By Donald H. Harrison
SAN DIEGO–Skot Golden-Needham shyly approached the aron kodesh on Sunday, Dec. 8, with his kindergarten teacher Lori Bunshaft. Then, turning around, he displayed the model aron kodesh that he made and Mora Lori showed another one fashioned by one of his classmates.
It was hard to tell what was brighter, the light inside the Holy Ark, or the light of Skot’s smile as he shared his work.
“The children are hands-on and very creative,” Bunshaft said.
So, too, was the lesson in which Skot and classmates constructed their model Holy Arks from common throwaway household materials, such as toilet paper rolls, facial tissue boxes and old wallpaper.
Bunshaft said her idea was to teach the kindergarteners about one very special place in their synagogue — the Holy Ark where the Torahs are kept — and also to teach them about recycling and repurposing into art the materials that might otherwise end up in our nation’s landfills.
Judaism, environmentalism and art, all wrapped into one — just as they should be.
In the back of Temple Emanuel’s joint sanctuary and social hall had been arranged other eye -catching art projects. There were decorative conversation pieces in which members of the woodworking class spelled out “Shalom” in Hebrew and English letters. There also were hannukiyot.
One drawing had a tree with leaves on its branches that told of different ways students could participate in tikkun olam (repair of the world) such as “don’t litter,” “eat healthy,” and “recycle, reuse and repurpose.”
Nearby were some sweets produced by the Jewish cooking were laid out for all to enjoy. Some of the cookies were shaped as Magen Davids.
Up on the bima, the dance class demonstrated Israeli dancing, and first-graders sang joyful Hebrew songs choreographed with hand motions.
Rabbi Devorah Marcus, who formally was installed as the Reform congregation’s spiritual leader at Shabbat services the day before, explained that the event, dubbed Temple Emanu-El’s First Elective Festival, was intended to showcase the work that had been done in elective classes offered by the temple’s Torah school in addition to its regular Hebrew and Judaica classes.
The rabbi thanked parents in attendance ” for being our partners in this journey to transform our school into something that really reflects the highest of our Jewish values and the highest of our aspirations for our children.”
One of the electives is media, and in Vol 1, No. 1 of this class’s newsletter, it was reported that the electives, through which students may rotate semester after semester, include Jr. Choir, Music, Woodworking, Gaga (a game similar to dodge ball), Dance, Cooking, Art and Media.
Filled with candid photographs of the students as well as short articles about each of the classes, the newsletter also shared some inside information. In Woodshop, it reported, one student accidentally got spray painted, but luckily he was wearing his glasses which “saved his eyes.”
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Harrison is editor of San Diego Jewish World. He may be contacted at donald.harrison@sdjewishworld.com