works and plays together. What would you include in your ideal community?

We created our very own salad bar! Each child was in charge of cutting a different vegetable, and once everything was ready, we sat down and enjoyed the delicious salads together!

Shabbat Shalom!