Order Your Lunchskins! Help the Environment and the Preschool!

How Many Sandwich Baggies do you send to school everyday with your child? How many Ziplock bags do you take to work everyday?

In theUnited Stateswe send 20 million plastic baggies to landfills everyday! Only 1-3% of these bags are recycled. By the end of the school year it is estimated that each child will generate 67 pounds of waste.

Why should we care about this? A major problem is that plastic is non-biodegradable.  There is an estimated 50,000 pieces of plastic per square mile in the world’s oceans. 3 mothers were horrified by these statistics and wanted to make a difference. So they created Lunchskins.

Lunchskins are a food-safe, dishwasher friendly alternative to the plastic bag! In 2010 people using Lunchskins saved 120 million plastic baggies from going to landfills. They come in different colors and designs. Stop by the preschool lobby to check out some sandwich bag and snack bag examples!

We are selling them in the preschool and they will benefit our school. Sandwich bags are $6.80 and Snack Bags are $5.97.

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle and help Beth Shalom! Orders are due Friday, February 24^th.

You can fill out the form below and submit a payment using a credit card. It does say “donate,” but that is the proper paypal button to click.

Atid Laila B’Yisrael & Jewish Cooking Club

This Saturday night, Atid (3rd-5th grade) met in the Youth Lounge/gym for games…all about ISRAEL! We learned each other’s names, and enjoyed some Israeli snacks together (Bamba and Bissli – what else?).

Then we split into 2 teams to travel around “Israel”, without leaving the gym. We visited four cities in Israel. At each stop, teams were awarded points based on their performance in the task at hand in a competition. We moved from Israeli city to Israeli city by following a series of riddles.

In Tel Aviv, we played a round of basketball…

In Jerusalem, we bartered (as “vendors” or as “tourists” – each team drew an envelope of instructions, randomly) in a shuk…

And in Eilat, we played “Ostrich, Seahorse, Leopard,” a variation of the popular “Wizards, Giants and Elves” game, where two teams face off before making a group decision to be an Ostrich (with one hand/body motion), a Giant (with a different hand/body motion) or a Seahorse (with a third hand/body motion). The winning animal’s team must recognize the other team as the loser, then chase them to the opposite wall of the gym. Any player tagged by the winning team becomes theirs.

Finally, in Haifa, we raced to do a big math problem on our cell phones and talked about the Technion.

Then, we had lots of free time to watch the Lion King on T.V. (for fun!) and chill in the Youth Lounge with snacks and lemonade for all. What a fun night.

Sunday afternoon brought us Lesson #2 of the Jewish Cooking Club series: HAMANTASCHEN! Together, K-5th grade learned how to make this delicious Purim treat and everyone took home a copy of the recipe. We thank Deena Ross of Creative Kosher for her dough, filling and assistance with this project.

Check out these great photos of our youth learning how to roll out hamantaschen dough, cut out circles, fill the hamantaschen, and bake! Each child took home 6 freshly-baked hamantaschen of their very own to share with their families. We became experts in rolling, filling, pinching and of course, eating hamantaschen.

Our next Jewish Cooking Club is Sunday, March 18 at 12:30 p.m. The cost is $15.00/session or $10.00 with advance RSVP! We’ll be making soup…yum!

See you next time! Mark your calendars for the Purim Carnival on Sunday, March 4 from 10:00 a.m. – 1:00 p.m.!

The Youth Department Welcomes February

We’ve been up to a lot of fun in the Beth Shalom Youth Department this year!

On January 8, all Beth Shalom families met at the Schenley Park Skating Rink for a night of ice skating, snacks, board games and winter fun. Our Chaverim (K-2nd), Atid (3rd-5th), Kadima (6th-8th) & USY (9th-12th) families enjoyed hot chocolate and tested their skills on the ice!

Over Martin Luther King weekend, on Sunday, January 15, all 5th-12th graders were invited to join the Religious School for a morning of volunteering around the community. Some teens participated in projects around the building – including making sandwiches for a women’s shelter, decorating photo frames for Children’s Hospital, and organizing the Hoffman Library. Others travelled to Phipps Conservatory and a local animal shelter to spend the morning volunteering there.

Afterwards, we reunited for pizza and a debriefing with USY about our social action experiences.

USY also held their annual tri-chapter overnight this January, with Beth El Congregation and Tree of Life/Or L’Simcha. We spent Friday night, January 28 at Congregation Beth Shalom, playing icebreakers and improv games, celebrating Shabbat and sleeping at the shul. We woke up early Saturday morning for a short walk to Tree of Life, where we had Shabbat morning services, lunch and an excellent shiur on Israel advocacy with Jewish educator Danielle Kranjec. Our theme for the overnight this year was Friday Night Live, based on Saturday Night Live! It was a blast!

