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Synagogue Happenings
Or Atid Religious School news By Alison Litvin Education Coordinator month into distance learning, Kornblau Religious School staff have reimagined, adjusted, and updated the virtual classroom to personalize the experience for all learners. Live classes provide creative opportunities for students to freely express themselves, encouraging collaboration among students via Zoom’s interactive features. These features allowed students to come together to celebrate recent holidays, fostering community through the screen. The Zoom client offers a remote control feature, allowing teachers to temporarily grant students access to the mouse during an ongoing screen-share. By gamifying elements of their virtual sessions and highlighting student agency, staff have created a variety of online games to coincide with each week’s lesson. Inspired by the point-and-click and drag-and-drop styles, students have played Alef-Bet iSpy, dressed the Torah, and decorated a sukkah virtually to interact with their Judaism in new, and uniquely Or Atid, ways. As they prepare for their upcoming B’nei Mitzvahs, Morah Tal’s class offers new opportunities to explore the meaning and themes of individual prayers. Students talk through the service together, carefully examining the words behind
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each blessing to understand the message behind each prayer. As they progress through the service, students recognize how the order of the service resembles the flow of a car wash, the rooms in a fun-house, and even the Shuk HaCarmel in Israel. Emphasizing the way each prayer fits together to form services, Morah Tal guides students towards personally connecting to the prayers as they gain a deeper understanding of the service structure. This year’s classroom may be virtual, but that doesn’t limit staff or students from discovering new ways to engage with Jewish holidays and traditions, Israeli culture, Hebrew and Tefillah, and the weekly parsha. For more information about the school, and to learn about our approach to distance learning, please contact Education Coordinator Alison Litvin, at relschool@oratid.org, or call Congregation Or Atid at (804) 740 - 4747.
Students at the Helen and Sam Kornblau Religious School of Or Atid had fun finding the hidden Hebrew letters. Or Atid Photos
Or Atid students enjoyed using the click and drag feature during remote instruction to decorate virtual Sukkahs.
Hadassah Happenings
8 Nights: Hadassah No Show Hanukkah Party
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lease do NOT show up at Hadassah Richmond’s Hanukkah Party! Don’t RSVP, don’t buy a new dress, don’t get a babysitter, just click on our emails during Hanukkah! Be on the lookout for candle lighting opportunities with Hadassah. Join with your friends and family each night of the holiday at our No Show Hanukkah Party. Members of Hadassah Richmond will light the Menorah, recite the
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blessings, celebrate and remember the miracle of the Maccabees defeating the Assyrians and reclaiming the Temple. As our Hadassah families kindle their Menorahs, join us virtually to light your own. At that time, we will be are asking for your support to raise funds for the important work of Hadassah here and in Israel. Our support today can be part of our modern-day miracle finding cures
16 | the Reflector | November 2020 Cheshvan/Kislev 5781
for so many diseases plaguing our world. Hadassah research and development cannot stop even when we cannot join together in traditional fundraising events in person. Hadassah is actively doing research on Covid-19, stem cells, osteoarthritis pain, cardiac diseases, neurological diseases which includes Parkinson’s, Alzheimer’s and cancer. These are just a few of the many,
medical breakthroughs happening at Hadassah Medical Center in Israel. Stay tuned for more details on how you can participate! HADASSAH RICHMONDA COMMUNITY OF WOMEN WHO DO!
www.JewishRichmond.org
