Shalom First Grade!

A collection for the opening of the new school year – 5776 (2015-2016)

Blessing for Educators

May God who blessed our fathers Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob

Our mothers Sarah, Rivka, Rachel, and Leah

And generations of Jewish educators

Bless those who educate our children as they begin a new school year.

May God who blessed Moses with initiative and leadership

Bless our teachers with enthusiasm.

May God who blessed Hillel with patience – bless our teachers with endurance.

May God who blessed Maimonides with a broad and deep mind

Bless our teachers with a thirst for knowledge.

May God who blessed Janusz Korczak with a love of children and a belief in children’s abilities

Bless our teachers with the ability to accept and respect every child.

God, please guard our teachers in schools and kindergartens, and may they be privileged to learn and

to teach with creativity and love.

And let us say: Amen.

The Educator’s Prayer

Our God and God of our fathers and mothers

You who grant knowledge to humans and teach understanding to people,

Grant us knowledge and teach us to teach.

Open our hearts to our students

And to your Torah which is heard in each and every voice.

Let us rejoice in study, education, discovery and innovation

And let a good spirit rest on us

That we might understand, fathom, hear,

Learn and teach.

Put love in our hearts

So we may teach one another and learn from each other.

And may we establish many students in the world, as it is written:

“Establish many students”. (Ethics of the Fathers, 1:1)

As we begin a new school year, we hope you all enjoyed the summer vacation. We invite you all – adults and children – to mark the beginning of

the new school year with some prayers, readings, and songs. We wish everyone a peaceful, productive, and happy school year!

The blessings and prayers in this collection were originally written by Rabbi Talia Avnon Benvenisti, Maya Vamosh-Dubinsky (of Beit Daniel), and other Israeli Reform rabbis.

In the Mood for Blessing Rabbi Dan Prat

Blessed are you, O book. Blessed are you, O page and sentence. Blessed are you, O letter. Blessed be God’s glorious name. Blessed be all the inglorious names. Blessed are you, O molecule; blessed is the light. Blessed are the shoulders. Blessed is the burden; blessed is the yoke. Blessed is the moon, blessed is the calendar. Blessed are you, O hands of the clock.

A Blessing for Students

“Moses received the Torah from Sinai and gave it over to Joshua. Joshua gave it over to the Elders, the Elders to the Prophets, and the Prophets gave it over to the Men of the Great Assembly.”

Ethics of the Fathers, 1:1

May God who blessed the members of the Great Assembly Who commanded us to establish many students, Who gave Hillel and Shammai the gift of debate, tolerance, and friendship, Who blessed Rabbi Akiva with love of the word and Love of his fellow, Who granted Bruria wisdom and daring, Who placed a good spirit and love of learning in the hearts Of Jewish students throughout the generations, Who dwells in every house of study and learning And who created the world in letters and words – May He bless you as you enter the gates of your school and classroom. May He grant you the joy of study, the delight of discovery and innovation, the gift of friendship and tolerance, And love for Torah and knowledge. In your studies, may you preserve and renew the heritage of the generations. May you, too, create countless worlds of words, numbers, pictures, and melodies. And may learning always be in your hearts like the bubbling spring. May God bless you and keep you So may it be God’s will May God make His face shine on you and be gracious to you, So may it be God’s will May God lift up His face to you and grant you peace. So may it be God’s will.

Texts about Learning and Teaching

Mishna

Elisha the son of Avuyah would say: One who learns Torah in childhood, what is this

comparable to? To ink inscribed on fresh paper. One who learns Torah in old age, what is

this comparable to? To ink inscribed on erased paper. Rabbi Yossei the son of Judah of Kfar

HaBavli would say: One who learns Torah from youngsters, whom is he comparable to?

To one who eats unripe grapes and drinks [unfermented] wine from the press. One who

learns Torah from the old, whom is he comparable to? To one who eats ripened grapes and

drinks aged wine. Said Rabbi Meir: Look not at the vessel, but at what it contains. There

are new vessels that are filled with old wine, and old vessels that do not even contain new

wine.

Ethics of the Fathers 4:20

Rabbi Nehunya Ben Hakanah used to say a short prayer on entering and leaving the Beit

Midrash. People asked him why he said a prayer. He replied: “On entering, I pray that I do

not make any mistakes, and on leaving I give thanks for my lot.”

Berachot, Chapter 4, Mishna 2

Talmud

Rab Judah has told us in the name of Rab: Verily the name of that man is to be blessed –

that is to say Joshua ben Gamala – for but for him the Torah would have been forgotten

from Israel. For at first if a child had a father, his father taught him, and if he had no

father he did not learn at all… they then made an ordinance that teachers of children

should be appointed in Jerusalem… Even so, however, if a child had a father, the father

would take him up to Jerusalem and have him taught there, and if not, he would not go

up to learn there. They therefore ordained that teachers should be appointed in each

prefecture, and that boys should enter school at the age of sixteen or seventeen. And if

the teacher punished them they used to rebel and leave the school. Until Joshua ben

Gamala came and ordained that teachers of young children should be appointed in each

district and each town. And the children should enter school at the age of six or seven.

Babylonian Talmud, Baba Batra, 21a

Songs to Begin the School Year With

Tudra Village

Lyrics: Yehoshua Sobol, Melody: Shlomo Bar

This song describes the village Tudra - located in the Atlas Mountains of northern Morocco,

where the children would lick Hebrew letters made of honey, as a part of a special ceremony

in their first day of the Jewish school.