That night, January 28, USY and Kadima then met at Beth Shalom in the evening for Havdalah together. USYers left to go home after an awesome 26 hours together, and Kadima quickly hopped in cars to head to Laser Storm in the North Hills for a night of Laser Tag with their friends. We played 2 games together, ate lots of snacks, and had a lot of fun together at Laser Storm.

Last Saturday afternoon, February 4, Chaverim met in the Youth Lounge after Shabbat morning services to play some Shabbat-friendly games and enjoy lunch together, for our second Chaverim oneg. Chaverim talked all about the parsha (Beshalach) for the week, played games in the gym, and learned about the crossing of the Red Sea and the Israelites’ journey through the desert! We’re so glad so many of our friends could make it.

USY had their turn at Laser Tag that evening after Havdalah in the Lounge. Over 20 USYers turned out to put their game face on and enjoyed snacks in the party room and 3 games of Laser Tag together! It was a fun, social and exciting event for all. We’re looking forward to our Tu B’Shevat seder tomorrow night and Specialty Kinnus at the end of the month – we hope you’ll join us!

Kadima Kinnus was also this weekend (Feb. 3 – 5, 2012) in West Bloomfield, Michigan, outside Detroit. Nine Kadimaniks from Beth Shalom and 2 USYers boarded a bus with Kadimaniks from Tree of Life, Beth El and 3 Cleveland congregations for the journey to Michigan. The theme of Kadima Kinnus 2012 was SUPERHEROES. Upon arrival, everyone split into Batman, Superman, Spiderman and Wonder Woman teams for lots of “hero” programming all weekend long. We also had a blast Saturday night at a local recreation center, climbing up an enormous climbing wall, swimming in the pool (complete with fountains, a water slide, a lazy river, and a hot tub) and playing games in the gym! What a great weekend!

This Saturday night, February 11, Atid will meet in the Youth Lounge at Beth Shalom for LAILA B’YISRAEL: A Night in Israel! We’ll tour the State of Israel in the gym, learning about 4 different Israeli cities (Tel Aviv, Jerusalem, Eilat and Haifa) and enjoying Israeli snacks and games along the way. Join us this weekend!

Thank you for your constant support and to the many Chaverim, Atid, Kadima and USY members who participate in our endless programming! We’re happy you’re here!

Our 100th Day of School!

It is almost our 100^th Day of School here in the Beth Shalom Early Childhood Department! One of my fondest memories of school comes from a 100th day celebration. I was in second grade and we were told at the beginning of the school year to start collecting 100 items and make a display of them for the 100^th day of school. The smart thing to do would’ve been to start collecting on the first day of school, however, I did not start collecting until the week the project was due. I decided to collect 100 candy bar wrappers (as any logical 2^nd grader would)!

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The week before the project was due my mom and I were down at the grocery store buying every kind of candy bar we could find. We then took them out of the wrappers and I made my candy bar scrap book. My mom kept the candy bars in Ziplock bags and we had candy for months! My mom and I still laugh about this and the fact that sometimes 100 days just sneaks up on you.

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It almost feels like that here. Can you believe we’ve almost been in school for 100 days? This is a large amount of time for anyone to be in school, so we are going to celebrate here at Beth Shalom! Each classroom will have different projects based on age group! Be on the lookout for different projects up in the halls and in your child’s classroom! Our 100^th Day of School is February 1^st.

 

-Kara

The December and January Youth Experience

December and January have been fun and busy months for our Early Childhood, Religious School, AND Youth Department!

Check out what we’ve been up to recently…

On Sunday, December 18, Beth Shalom hosted LATKEPALOOZA, a community-wide Chanukah celebration in the Samuel and Minnie Hyman Ballroom. It was a great success!

The 7th grade Religious School class cooked lots of different kinds of latkes in the kitchen – falafel-flavored, sweet potato, potato, and more – and served their creations to families, alongside real Israeli sufganiyot from Sweet Tammy’s in Pittsburgh and Main Line Kosher Catering in Philadelphia.

Our youth enjoyed lots of carnival games, craft tables, Israeli music, and festive Chanukah decorations. The Religious School kindergarten class even performed a play about the story of Chanukah.

At the end of the event, we announced the Religious School raffle winners for two big gift baskets and a posterboard of lottery tickets. Congratulations, winners! Thank you to the many families who showed your support for our school.

The wee morning hours before Latkepalooza begins…

Beth Shalom friends, trying their luck at the duck pond

Members of Kadima play carnival games together at Latkepalooza

The night before Latkepalooza, on Saturday, December 17, members of USY joined with other teens from around the city of Pittsburgh for snacks and Havdallah before the second “Conversation for a Jewish Future,” a 4-part speaker series organized by the Agency for Jewish Learning and the Federation. This week, the speaker was Rabbi Dr. J.J. Schachter, who asked the question, “Will There Be a Jewish Religion in the Future of Our Community?” (His answer: yes.)

