When Rain Sticks During a Deluge

We met in January to welcome in the month of Shevat, giving special attention to the upcoming (at that point) holiday of Tu B'Shevat.  It was pouring down rain and neighboring towns were in a declared state of emergency due to flooding, but we made rain sticks anyway.  It won't always be this rainy.
We talked about the fruit celebrated at Tu B'Shevat and analyzed which type of fruit(s) best represent us?  Are we hard on the outside but soft on the inside, like an orange? Or the opposite like a peach?

Our next gathering will be Sunday, February 26th to welcome in the month of Adar, or the joyful month.

December gathering to celebrate Kislev

Kislev was nearly coming to a close when we met on December 18th, but we explored its themes anyhow, since Hanukkah was about to begin and Kislev has such rich stories about courage and bravery.  We looked at women of valor from Judith vs. General Holofernes to contemporary examples of Jewish women writers, artists, athletes, stateswomen, and others.  We choose words that identified some of their admirable qualities and made bracelets for ourselves with those words to serve as inspiration.  I hope some of you have worn your bracelets and that you had a fabulous holiday from school.  Tevet is more than half over now and we are looking to the month of Shevat arriving at the end of January.  Our next gathering will be a few days before the new moon, on Sunday 1/22.  With the new year for the trees (Tu b'Shevat) coming soon, we'll be exploring Jewish spirituality and nature. Please bring a cardboard tube from a paper towel roll.