BEKI Kids

Matok @ BEKI News

Matok is young children’s programming at BEKI. Matok means “sweet” in Hebrew, and we hope that our programming brings sweetness to your world!

This Saturday is BINA Graduation Shabbat!

BINA families join us at 10:45 AM in the main service to participate and celebrate

In This Edition

• Tonight, May 15, 5-7 PM: Lag B’Omer Bonfire with PJ Library and Ezra Academy

• Saturday Morning: BINA Graduation Shabbat and Shabbat Children’s Service

• Fridays, 9:30-11 AM: Shalom Baby Tot Shabbat

• Sunday, June 8, 10 AM-2:30 PM: Touch a Truck at the JCC with PJ Library

• Fun with the Parsha: Emor

* Tonight, 5-7 PM: Lag B’Omer Bonfire with PJ Library and Ezra Academy

Gather for a communal celebration of Lag B’Omer, sponsored by PJ Library and Ezra Academy. Everyone is welcome! Family-friendly bonfire with pizza, s’mores, music, games, and more.

* Saturday Morning: BINA Graduation Shabbat and Shabbat Children’s Services

This Saturday morning is BINA Graduation Shabbat! All of our BINA students will be honored in the main Shabbat morning service for their achievements this year. Our 6th grade graduates will share words of Torah, and every BINA student will receive a certificate. BINA classes will also lead the hymns and prayers at the end of the Shabbat morning service.

BINA families should plan to be in the downstairs social hall by 10:45 AM (You are welcome to come earlier to enjoy the service and Torah reading as a family, but the active parts for BINA students will begin at 10:45).

The service will be followed by a festive Kiddush lunch for the whole BEKI community.

At the same time, Shabbat Children’s Services will meet in their usual rooms:

Children’s Havura (Birth-Preschool) meets inside in the preschool classroom.

K-2 Kehila (Kindergarten-2nd Grade) meets in Classroom 6.

Junior Congregation (3rd-6th Grade) meets in the library.

* Fridays, 9:30-11 AM: Shalom Baby Tot Shabbat

Drop in at the JCC for Shalom Baby Tot Shabbat! Informal programming and opportunities to make lifelong friendships; best for infants through 4 year olds and their caregivers.

Registration is appreciated and drop-ins are welcome.

Beckerman Lender Jewish Community Building, 360 Amity Road, Woodbridge, CT

This series is free to attend and brought to you by Shalom Baby, an initiative of the Jewish Federation of Greater New Haven’s Women’s Philanthropy—designed to welcome Jewish babies and their families to the Jewish community in the Greater New Haven area. Co-sponsored by PJ Library.

Join the Shalom Baby Meetups WhatsApp!

Questions? Contact Young Family Engagement Coordinator, Elisabeth Warren, at ewarren@jewishnewhaven.org or pjlibrary@jewishnewhaven.org.

* Sunday, June 8, 10 AM-2:30 PM: Touch a Truck at the JCC with PJ Library

Come to the JCC for an interactive, hands-on-event that allows children to climb on, explore and discover their favorite trucks and vehicles, including fire engines, police cars and construction trucks. This free special event includes over 20 different vehicles, food, arts & crafts, bounce house and DJ fun for everyone!

* Fun with the Parsha: Emor

This week’s parsha, Emor, gives us a recap of the rules for many different holidays. These are called moadim, which means “fixed times.” Emor gives the rules for Shabbat; the High Holidays of Rosh Hashanah and Yom Kippur; and the so-called Pilgrimage Holidays, when our ancestors would walk–make a pilgrimage–to Jerusalem, wherever in the land of Israel that they lived. These Pilgrimage Holidays are Pesach, Shavuot, and Sukkot.

This Shabbat morning in the main service, our 6th grade BINA graduates will offer their reflections on some of these holidays and what they mean.

The Torah describes these holidays we celebrate today, but it doesn’t use the same names we use for them. Can you guess the holiday from the description in Parshat Emor below?

1. On six days work may be done, but on the seventh day there shall be a sabbath of complete rest, a sacred occasion. You shall do no work. (Lev 23:3)

2. On the fifteenth day of that month [is] the LORD’S Feast of Unleavened Bread. You shall eat unleavened bread for seven days. (Lev 23:6)

3. You must count until the day after the seventh week—fifty days (Lev 23:15). On that same day you shall hold a celebration; it shall be a sacred occasion for you (Lev 23:21)

4. On the first day of the month, you shall observe complete rest, a sacred occasion commemorated with loud blasts. (Hint: these are blasts on a shofar!) (Lev 23:24)

5. The tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred occasion for you: you shall practice self-denial… For it is a Day of Atonement, on which expiation is made on your behalf before the LORD your God. (Lev 23:27-28)

6. On the fifteenth day of this seventh month there shall be the Feast of Booths to the LORD, [to last] seven days. (Lev 23:34)

Answers: 1. Shabbat; 2. Pesach; 3. Shavuot; 4. Rosh Hashanah; 5. Yom Kippur; 6. Sukkot

Annie Norman-Schiff