We thank the AJL for sponsoring snacks for our teens before this event, and for organizing Havdallah.

Did you know real potatoes can be painted and drilled with holes to use as chanukiot? Earlier in December, in celebration of Chanukah, Kadima tried these awesome craft project together at Open Lounge night. Visit the link here to learn how to make your own potato chanukiah for next year!

Painting potatoes to use as chanukiot (Kadima)

USY celebrated Chanukah this year at Open Lounge with “Edible Dreidels,” a craft brought to USY by Cantor Ben.

With just a kosher marshmallow, pretzel sticks, some icing, and a Hershey kiss, USY learned how to make dreidels that we then enjoyed eating!

We also lit candles and sang Maoz Tzur together with Cantor Ben’s guitar.

USY eating edible dreidels at Open Lounge

A complete Edible Dreidel!

In December, USY also hosted a Shabbaton for members of CRUSY who were on their way to Philadelphia for International Convention…or just interested in a two-day sleepover with their friends at Beth Shalom! Nearly 30 USYers from Ohio, Kentucky and Pittsburgh attended. We had a great time and we thank the Weissfeld and Berman families for hosting us in their home for dinners and programming while our maintenance staff enjoyed some well-deserved time off for Christmas. Keep an eye out for our upcoming YouTube video about the Shabbaton!

USY retells the story of Chanukah using candy at the BSUSY Winter Shabbaton

That brings us to the highlight of December 2011 for USY, following the Shabbaton…International Convention in Philadelphia, from December 25-29!

Congregation Beth Shalom sent four USYers to this amazing convention of over 800 teens from all over the world.

Here is our region, Central Region USY, eating lunch at IC.

Beth Shalom USYers at International Convention 2011

January will be another busy month for all of our youth…with family ice skating, MLK Day of Volunteering, and lots of other great upcoming events!

Ice Skating Tonight!

Sunday, January 8

6:30 – 9:00 p.m.

Stop By After the Steelers Game!

$10/family or $5/student

(Admission to the Rink: $4.00 for adults and $3.00 for children;

Skate Rental: $2.50)

Snacks! Board Games! Hot Chocolate!

And More in the Party Room!

Don’t Miss Out! See You on the Ice!

Check out the new Google calendars on the Youth pages here, the new Snow Plan page, and feel free to visit our new-and-improved “Donate” page. We’ve added a Paypal button for families to show their support for our Early Childhood, Religious School, and youth programming whenever they want, however they want.

Read over the Youth Department Wish List posted on the page or make a general donation today - we need you!

Thank you for your constant support. Happy January!

Chanukah Oh Chanukah

Early Childhood, Youth Department and Religious School Chanukah celebrations this year were all smashing successes! Thanks to all of the volunteers, parents, community members and staff who made these events possible. From Latkepalooza, to Early Childhood Chanukah performances, to Open Lounge candlelighting, edible dreidels, a USY Shabbaton and more – our Youth Experience would not be possible without you.

Check back soon for photos and updates on all of our December programming.

Have a Happy and Healthy 2012!

Kadima Potato Menorahs and USY Pens Shootout!

Kadima and USY Open Lounge nights have been bustling this semester.

On Tuesday night, December 6, Kadima painted potatoes to celebrate the season of Chanukah. Directions for turning these colorful potatoes into menorahs (by drilling holes into them and filling them with candles - How to Make a Potato Menorah) were provided for Kadimaniks to take home. (We recommend that fresh potatoes are used for this craft at home, since the ones that we made together on the 6th will not last until December 20th.)

Kadimaniks painting potatoes

USY watched the Pens/Flyers game together last Thursday in style, with USYers wearing their Pens jerseys and Sam Mellits, our USY advisor and a Philadelphia native, in his Flyers gear. Then, we held a shootout in the gym to raise a little bit of SATO (social action/tikkun olam) money for our chapter. To try a shot at the net against goalie David Levin, USYers paid $2.00 towards tzedakah.

USY SATO shootout

SATO proceeds from our chapter this year will benefit Heifer International and Kiva, two national organizations that promote self-sufficiency around the world. Check out their websites!

And don’t forget about Latkepalooza this Sunday, December 18 from 10:30 a.m. – 12:30 p.m. in the Samuel and Minnie Hyman Ballroom!

There will be lots of latkes (cooked by our Religious School 7th grade), sufganiyot (from the amazing Main Line Kosher in Philly!), music, arts and crafts, carnival games and more! The suggested donation is just $5.00/family. This event is open to the community – check it out! It’s the Chanukah party of the year at Beth Shalom!

See you there!