Atid Learning Center Update April 26, 2017

Shalom Atid Families,

Chodesh Tov! Happy Hebrew month of Iyar!

A quick security note, we as a synagogue strive to maintain a welcoming presence and also ensure a secure facility, therefore, unless there is other synagogue programming, on Sunday mornings, the main synagogue doors will be unlocked at approximately 8:55 am until about 9:10 am and unlocked again at ~11:20 am. Synagogue members should have door fobs to enter at any time. Should you know your child will be arriving late or being picked up early, please let me know and we can make special arrangements. Thank you for your support.

Monday, we observed Yom Hashoah, Holocaust Remembrance Day. As a parent, I can imagine it may be hard to know when to start talking to your child about the Holocaust. For my 5th and 6th grade students, last Wednesday night, I began class by asking the students to list words or phrases that they have heard about the Holocaust and used that as the springboard for a conversation.

For your own children, you might consider reading a book like “The Sneetches and Other Stories,” by Dr. Seuss, that deal with issues of prejudice. Another book recommended is Kathryn Otoshi’s “One,” in which the color blue is bullied by the color red. As Shira Deener, senior program associate at Facing History and Ourselves explains, “It’s very safe and has nothing to do with the Holocaust initially,” she said, but it introduces concepts of prejudice, segregation, power and choices. Deener continues, “When those general concepts are laid down from the very beginning I think it really works, it’s our job to tap into the moral philosopher that lives in every student and we need to honor and respect that moral philosopher … because kids gets what is right and wrong, so you give them language to add to what they intuitively get.”  Based on the article How Young Is Too Young to Teach My Child About the Holocaust?