Reignite Chanukah!!!!

This year, the first spark of Chanukah took place a few days before the actual holiday. YISE Youth and YISE nursery hosted over 250 people for our ‘Reignite Chanukah’ event! From start to finish, there was an excitement in the room as the kids walked in to the social hall to the sounds of joyous Chanukah music. Everyone was first treated to a few words about Chanukah from Rabbi Rosenbaum. Once Rabbi Rosenbaum finished speaking, Rabbi Wolvovsky took the stage and wowed the children with his fantastic olive oil press demonstration. The kids all had a chance to crush the olives before they went into the press.

As the demonstration concluded, all of the kids were treated to delicious sufganiyot. Everyone waited patiently as our fantastic teen volunteers managed the three lines and handed out the treats. After everyone had their sweet tooth satisfied, we opened up the 30 foot inflatable obstacle course, where children raced against each other to try and find the last jar of olive oil in the “Bais HaMikdash”. Laughter could be heard throughout the room, and the pure olive oil was found. 

Additionally, we also had several of our  craftsman working on building Chanukiyot out of recycled materials, children coloring “stained glass” Chanukah projects, and playing games of dreidel. While the gelt went fast, the smiles stuck around long after the chocolate coins had been finished. Each child who created a Chanukiyah out of recycled materials got to come up on stage and present their marvelous inventions. It was impressive to see the various ways that the Chanukiyot were constructed and how proud 

the children were of their work.

I would like to extend a tremendous thank you to all who helped to make this event possible, both by attending, and by volunteering. Our community continues to be incredibly supportive, and eager to bring their children to share in the fun and the learning!

Midrash, Manicures, and Milkshakes!!!

MIDRASH, MANICURES, AND MILKSHAKES!!!!!! What a huge success this event was for all parties! With 130 spots available, this event sold out 2 weeks in advance by girls/ladies from a variety of shuls and schools in the area. Upon arrival, the girls walked into the social hall, greeted by the relaxing and soulful music of Chaim Lanzbom and Yosef Karduner.

Once all guests arrived, Mrs. Zakem gave over inspiring words of Torah that were pertinent to the weeks parsha.  Following the beautiful Torah thoughts shared, everyone began to select their nail polish colors. Each person took out the complementary emory boards, shaped their nails, and started painting. Friends, mothers and daughters, and sisters, each took turns, working meticulously to ensure that they did a nice job. For those that were interested, Aviva and Yael Miller also brought their own materials, and painted other people’s nails. Parents shared that they overheard their daughters saying things such as “it was so much fun” and "We should do this every Saturday night"!

As the socializing and nail painting carried on, blenders were fired up, and 4 varieties of milkshakes were personally delivered to each person. While there were certainly many people sharing how delicious they were, the smiles on faces of each person were more than enough to confirm that we had created a tasty motzei shabbos treat!  Once all the nail polish dried, Ben Yehuda pizza was delivered, and the dining experience was complete!

I would like to give a tremendous thank you to everyone that came out for the event, to Mrs. Zakem for speaking, to Becca Kugler, Menucha Wolfe, Bassie Katz, Allison Lazar, and Adina Obstfeld for helping to make milk shakes and run the “box office”, to Barbara Price for being the mashgiach and helping with the milkshakes (plus setup and cleanup), to Debbie Unger for taking pictures, to Yael and Aviva Miller for donating their time to paint nails, to the custodial staff for setup and cleanup, to the entire office staff for helping me to purchase and store materials, and to Ben Yehuda Pizza.  We were also thrilled that at the end of the event, we were able to donate the leftover nail polish remover and emory boards to the Mikvah Emunah Society.

This event had an amazing turnout, and we look forward to continuing to create and provide exciting events for the community!

 

Rosh Chodesh Astronomy Observatory!

Our first middle and high school only event was incredibly successful! With only 60 spots available for our Rosh Chodesh Moon Viewing trip to the University of Maryland, we were completely booked within 4 days of announcing the event. The eagerness to be a part of this event spilled over into the actual event, as people arrived early and packed the room.

