Our calendar for the year :

Please save these dates and watch for emails with more information :
Next class will be held :
October 17th - Shema / Mezzuzah




Future dates:
November 21st
December 12th
January 16th
February 6th
March 13th
April 17th
May 15th
June - Sunday Funday picnic

The program can be found on our website under Sunday Funday/MiniGan : http://www.kehilatgesher.org/

Feel free to join us, if you need any information please contact me on feldmancs@noos.fr

Hag Sameach everyone

Our next class will be held on October 17th. The location will be confirmed by email. At our next lesson we will learn the Shema and make our own mezzuzah ...

But first, did you know that we will soon be celebrating another holiday. Soon we will be celebrating Sukkoth. But do you know what sukkoth is?

Sukkoth is fun holiday! It's true - it is a jewish holiday where you leave your house to do some jewish camping ! Yes camping, eating and sleeping outside in your garden or on the roof or just there where you can build a booth, a temporary house. BUT to build any house there are rules you need to follow and so there are rules for building our booth which is also called a sukkah. It has temporary walls , but what is special about our booth is that it has an open roof made of branches. The rule is that you must see the sky by day, and stars by night. Yes it could be cold, and it could rain but then we think of and thank God for keeping us safe in our strong houses where we usually stay. The best part of the sukkah is that you get to decorate it. You can draw pictures, hang up fruit and veg and make it colourful. When we stay in the we remember the time when the jews left Egypt and spent a long long time (40 years) in the desert and lived in temporary houses too. It is a mitzvah (that means doing something good) to eat/ sleep and invite friends in your sukkah.

The holiday comes just after the high holy days. It is also the harvest time in Israel. Harvesting is when the farmers work the land and pick the fruit. During the harvest period the farmers used to stay in booths, this way they were able to work late and be there early without having to travel. Clever don't you think.

So to remind us of this time, we use a yellow fruit which look like a lemon, but bigger, and is called an etrog. It has taste and a lovely smell.

We also take branches of three trees which grow in Israel : 1-2-3.

One palm branch :

It is strong and upright. Dates grows on it, so the palm tree has tast, but no fragrance or smell -it is like a person who knows a lot but doesn't do good things.

Two willow branches

This is a delicate tree and grows close to streams and reminds of life giving water. It has neither smell nor taste, like someone who doesn't know much but who doesn't do much either

Three myrtle branches

The myrtle has no taste, but a wonderful fragrance.
Just like someone who doesn't know much but does a lot of good things towards others

These three with the etrog and is like an example of the different kinds or people. These four belong together because the world needs all kinds of people.

And together, they are called the lulav. We say a special blessing and we hold the etrog and lulav together and shake it in all four directions this reminds us the God is everywhere.

At shabbat we greet each other and say shabbat shalom, remember at Rosh Hashanah we say "shanah tovah" and on Sukkot and all other holidays we say "Hag Sameach" which means happy holiday / happy feast...

So come and shake your lulav as we celebrate and learn more about Sukkoth as a community.

Kehilat Gesher Sukkoth party

Sunday, September 26th

Hag Sameach and see you all soon,

Crystal

Mishpachah

At our first lesson today, we will be talking about Rosh Hashanah and also Family.

In hebrew the word for family is mishpachah. Herebelow are the words of the song, as well as a link to download the song that we will be learning :

I WANT YOU TO MEET MY FAMILY (MISHPACHA)
I want you to meet my family
In Hebrew we call it mishpacha (mishpacha!)
We all live in a bayit (a bayit)
That's the house of my ma and pa
There's my mother, that's ima, say eema (ima!)
There's my father, that's abba, say abba (abba!)

Chorus:And these are the members of my family
My family, yes, my family
My family, yes, my family

I want you to meet my family
In Hebrew we call it mishpacha (mishpacha!)
We all live in a bayit (a bayit)
That's the house of my ma and pa
There's my brother, that's ach, say ach (ach!)
There's my sister, that's achot, say achot (achot!)

Chorus

I want you to meet my family
In Hebrew we call it mishpacha (mishpacha!)
We all live in a bayit (a bayit)
That's the house of my ma and pa
There's my dog, that's kelev, say kelev (kelev!)
There's my cat, that's hatool, say hatool (hatool!)
There's my fish, that's dag, say dag (dag!)
Chorus

http://itunes.apple.com/us/album/shiron-lgan-jewish-songs-for/id310960235

SHANA TOVA UMETUKAH

Happy New Year everyone, wishing you all a sweet and healthy New Year !

Start off this New Year by joining us on Sept 12th at 3pm in Paris for our very first session.

See u soon...

Crystal

Sunday Funday party

A very BIG thank you to all the parents for their support this year. A big kiss to all the kids. I wish you all a wonderful summer break and we will see each other in the New Year.
Keep an eye on this space for news for the New Year.
Here are some pics of last weeks "goûter"...

SUNDAY FUNDAY PARTY

SAVE THE DATE

Another year has gone already. Time has come to celebrate the fun year we spent together...

Our end of year party is being held this Sunday, June 13th at Eva's house in Paris 18th !

An email will be sent with all the details OR feel free to contact me.

Crystal

Our Shavuot Story

As some of the parents wanted to know where I found the story we read yesterday I decided to add it to our blog. The story is written by Rabbi Joel Luri Grishaver whose books and advice, among others, I often use for preparing our lessons...


All the mountains heard that God was going to give the Torah to Israel. Every mountain was trying hard to be chosen.

Mt. Everest (the highest mountain in the world) came and said, ' I am the tallest of all. The torah is important. It should be given from the highest place on earth." God thought 'Boy, this mountain has a big ego" But instead he said, 'No thank you. It would take far far too long to reach up there and then we would have to come down again..."

Next came Miss Poconos, the most beautiful mountain of all. She said "See here, God, the Torah is the most important thing you have. You should give it from the prettiest place - me." God thought 'this mountain is too vain' But instead he said "Actually we are looking for a different kind of beauty but thank you anyway."

My name is Mt Rushmore. I am strong and people carve faces on me. Right here you see is an empty space and we could have your picture carved there," God said "My image ! Well thats against the commandments - don't call us."

God was worried. He was not sure he would find the perfect one. There must be the right mountain out there somewhere!

And so came all the other mountains . They were all raising their hands, jumping up and down and boy they all had reasons why they should be chosen. Me, me Choose me, I'm the best." - except for one.


God did not know what to do. Then he saw Mount Sinai standing quietly to one side. He was not jumping up and down. God looked at him and asked "What is your name?"

"Why, my name is Sinai, your Holiness".

"Don't you want to be the chosen mountain"

Mount Sinai stood still and quietly answered, " but, but...but I'm just a little unimportant muontain. Someone else should be chosen."
At that moment God knew the right mountain to choose. God knew that Mount Sinai was teh perfect mountain. God chose Mount Sinai because he cared about everyone else. It was then that God sent for the Torah...


Moral : we discussed several lessons we could learn from this story and why God really chose this mountain. I leave you with this one " You are never too small to do great things..."

Shavuah tov..