Kitah Vav Assignments, Week of March 13, 2007 (due March 20)

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Hebrew - Rabbi Weber

Today (March 13) we had some most interesting conversations about the yetzer harah and yetzer hatov. Still, I think I missed in trying to convey the deeper message: our "yetzer harah" is something we can harness for the good. For example, we have personal pride and yearn for recognition from other people, which might be said to come from the "yezter harah." Yet that same inclination can lead us to find cures for diseases or make other discoveries of great benefit, even if our drive to do so may initially come from a desire for other people to say, "Look how smart I am!"

Still, we had some nice conversations, and both kids had done a decent job in writing a thoughtful piece on "What advantage does the yetzer harah give us?"

BTW, for a superb treatment of this, find a copy of the original Star Trek series, episode 6 I believe, originally aired in Oct. 1965. Cpt. Kirk is stuck in the transporter, which splits him into two separate beings, a totally good Capt. Kirk and an Evil Capt. Kirk. Kirk and the crew discover that the totally "good" Kirk is completely ineffective as a commander. Its an episode that had to have been written by a yeshiva graduate, showing the complexity of how the two "yetzers" are balanced.

We also did a little preliminary Passover stuff, with a review of the four questions.

This chapter is coming to an end.
For homework, please practice reading the prayer on page 43. No written work this week, but spend some time together reading the prayer. Its something they both need to learn for bar/bat mitzvah, so why not do it now?

Rabbi DW

History/Philosophy - Nancy Garfinkel
Hi Everyone,

Sorry for the delay in sending out the summary and homework.  I have been battling what has seemed to be a major never ending cold and have only just started to see improvement today.  Yeah!

Mr. Stevens was kind enough to step in as a last minute substitute for me and I understand that class went very well.  He incorporated some materials that we had covered earlier in the year with items that we are studying now.  It made for a great brief review.

We are currently at the end of chapter 5 in the text.  Two weeks ago when I was in, I gave out a word search puzzle with the object of finding names of Jewish American boxers.  Jews have been prominent in many different fields as career choices.  Sports and athletics are only just one route to fortune and fame. (never mind earning a living and feeding your family!)

The "Entertainment" industry has had a major influence on Jewish life and Jewish life and lives have had a major influence on the entertainment industry.  The text book gives a few names of past entertainment greats, but no mention of current "celebrities".   One aspect of our discussion this week will cover Jewish American entertainment celebrities.  I would like you to keep this in mind for your homework assignment that follows.

Homework:
Go to :  http:/en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Jewish_American_entertainers

I would like you to write a few short sentences about the following entertainment personalities.  Please include information about each person such as: whether both parents are Jewish, what their specialty is (examples: directors -movies or stage, comedian, dancer, actor, sports / athletics, writer, producer) and when they were popular (example: 1900's, 1920's, 1950's or for current people just write "today" or "current")  If you are able, write what some of their accomplishments are ie; a particular movie they wrote or starred in, a role they are famous for, a show they are known for.

Here are the people to look up:
Woody Allen, Jack Benny, George Burns, Milton Berle, Billy Crystal, Bette Midler, Gilda Radner, Jon Stewart, Ben Stiller, Paula Abdul, J J Abrams, Steven Spielberg.

My Thanks again to Mr. Stevens for filling in for me.

See you on Tuesday.
Mrs. Garfinkel

Enrichment:
Parents: Direct students to www.behrmanhouse.com where they can practice their Hebrew decoding with “Click and Read Hebrew at Home” (the orange button) and drill prayer reading with “Click and Learn Prayer at Home” (the hot pink button). It’s also an ideal way for parents to practice along with their children.

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