It's been exciting in Omanut since we have returned from the Winter Break...We have successfully completed our stone mosaic, based on what we have learned about the Lod Mosaic in Israel, and it will be installed somewhere on the campus of Temple Isaiah for all to appreciate in the near future. Very proud of the hard work and collaboration of the Omanut students! The all really took ownership of the pieces and made it very special.
With the mosaic done, we have moved on to creating and learning about mezuzah- made from clay, sticks, paper, glass pieces, and other more non-traditional things like legos! We took a mini 'field trip' to the gift shop to explore the beautiful and interesting mezuzot there, and had a discussion session with Rabbi Greninger about more of the history, and we saw both a Kosher and non Kosher parchment. One of the other lessons we have done is building upon the sketch prompt: "If you did not know what prayers/sayings/ words were in our mezuzah, what would you want for the blessings for all Jewish people?"... what came from that question was inspiring and lovely. You will get to see all of the projects when they are spotlighted in our end of the year Art Show!
A super interesting documentary about Mezuzah that we watched, and that the kids loved, is as follows:
If you have always wanted to affix a mezuzah, our very own Rabbi Shanks is the star of a video that you should definitely watch:
We had a very informative, creative Family Program this past Sunday with Nechama Shaina, a Sofrit (Torah scribe) and Ketubah artist. Nechama led a great morning of learning about the history of ketubah and what various symbols mean in ancient work, as well as her own modern work. We loved having her! Nechama Shaina's website : http://cargocollective.com/ketuba4two
The family ketubah that the students and their families have created will be featured in the Art Show as well, so be on the look out!
Some pictures from Omanut in action...
Our class mosaic, based on the Lod Mosaic
Music with Maya
The start of creating mezuzah
Creating and learning with Nechama Shaina
Until next time!
L'Shalom,
Heather
