Today the 6th graders and their families went to BBMI, which stands for bar and bat mitzvah institute. The purpose of it is to bring the day school and religious school kids together to prepare for our bar and bat mitzvahs’. I’m really excited about this because I already have friends in the day school and I’m looking forward to meeting their friends. Rabbi Burg welcomed us by encouraging us to think about people in Postville who are without jobs and money to afford food. Our new BBMI community collected over 700 dollars to purchase food to help them celebrate Thanksgiving.

We continued our morning with Rabbi Burg teaching us a prayer to bless the study of torah. I thought it was a very uplifting melody and it prepared me to start the morning.  Next we had an ice breaker where we had a sheet with all these statements, for example, “Someone with green eyes.” We all went around and asked people if one of the statements was true about them. If it was, they signed it and so on, until you got all the statements signed by someone. It was a fun way to learn more about each other. Then we went back together as a group and did a Shacharit service lead by the students. It was a good feeling to know all the prayers!

After the service, we rotated to three different areas to learn about three different topics from Rabbi Futterman, Mr. Hirsch, and Mrs. Peikes. First I learned about the tzitzit and that they are to remind us of the 613 mitzvot. When I go to Israel this June, I will be picking out my talit for my bat mitzvah. After that, I learned about minyans. We read a letter from a man in our synagogue who lost his son. He began to go to morning minyan and he talked about how it was extremely comforting to see all the people support him each day.  Lastly I learned about the blessing your parents read to you when you’re called to read torah. It’s supposed to wish you a continued life of torah and good deeds going towards the chupah. When we were talking about this I thought of how our home is a Jewish home because it’s always welcoming like the open sides of a chupah. I enjoyed learning about all of these ways to do mitzvot.

Ellory
6th Grade
Anshe Emet Braun Religious School
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When we first gathered together, we looked at all of the new faces from the Religious School, and the Day School. Some of us knew one another, and some of us were new to each other.   We started with Rabbi Burg defining what a Bat/Bar mitzvah is. We learned that it means son/daughter of the commandments.  This was a great start.  Then the other teachers from the religious school taught us an “ice breaker” game which everyone enjoyed.  We met new people who helped us, as the game clearly says, break the ice.

Then we got serious and started brainstorming about what a Bat/Bar mitzvah really is. Kids started raising their hands and saying that it means a bigger responsibility to the community. We went into depth about what those responsibilities are.  One of the things that you can do as part of the community once you have been Bar/Bat Miztvahed is participate in morning minyan. Rabbi Burg gave us an example of this, saying that if there were a group of 9 B’nai mitzvah adults and they needed the 10th person and you walked by but you were only 11, they couldn’t take you. But when you are thirteen and Bar/Bat Mitzvahed. they can take you, and then you are able to help out your community.  Rabbi Burg put on his tefilin before or us. He explained how he remembers that the tefilin is wrapped around the arm seven times: The four matriarchs, and the three patriarchs. Then we prayed. We had a very brief service.

Everyone in the room had a nametag that had our names and a colored sticker. We joined the group that had the same color as ours so that we could learn together in groups. We got a chance to work with all three teachers.

With Mr. Hirsch, we discussed morning minyan. We talked about why you need ten B’nai mitzvah adults to complete the minyan, learning to story of how Abraham bargained G-d down to a challenge to find 10 righteous people in a non-righteous city.  Then, a parent volunteer read aloud a very powerful letter about a moving experience with Morning Minyan.
With Ms. Peikes we discussed the prayer before we are Bat/Bar mitzvah, and the English translation.  The prayer takes place under the Huppah.  The Huppah represents a good Jewish home.

Finally, we talked with Rabbi Futterman about the three paragraphs of the shma. The three paragraphs talked about the mezuzah, the tefilin, and the tzizit.   Rabbi Futterman told us that his favorite times were when his kids played under his tallit while he prayed.

I’m sure that everyone learned a lot, and I think the most important thing that we learned is that a Bat/Bar mitzvah is a community effort, not just you.   Don’t forget to do your homework, and I hope that we will see you all in two weeks at the next BBMI.