 

Dr. Jeremy Schnittman, our resident astronomer, opened the night by sharing a variety of interesting stories and facts about Rosh Chodesh and the moon. He engaged the crowd by turning out the lights and doing a student led demonstration, with one child standing in the back of the room aiming a flashlight, and another student standing in the front of the room with a hula hoop and tennis ball.  Dr. Schnittman made the learning come to life by showing how the moon orbits the earth!

After taking a few questions, we went to the building next door to 

have the opportunity to see the moon through the high powered telescopes! Prior to our arrival, the staff opened the roof on the building, and we were incredibly fortunate to have perfectly clear skies, and a beautiful moon to see. Everyone had a turn looking into 3 different telescopes, and we ended the night by saying Kiddush Lavanah, and having a maariv minyan.

Again, we were fortunate to have a wonderful mix of people from various communities join us at this event. We will continue to work towards being an inclusive and welcoming program that stays at the forefront of fun and exciting experiential Jewish education!

YISE Youth Rosh Hashanah Apple Picking

What better way to welcome in the Jewish New Year than to go to Butler's Orchard for some good old fashioned apple picking! The word has started to spread that our events are great, and we were joined by families from various other communities as well. The warm and friendly vibes could be seen and felt as people introduced themselves to one another, and got started on the apple picking. Throughout the orchard chants of “Dip the apple in the honey, make a bracha loud and clear” could be heard by adults and children alike. We spent roughly 40 minutes picking the best apples the orchard had to offer.

Once we finished picking apples, we drove a little further into the orchard, where they have a large field and picnic area set up, large playground equipment, and big slides with burlap mats for kids to slide down. Parents and children were in for a treat as we started off our activities with a few words from Rabbi Silver. Everyone learned a little bit about Rosh Hashana, and then we had an activity. Each family that came received a special YISE Youth apple cookbook, which had 5 delicious apple recipes. The kids had to decide which recipe that they wanted to make with their mommy and daddy for Rosh Hashanah, but they weren’t allowed to tell their parents which one they chose. Then the parents lined up back to back with their kids, and each recipe was called out. Parents and kids had to (without looking) stand at that recipe, and see if the parents could guess which recipe was their son or daughter’s favorite.

Next we moved on to our shofar blowing contest! It was quite evident that our kids had been practicing for weeks because we had some amazing tekiah gedolah blasts!!! Everybody’s neshamot were awoken by the sounds of the shofar, and surely everyone was reminded that the New Year was coming! The top two finishers won gift cards to The Candy Man, and all of the kids got a prize for being such great participants.

Upon completion of our activities, the children dispersed to the playground. Some climbed on the wooden ark, others on the train, and another group made their way over to the giant slides, using burlap sacks to slide down the hill!  Families ended off a beautiful day by joining together for a picnic lunch. 

Looking ahead, the YISE Youth department has a busy schedule. In the coming weeks, we will have our annual Sukkah Hop, the Youth Simchat Torah Kiddush (still accepting donations), and a middle and high school visit to the University of Maryland Astronomy Observatory, to learn about Rosh Chodesh from Astronomer,  Dr. Jeremy Schnittman, and to view the moon through high powered telescopes!

Parsha and Popsicles in the Park

Parsha and Popsicles in the Park was a huge success. With over 250 people pouring into the park, we had a terrific ending to our summer events calendar!!! Children of all ages gathered in the park to play on the playground, showing off speed and agility on the slides and monkey bars. Young children could be heard giggling as parents pushed them on swings. Older kids were at their best when using imaginative play to act out the roles of their favorite super heroes. However, the main event started at 5:15pm, when the children followed the scent of popsicles into a shaded area in the park. 

 Every child gathered around calmly, waited patiently as the popsicles were handed out, and all said a bracha together. It was really a beautiful sight to see. Everybody adhered to the saying "you get what you get, and you don't get upset".  This was a true testament to the fine middot of the children in our community, and the wonderful job that our parents and teachers have done to help them learn to be mentsches. Once all of the popsicles were handed out, the children sat quietly and listened attentively as Rabbi Rosenbaum shared words of Torah about Parshat Eikev. The children were engaged, did a fantastic job of answering questions, and shared their thoughts on ways to be thankful to Hashem.  To top off this great event, when looking around at the ground, I did not find a single piece of trash! Yasher Koach to all of the children who did their part to keep our park clean.

