JCP Downtown: Jewish Community Project

Although the snow days we had were a slight (and cold!) distraction this month, nothing got in the way of our learning!

We finished up our unit on Gemilut Chasadim and introduced the new concept of Tzar Ba’alei Chayim- treating creatures with respect. We discussed what it was like to empathize with animals, and debated the pros and cons of owning a pet (seems like everyone in the class wanted a puppy!). We also introduced the concept of Simcha- happiness, and created a poster to illustrate that the root of all happiness lies with appreciation. We even dabbled in some positive psychology- we wrote down 5 things we appreciated every day for a week in order to see how blessed we are!

Of course, we related this idea of simcha back to the holiday of Purim. Along with a discussion of the actual story of Purim, we delved into the ideas behind Purim- asking ourselves what is  the difference between appropriate and inappropriate happiness.

Now that Purim is behind us, it seems like the year is really flying! Next up is Passover and along with it- lessons that are chock full of interesting discussions.