Haley
6th Grade
BZAEDS

Today we had the third BBMI class.  Instead of our usual location, Blum, we met in the gym because there was a Hanukkah party going on.  Also, it was a shortened BBMI due to the synagogue Hanukkah celebration. 

We started off as we usually do, by singing “La’sok Bedivrei Torah” and participating in Tefilah.  Some of the prayers included Ashrei, Barachu, and Shema.  All the BBMI students led different prayers and it was nice to have the BZAEDS students and religious school students together. 
Rabbi Burg then explained the activity, which involved each student studying the story of their own Torah portion.  In the project, we first filled out a worksheet about our portion.  Some of the questions included “What were the main events in your parsha?”; “What role does G-d play in the portion?”; and “What lessons can you learn from the parsha?”. 

Next, each student and their family received three sheets of paper (one opaque and two transparent).  On the opaque one, we drew symbols, pictures, or scenes from each parsha.  On the next sheet, we drew the role that G-d played in our portion.   Lastly, we drew how we relate to our story and G-d.  In the end, the three-layered booklet ended up as a beautiful scene or sections from each student’s story.  The project was not only fun, but everyone learned a lot about their portion. 

Our next BBMI class is after vacation on January 11 and we hope to see you there.  Have a great Hanukkah and vacation!

Meredith-BZAEDS, 6th grade
Eve-Religious School, 6th grade

We began today's BBMI with Shacharit services and spent some time thinking about what we are thanking G-d for.  We thank G-d for letting us wake up and see the new day. We thank G-d for clothing us and for providing us with food. When we got to the Shma we started talking about why we close our eyes during the prayer. Rabbi Burg told us that we do this so we don’t mistake G-d as anything else. He also told us that you can’t see G-d with the naked eye and that’s also why we close our eyes.  

This week in BBMI we leaned about hunger.  After, our morning service, Gary Garland, the Executive Director of The Lakeview Pantry, came to speak to us with two other coordinators, Carrie McCormack and Greg Nergaard.  They told us about the Lakeview Pantry and what they do.  They said that they not only need groceries, but also need CTA cards, cell phones, clothing and other hygiene products like toothbrushes and towels.  They said that they had over 30,000 visits this year and that more and more people need help because of the economy.  They help people in different ways.  They provide pick-up and delivery of groceries, help people pay rent, help find people jobs, and refer people to other agencies that can help. 

We then got the opportunity to go over to the Lakeview Pantry.  We helped to sort food into different categories to organize it to be given out.  When we were finished sorting the food we went back to the synagogue.  After a quick snack, the head of MAZON, Eric Schockman, spoke to us.  MAZON is a Jewish hunger organization. Each year, MAZON grants over $4 million to many different organizations like food banks and other groups that seek long-term solutions to the hunger problem. Interestingly, MAZON supports the work of the Lakeview Pantry.   Well that is it.  It was really fun, and we can't wait for next BBMI!

By Ari P.(Anshe Emet Braun Religious School) and Kaylie H. (Bernard Zell Anshe Emet Day School). 

After we had our snack, we went into our color groups. We were then told to read a sheet of paper and answer the questions. The group leaders also mentioned that we should get into groups of two to three families and discuss the questions together. The main theme of the exercise was about visiting sick people [Bikkur Holim]. One of the passages talked about what you do when someone is sick. The three main parts were that G-D visits someone when they’re sick, that G-D blesses you when you’re sick, and that you should be like G-D. In addition to that, we learned that even though you don’t make someone better, the act of visiting takes away 1/60 of their pain.   We concluded by coming together and sharing what we had discussed as a group.

Jacob Silverman               

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This week in BBMI we saw a presentation by Chai Lifeline. Chai lifeline is an organization, which provides a summer camp for very sick children and help and support for their families. It was a moving experience to see the struggle these kids went through, and made us remember how lucky we are. It was great to see these kids having fun, even though they were terminally ill. When a family who Chai Lifeline spoke to us it made me realize how real this is, and how this organization is making these people’s lives tremendously better.

Ariel Kaufman