I look forward to seeing all of you, and many more people out at our first event of the school (calendar) year on September 7th, as we will be meeting at Butler's Orchard for some Pre-Rosh Hashana Apple picking, and a shofar blowing contest (BYOS/Bring Your Own Shofar).

Brett Kugler

YISE Youth Director

Community Rabbi Relay Race is a huge success!!!

What a great run we had!!! Our first 5K Rabbi Relay Race was a huge success as we had over 75 participants from a wide variety of local shuls! Congratulations to our top three finishers, Daniel Ginsburg, Tim Meushaw, and Jacob Namrow, who ran outstanding times despite the intense heat! Gift cards were donated by the Kosher Pastry Oven and The Candy Man for our top finishers!!!

Thank you so much to Ben Yehuda pizza for providing great pizza at our event and donating slices to those who purchased tee shirts for the event. Between the money raised selling pizza, tee shirts, and the cost of the race, our community was able to raise almost $500.00 for JobKatif in Israel!

I would love to extend a tremendous thank you to all of the Rabbis that helped us make this event possible! Rabbi Rosenbaum, Rabbi Greineman, Rabbi Wolvovsky, Rabbi Kosowsky, and Rabbi Chinn were all excited and inspiring, and sacrificed their time to make this a great event! Reading through the answers to the Jewish questions at each of the stations, it is quite evident that the children and adults in our community have a tremendously wonderful connection to Judaism and our culture. Kol Hakavod!

Lastly, I would like to thank the youth committee for helping to run this event, the Kabillio boys for playing music for our entertainment, the entire staff at YISE that did setup and cleanup, the office staff, and the Schreiber and Litwack families for putting out water stations so that our runners could stay hydrated enough to complete the race!

Please be on the lookout for information about our upcoming events! We hope you had a great time, and we loved seeing everyone out and about, doing Jewish activities together!

Brett Kugler
YISE Youth Director

Come Join Us for our MS/HS Open House June 22nd (This Sunday Night)

Looking forward to seeing all of the middle and high school students out this Sunday night in the Arcola social hall. Pics will follow!

2014-2015 YISE YOUTH WELCOME

Welcome to the Young Israel Shomrai Emunah Youth blog. As of July 1, 2014, I have officially taken on the position of Youth Director, and I look forward to an exciting year filled with many wonderful events and activities that embrace the concept of Jewish experiential education. Prior to taking this position, I served on the YISE youth committee, as well as on the shul board. I have been an educator in the community for 10 years, and I continue to work full time at the Charles E. Smith Jewish Day School as a learning specialist (eight years). Additionally, I have worked at Kol Shalom Talmud Torah for the past five years, two of which were in the role of Director of Experiential Education. I plan to use my prior experiences to meet with leadership and with youth in our community to create a balanced program that will foster a love of Judaism in our children while also having fun.

One of my first initiatives is to create a year at a glance calendar (subject to change) so that all families can put these events on their own schedules and attend as many activities as they would like. Additionally, I hope to send these blog posts to the shul office and have them printed and attached to the Shabbos Shorts in order to share the unique experiences that the children in our community have had and remind families about upcoming events.

Our first event of the summer will be a 5K Rabbi Relay Race to raise money for Tzedakah on July 13, 2014 at 10:30am. The race will start at Shomrai Emunah, will continue to Rabbi Chinn's shul, then Chabad, followed by KMS, SSJC, and ending at Ben Yehuda Pizza for food and festivities. To learn more about this event, and future events, please check the YISE Youth Blog address at www.yiseyouth.blogspot.com. You can also follow past and future events on the YISE Youth facebook page. If you see me in shul, please come over and introduce yourself so that I can continue to get to know the families in our community. I look forward to an incredible year!

Brett Kugler
bkugler@yise.org
Youth Director