Kesher קשר

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A blog revamp, and refresh coming soon…

Kesher Opens Preschool Daycare!

We are very excited to announce the September launch of our preschool daycare program – Kesher Nevatim – Kesher Sprouts!

We are pleased to invite you to a few more opportunities to meet with Marta Nemesh, the director of Kesher’s new preschool daycare program, Kesher Nevatim (sprouts),

** Monday August 15, 5pm

** September 23, Friday 12PM

See events on facebook at: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=229770953713244

Offering full-day and part-day childcare for kids from 2.9yrs and up, Nevatim is a small, multi-age program housed in a purpose-designed space. Nevatim kids experience the joy of being part of a community, while their teachers work with each child, meeting individual needs, nurturing personal interests, and building up skills and abilities.
At Kesher Nevatim, kids encounter Judaism through the heart, soul and mind. They develop a love of Jewish life through joyful engagement with one-another and with their teachers in the rich weave of Jewish tradition and culture. The day is infused with Jewish values, symbols, stories, sights, sounds, and tastes. Nevatim isn’t just a place to learn about their Jewish heritage. It’s a place where kids learn to become a part of a living Jewish tradition – through play, social interaction, cooking, singing and more. A place where we create positive Jewish experiences and nurture happy Jewish children.
Enrolling Now for September 2011 – hurry, space is limited!
Find out more at Kesher Daycare , email rafi@kesherweb.org , or call 617 576 0830 for more info

By popular demand – Erev Ivrit footage

 Dear Kesher followers, our annual celebration of Hebrew was held last Wednesday. Thanks to all who came and were brave to survive the storm and hurricane warnings.

We had a great time – here are some photos and a special production of JONAHNOACH  (it has 2 parts).

 Enjoy.

Kesher Family Retreat!

This past Sunday Kesher families gathered together for our Kesher Lag B’Omer retreat. In honor of Lag B’Omer we spent the day outdoors playing games, doing crafts, and hiking. We started the day at Houghton’s Pond with a picnic lunch and spent some time relaxing and socializing. Then we gathered together for some parachute games to get to know each other. Everyone enjoyed this- especially when we made a tent out of the parachute and sat under it together!

Next, we went on a hike around the pond and explored the nature on the trail. We saw lots of bullfrogs and listened to them “talk” to each other. We saw some tadpoles in a stream and looked for crabs under rocks. The kids had fun climbing into the lifeguard chair on the sand and looking out over the pond. We saw all different kinds of birds and lots of people fishing. Then we returned to the picnic site for some kibbud (snack) to reenergize after our hike.

We finished the day experimenting with giant soap bubbles and playing sports at our picnic site. Everyone had a great time and it was so fun to spend some relaxing time as a Kesher community!

Don’t forget that EREV IVRIT is fast approaching on Wednesday June 1^st at 5:45! Stop by for some falafel, shop in our Shouk (market), hang out in our Beit Café (coffee house), and see the fabulous Ivrit work of the Kesher students!

Lag B’Omer Retreat

Just a reminder- the Kesher family retreat is coming up this Sunday May 22nd from 11 am to 3 pm at Blue Hills Reservation! We will be playing outdoor games, doing some cool art projects, and the staff will be leading different stations with various projects!

Bring a vegetarian/dairy picnic lunch and we hope to see you there!

Happy Birthday Israel

Dear kesher families
Last week we celebrated at Kesher the 63rd independence day of Israel. We marked the day in an ‘old school’, Israeli style– we had a ceremony. All the kids arrived in blue/white shirts and we assembled in the shorashim room. Kita hay and vav students, under the guidance of their teacher, Mara, led the ceremony. During the ceremony we lit torches to mimic Israel’s official ceremony in ‘Har Hertzel’ Jerusalem.
Each torch was lit to honor different elements of Kesher’s community connection with Israel:
In honor of all those who love and learn עברית, keeping the Aleph Bet alive in their heart and in Israel, in honor of those who work to bring the value of Kavod to their lives and to others lives, in honor of young, creative minds who bring Simcha and Ruach to the world and to Israel, and in honor of those who work to keep Jewish Values alive around the world and in Israel.

I was moved to hear Ben Stevens read “As the flame of these torches shifts and changes as they burn, never appearing exactly the same twice, so too our understanding and connection to Medinat Yisrael, changes from moment to moment. However it changes over time, may it always be a source of light for us”.

Happy Birthday Israel, and Kol hakavod to the Kesher kids who celebrated their connection to Israel!

Chemda

Yom Hatzmaut at Kesher

This week we celebrated Yom Hatzmaut! We did lots of fun Israel-themed activities. We made sand art with white and blue sand, Israeli flags to hang up around Kesher, and stickers. Some students created a gallery of famous Israelis with descriptions and pictures to put in the hallway. We ate pita and humus for kibbud and played Israel trivia in Ivrit class. We ended the day with a ceremony by kitah hay and vav to commemorate Israel’s 63^rd birthday and the connections we are building to Israel and Ivrit at Kesher. The ceremony was very beautiful and the kids in kitah hay and vav did a great job leading it.

A gift for Kesher

We would like to extend a Todah Rabah to the Kravitz Family for donating a new kadur (soccer ball) to Kesher! The ball was given to the students during Shira at the end of the day and the whole presentation took place in Ivrit. The kids were all very excited about their new ball and they can’t wait to test it out at the park as the weather gets warmer!

Come see Kesher students perform!

Some of our Kesher students will be performing in the North Cambridge Family Opera’s production of “Space Opera”. We are very excited to see them perform! If you are interested in seeing one of the performances, they will be taking place on Saturday April 2nd and 9th at 2 pm and 7 pm as well as Sunday April 3rd and 10th at 1 pm and 5:30 pm. All of the performances will be at the Peabody School (70 Rindge Avenue Cambridge MA). See you there!

Here is a link for more information: http://www.familyopera.org/drupal/

Nitzanim study David HaMelech

Recently the Nitzanim have been studying the transition of B’nai Yisrael to a monarchy. This week the Nitzanim explored the qualities of King David and attempted to determine what exactly made him a great king. In order to do this, we read stories from three different parts of David’s life: David the shepherd, David the outlaw, and David the king of Israel. After reading each story, we stopped and discussed the qualities David embodied during this point in his life. Once we determined what kind of person David was, the students selected different colors and materials to represent those qualities. Finally, each group made a collage with the materials they selected.

This lesson really allowed the students to explore David’s character in depth. They noticed how his bravery and devotion to G-d were a constant feature throughout all the major stages in David’s life. The Nitzanim also remarked on his humility and lack of arrogance. They said that this would set him up to be a good king because it is important to understand that nobody is perfect and there is always room for improvement. It was interesting to hear the kids juxtapose the qualities of king David against those of Saul. After a careful consideration of both kings, they came to the conclusion that even from a young age David had the makings of a king.