blogs/masa

Make for yourself a teacher, acquire for yourself a friend, and judge every person favorably. --Pirkei Avot 1:6

It’s hard to believe that we are nearly at the end of August, and the beginning of the school year!

This year in  Masa, we’re going to be examining passages from Pirkei Avot, such as the one above. We will consider what we in the 21st century can learn from this ancient Jewish wisdom, and how we can apply these lessons to our lives. We will also spend time doing hands-on crafts, singing all kinds of Jewish songs, and performing in plays and skits to share with members of our community.

Beginning this year, each child will also be working on a tallit that will grow with the child over their years at Masa. They will add elements as they engage with different aspects of Jewish life, until they have created a complete tallit by the time they are ready to celebrate their b-mitzvah. It is especially important to register your child so that we will have time to prepare the beginning piece of their tallit!

I am really looking forward to learning with the children! The first Friday will be September 6. Mini Minyan and Potluck will begin on September 13. Sunday Masa will begin on September 15. Register here for children from Kindergarten through B-Mitzvah age!

Beginning in November, we will be offering a body-positive sexuality education course for children, and a separate workshop for parents. The course will be taught through the lens of Jewish values, and the content will be body-positive, consent-focused and queer/trans/questioning-friendly.

There will be two sessions for parents, helping them to find ways to discuss issues of sexuality with their children, and to process their own experience of sexuality. Additionally, there will be an eight-session course for children ages 9-11, and a separate eight-session course for children ages 12-15.

These courses will give children age-appropriate tools to understand their own emerging sexual identities, to interact with others appropriately, to set boundaries, and to enter adolescence with healthy viewpoints that include knowledge of their own sexuality. Keep an eye out for more information!