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At services last Friday, our rabbi and temple president had arranged for a group from a local church to visit. One of my cousins happened to be among them, and to my utter mortification, I didn't even recognize her! She actually had to tell me who she was. In my defense, I hadn't seen her since Easter, and it can throw you when you see somebody you know in a place you didn't expect.
This morning, there was another session of the temple's Sunday school (the one Rebecca somehow got roped into teaching) and to my surprise, it was fun for both me and the kids. The other teachers and I showed them a movie about Hanukkah and helped them with a craft project where we made menorahs and edible dreidels. I brought several of my cute, colorful little dreidels (which you can see here) for them to play with, and they were a BIG hit - so much so that I was worried I wouldn't get them back! We decided to save the chocolate gelt for when Hanukkah is actually here, so instead the kids played with Hershey Kisses.
Still, it's hard not to feel out of my league there. The other teachers all have so much more experience with kids, and their Hebrew/knowledge of Judaism in general is way better than mine. I've never formally studied Hebrew and haven't even been officially Jewish for six months! But I'm secretly terrified that if I don't push myself to try new experiences, I'll end a mean, bitter old lady like the temple secretary (whom all the kids - and me - are scared of).
I came home with a bag of marshmallows leftover from the edible dreidels, and Sara said, "What's that? Marshmallows made from the blood of the Christian children you killed?"
Sara and I are reading Children in the Holocaust and World War II: Their Secret Diaries. It's been very good. Anne Frank is easily the most famous Holocaust diarist known here, but in Israel and some European countries, there are others who are just as well-known. Eva Heyman's diary has been the hardest for me to read so far. Sara read one that mentioned the Anschluss and asked me what it was. I tried to explain it by reminding her that it was referenced in The Sound of Music.
Sara: Uncle Max was screwed at the end of that movie, wasn't he?
Me: Uncle Max? Why?
Sara: 'Cause he was a Jew.
Me: Uncle Max wasn't a Jew. Hello, if he was a Jew, why didn't he leave Austria with the von Trapp family?
Sara: Maybe he didn't know what was going to happen.
Me: Uncle Max was not trash stupid, and he was not a Jew.
Sara: Hello, "I'll miss the money I could've made"? That's how you know he's a Jew.
{Something occured to me later about Uncle Max: Jewish? No. But gay? Possibly, and that also would've left him screwed at the end of the movie.}
P.S. God bless the radio stations that are still playing regular, non-Christmas music! I think the only Christmas song left that I'm not sick of is "Christmastime Is Here."
This morning, there was another session of the temple's Sunday school (the one Rebecca somehow got roped into teaching) and to my surprise, it was fun for both me and the kids. The other teachers and I showed them a movie about Hanukkah and helped them with a craft project where we made menorahs and edible dreidels. I brought several of my cute, colorful little dreidels (which you can see here) for them to play with, and they were a BIG hit - so much so that I was worried I wouldn't get them back! We decided to save the chocolate gelt for when Hanukkah is actually here, so instead the kids played with Hershey Kisses.
Still, it's hard not to feel out of my league there. The other teachers all have so much more experience with kids, and their Hebrew/knowledge of Judaism in general is way better than mine. I've never formally studied Hebrew and haven't even been officially Jewish for six months! But I'm secretly terrified that if I don't push myself to try new experiences, I'll end a mean, bitter old lady like the temple secretary (whom all the kids - and me - are scared of).
I came home with a bag of marshmallows leftover from the edible dreidels, and Sara said, "What's that? Marshmallows made from the blood of the Christian children you killed?"
Sara and I are reading Children in the Holocaust and World War II: Their Secret Diaries. It's been very good. Anne Frank is easily the most famous Holocaust diarist known here, but in Israel and some European countries, there are others who are just as well-known. Eva Heyman's diary has been the hardest for me to read so far. Sara read one that mentioned the Anschluss and asked me what it was. I tried to explain it by reminding her that it was referenced in The Sound of Music.
Sara: Uncle Max was screwed at the end of that movie, wasn't he?
Me: Uncle Max? Why?
Sara: 'Cause he was a Jew.
Me: Uncle Max wasn't a Jew. Hello, if he was a Jew, why didn't he leave Austria with the von Trapp family?
Sara: Maybe he didn't know what was going to happen.
Me: Uncle Max was not trash stupid, and he was not a Jew.
Sara: Hello, "I'll miss the money I could've made"? That's how you know he's a Jew.
{Something occured to me later about Uncle Max: Jewish? No. But gay? Possibly, and that also would've left him screwed at the end of the movie.}
P.S. God bless the radio stations that are still playing regular, non-Christmas music! I think the only Christmas song left that I'm not sick of is "Christmastime Is Here."
