Kesher Sprouts קשר נבטים- first class free!!

Are you and your little one ready to branch out and meet other children and parents?

12 Fridays * 10-11.30am * April 9 to June 25 * Drop-ins welcome

Kesher Sprouts is a child development class for 1 ½ to 3 year olds and their parents. Each week, carefully chosen activities promote your child’s growth, and provide social opportunities for children and parents alike in an open and inclusive setting, gently introducing kids to stories, songs, and symbols from the Jewish tradition.

The program enables parents to spend quality time with their child and interact with other parents with children at the same age.

It is an ideal opportunity to share ideas and exchange information, connect with other parents and discuss contemporary issues and views.

Try the April 9th session for free. Tuition for the entire 12 session series is $120. The ‘drop in rate’ is $15.

Kesher is a unique Jewish learning community located in Cambridge MA. For 18 years we have been combining the highest standards in after-school child care, with thoughtful and innovative Jewish and Hebrew education. Recognized nationally for the excellence of our pedagogy, and our ability to build meaningful, open learning communities, Kesher is piloting our first Early Childhood program.

This program is supported in part by a grant by CJP’s Jewish Innovation & Engagement Committee.

Click here to read more

Call 617 576 0830 for more information, Email Rafi at rafi@kesherweb.org

Geulah – redemption

At Kesher we place a lot of value on text-study, but this lesson was the first time that I tried reading to the Shorashim from the Torah directly, with no adaptation. I opened the book after just a short introduction, apprehensive that this was going to fall flat, maybe they are too young for this, and the language of the Torah is too difficult for them, too terse. I read the passage from Exodus telling how the Jews cried out after many years of suffering under the Egyptian yoke, and how after they cried out, God responded.  I had to repeat the few lines again to the kids, but I was amazed by how they responded! These young, young children went directly to the most important questions, and directly echoed the questions that are asked in the pages of our great scholars.

“Why haven’t they cried out before? why did they wait so long?”

“Why did God wait until the people cried out to respond?”

“Why did they have to cry out loud to God?”

“Sometimes you cry out loud and no body helps you, did they know they’re going to get help?”

We have many children’s books about the Exodus at Kesher, but their amplified storytelling sometimes tries to answer important questions before the kids have a chance to ask them. The Shorashim responded magnificently to the openness of the original Torah text.

Lee

In these photos you can see a discussion about the story of Exodus  in Anafim, and Shorashim depicting various moments of ‘Ge’ulah’ – redemption -  in the story.

Matza making season

It doesn’t take more than half an hour of good weather for New Englanders to want to go out and Barbeque, and a touch of spring in the air makes a Jew want to do nothing more than bake Matza.

Upside down Purim day

Purim celebrates an ancient reversal of fortune, when the Jews overcame a deadly decree, and turned sadness into silliness. At Kesher today we celebrated by having our day upside down. We start the day with Shira, have silly kibud (snack), we learn English instead of Ivrit (Hebrew), and make loud noises when we hear Haman’s name mentioned in the Megila and in the Purim Spiel Anafim put on.

Our Wild Purim Carnival

Our Wild Purim carnival was celebrated on Sunday at the Atrium school, Kesher families  along with some guests from Kesher Newton came together, many in outrageous costumes, to play and make merry.

The Anafim (4th and 5th graders) created games for everyone, some of them were really crazy!! The games included: Shaving Mordechai’s ’s beard (off baloons ), the King’s sobriety test (walking a line after spinning over a bat) , Finding Haman’s soft spot, Pin the EAR on Haman, Archery with bean balls and Banana catapult.