טודרא בכפר אצלנו האטלס הרי שבלב

הילד את לוקחים היו חמש לגיל שהגיע

לו עושים פרחים כתר טודרא בכפר אצלנו

לו מלבישים בראש כתר חמש לגיל שהגיע

ברחוב הילדים כל לו עורכים גדולה חגיגה חמש לגיל שהגיע טודרא בכפר אצלנו

השמחה חתן את ואז

חמש לגיל שהגיע טודרא בכפר אצלנו

הכנסת לבית מכניסים עץ של לוח על וכותבים

' ת ועד' מא בדבש בדבש האותיות כל את

: לו ואומרים ! לקק, חביבי שבפה התורה והיתה

דבש של טעם כמו מתוקה טודרא בכפר אצלנו האטלס הרי שבלב

Etzlenu bikhfar Tudra Shebelev harei ha’Atlas Hayu lokkhim et hayeled Shehigi’a legil chamesh Keter prachim osim lo Etzlenu bikhfar Tudra Keter berosh malbishim lo Shehigi’a legil chamesh Kol hayeladim barechov Chagiga gdola orkhim lo Shehigi’a legil chamesh Etzlenu bikhfar Tudra

Ve’az et chatan hasimcha Shehigi’a legil chamesh Etzlenu bikhfar Tudra Machnisim leveyt hakneset Vekhotvim al lu’ach shel etz Bivdvash me’alef ad tav Et kol ha’otiyot bidvash Ve’omrim lo: Habibi, lakek! Vehayta haTorah shebapeh Metuka kmo ta’am shel dvash Etzlenu bikhfar Tudra Shebelev harei ha’Atlas

In our village Tudra In the heart of the Atlas mountains We would take the boy who Reached the age of five A crown of flowers we make for him In our village Tudra A crown we put on his head For he has arrived to be five All the kids on the street Would throw a big celebration for him For he has reached the age of five In our village Tudra

And then, the guest of honor, Who reached the age of five In our village Tudra Would be taken into the synagogue And on a wooden board Writing with honey the Alphabet All the letters made of honey, and we tell him Our beloved - lick it! And the Torah in his mouth Would be as sweet as honey In our village Tudra In the heart of the Atlas Mountains

Alef – ohel, Beit - ze bayit, Gimel ze gamal gadol, Mahi Dalet – zohi delet Shepotachat et hakol.

Hei – hadas, u’Vav - hu vered Sheparchu li bacholot, Zayin – Cheit – shteihen beyachad Zehu zer chavatzalot.

Bnei hasheish uvnei hasheva, Alef beit, alef beit, Metzayarim begir vatzeva, Alef beit, alef beit, Veyotzot bimchol machnayim Alef, alef beit, Otiot esrim ushtayim, Alef beit.

Tet – ze tov, v’Yud – ze yofi Kaf - ze ken, v’Lamed - lo, Mem - v’Nun – ze man vanofet Kach lecha v’ten gam lo.

Samech – sefer, Ayin – ayin, Pe – parpar v’gam pashosh, Tzadi – tzchok ad lev shamayim, Kof – ze kof, v’Resh – ze – Rosh Gadol Al Hak’tefayim Yeled Tov Yerushalayim. Uveyachad - Bnei haseish uvnei hasheva… Ma tzarich lavo achshav? Eifo Shin v’eifo Tav? Shin – Shalom, v’Tav – Toda V’nigmera ha’avoda, Dash lechol hamishpacha, V’lech lecha l’darkecha.

Bnei haseish uvnei hasheva…

Alef-Beit

Naomi shemer

The song Alef-Beit is a well-known children song, helping to recite and memorize the

Hebrew Alphabet; it presents every Hebrew letter followed by a word starting with that

same letter.

אלף - אוהל, בית - זה בית

גימל זה גמל גדול מהי דלת - זוהי דלת

שפותחת את הכל

הא - הדס, ווו הוא ורד שפרחו לי בחולות

זין - חית שתיהן ביחד זהו זר חבצלות

בני השש ובני השבע אלף-בית, אלף-בית מציירים בגיר וצבע

אלף-בית, אלף-בית ויוצאות במחול מחניים

אלף, אלף-בית אותיות עשרים ושתיים

אלף-בית

טית זה טוב ויוד זה יופי כף זה כן ולמד לא

מם ונון זה מן ונופת קח לך ותן גם לו

סמך - ספר, עין - עין

פא - פרפר וגם פשוש צדיק - צחוק עד לב שמיים

קוף זה קוף וריש זה ראש גדול על הכתפיים ילד טוב

ירושלים

וביחד - בני השש ובני השבע...

מה צריך לבוא עכשיו? איפה שין? ואיפה תו? שין - שלום ותו - תודה

ונגמרה העבודה ד"ש לכל המשפחה

ולך לך לדרכך

בני השש ובני בני בני השש ובני השבע...

A – tent, B - house, G - a big camel, what's D - a door that opens all.

H – myrtle, and Vav - a rose that bloomed for me in the sands, Z - CH - the 2 of them together is a wreath of sand-lilies.

Six and seven year olds ABC, ABC, Draw with chalk and color ABC, ABC And go out to sing with joy ABC, ABC Twenty two letters ABC.

T – is good, and Y - beauty, K - is yes and L is no, M and N - is manna and honey take for yourself and give to him too. S - a book, A - eye, P - butterfly and graceful warbler too, TZ - laugh up to the heaven, K - a monkey and R - it's a big head on your shoulders - good child of Jerusalem All together, Six and seven year olds… What comes now? Where is SH and where is T? SH - is peace, and T - is thanks and the work is done, greetings to the whole family and off you go on your way. Six and seven year olds…