Shaloh House Update #25 (5772) Friday, April 27, 2012 Light Candles at 7:22 pm Page # 1 Shaloh House UPDATE April 27, 2012 5 Iyar, 5772 #25 The Shaloh House Jewish Dאy School Newsletter OPEN HOUSE MON, MAY 21 REGIONAL SCIENCE FAIR SUN, APR 29, 10—1 PM LAG B’OMER CELEBRATION/PARADE THU, MAY 10 Yom Ha’atzmaut in K2 Juniors The kindergarten Juniors 2 class had a great time celebrating Israel’s birthday, Yom Ha’atzmaut, on Thurs- day. We loved to sing Hatikvah in the morning, dance with our homemade flags, and eat yummy falafel with pita and hummus at lunch time. While making our flags, we were also able to learn a little bit about shapes—we saw how two triangles can make a star! We also learned how to say the colors of the Israeli flag, blue and white, in Hebrew. We sang a special song, called “Kachol V’Lavan” about the colors of the flag and how they remind us of the colors of the sea and the desert. It was a really fun day! Happy Birthday Israel!
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Shaloh House Update #25 (5772) Friday, April 27, 2012 Light Candles at 7:22 pm Page # 1
Shaloh House
UPDATE April 27, 2012 5 Iyar, 5772 #25 The Shaloh House Jewish Dאy School Newsletter
OPEN HOUSE
MON, MAY 21
REGIONAL SCIENCE FAIR
SUN, APR 29, 10—1 PM
LAG B’OMER
CELEBRATION/PARADE THU, MAY 10
Yom Ha’atzmaut in K2 Juniors
The kindergarten Juniors 2 class had a great time celebrating Israel’s birthday, Yom Ha’atzmaut, on Thurs-
day. We loved to sing Hatikvah in the morning, dance with our homemade flags, and eat yummy falafel with
pita and hummus at lunch time.
While making our flags, we were also able to learn a little bit about shapes—we saw how two triangles can
make a star! We also learned how to say the colors of the Israeli flag, blue and white, in Hebrew.
We sang a special song, called
“Kachol V’Lavan” about the colors of
the flag and how they remind us of
the colors of the sea and the desert.
It was a really fun day!
Happy Birthday Israel!
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Shaloh House Update #25 (5772) Friday, April 27, 2012 Light Candles at 7:22 pm Page # 2
Parshas Tazria-Metzora
Choosing to Not Be Hurt
By Yaakov Lieder
“My relationship with my older brother, who is ten years
my senior, has been going from bad to
worse over the years,” a reader wrote to
me this week. “He seems to have forgot-
ten that we no longer live in our parents’
home, and that he is no longer 15 years
old and I am no longer the little kid whom
he bullies and bosses around. I am now
35, married, with three children; yet my
brother keeps putting me down and treats
me like a five-year-old.
“According to a recent article of yours,”
the reader continued, “all I need to do to
solve the problem is to change the way I
listen to him. This approach seems to put
the responsibility on me, whereas the fault
really lies in his abusive language. It is
obvious that the situation will not change unless he
starts to realize that he is hurting me and is prepared to
change the way he speaks to me, as well as apologizing
for his past behavior.” He then asked, “Do you have any
special recipe for my abusive brother?”
I responded by saying: If your brother would ask me for
advice, I would talk to him about not hurting other peo-
ple, especially a brother. However, because I am not
sure if your brother reads my column or not, and be-
cause, by the sound of it, you don’t have much control
over the way your brother behaves, the only person to
whom I can give advice is you. My advice to you is: con-
trol the one person in the world over whom you do have
control, and that person is you.
Bear in mind that, technically speaking, when your
brother speaks abusively to you, what is coming out of
his mouth is just a bunch of hot air, which happens to
make various sounds. And these sounds have no needles
or arrows in them; all it is, is hot air. You now have to
make a choice as to how to decode this air, and what
interpretation to give to it.
The choices you have are:
To decode it as a hurtful message, espe-
cially if it reminds you of the time when
you were a helpless child and unable to
defend yourself. By using this interpreta-
tion, you have now taken the hot air and
turned it into arrows that hurt you. This
causes increasing resentment towards
your brother. As a result, you may even
develop physical symptoms, such as ul-
cers or high blood pressure.
On the other hand, you can choose the
option of deciding that the hot air that comes out of your
brother’s mouth is nothing more than hot air. Just as it is
not your fault if your brother burps as a result of the
food he eats, so too, it is not your responsibility or your
fault that the words that come out of your brother’s
mouth are abusive—it is his problem.
Most of the time, people who go around abusing and
finding the negative in others are, in essence, unhappy
people who have a lot of problems of their own. They
want to transfer their problems on to you. You have the
choice: to take them on board, or to say, “No, thank
you.” From www.Shaloh.org/Magazine
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Shaloh House Update #25 (5772) Friday, April 27, 2012 Light Candles at 7:22 pm Page # 3
When Was Your
Last Spiritual?
By Yossy Goldman
In this week’s Torah reading we read all about the kohen
examining people to determine whether
they were afflicted by tzaraat, the lep-
rous curse. It was a physical inspection
which had spiritual implications. The per-
son might be pronounced tahor (pure)
or, G-d forbid, tamei (impure), all de-
pending on the results of the kohen‘s
examination.
I couldn’t help thinking about going to
the doctor for the requisite annual medi-
cal examination, or “physical.” We go
through the routine checkup—height,
weight, blood pressure, cholesterol, and
stress tests on the treadmill and up and
down the little staircase.
But have you ever thought of going for a “spiritual”?
What’s our “height”? Do we walk tall? Are we proud and
upright Jews, or are we apologetically stooped and bent
over by the burden of an inferiority complex?
What about our “weight”? Are we on a well-balanced
diet of Torah, the sustenance of our souls, or do we suf-
fer from spiritual malnutrition?
And how is our heart doing? A Jewish heart doesn’t only
pump blood; it pumps warmth and love. A healthy Jew-
ish heart is the emotional center of the person. It
emotes and feels the pain of another. And healthy hearts
are inspired by events that point unmistakably to the
hand of G-d in the world. If we aren’t feeling what we
should be, then we might be suffering from blocked ar-
teries.
When the doctor took my blood pressure, I immediately
made the obvious connection—tefillin. I remembered the
story of the simple farmer who went for his first medical
checkup. When the doctor checked his pressure, he
asked what that was all about. The doctor explained pa-
tiently that he was checking the heart rate. “But why are
you holding my arm if you want to see how my heart
is?” “When I check your hand,” replied the physician, “I
know how your heart is.” The hand that gives charity, for
example, indicates that it’s connected to a
healthy Jewish heart.
A Jewish heart doesn’t only pump blood; it
pumps warmth and love Then came the
stress test—up the stairs and down the
stairs, up again and down again, and again
and again. How do we handle the ups and
downs of life? Are we smug and arrogant
when we’re up, and dejected and de-
pressed when we’re down? How do we deal
with stress? Do we trust in G-d that every-
thing has a purpose, and a positive one at
that? Or do we become angry and bitter at
life’s unkind twists of fate?
Finally, there was the treadmill. I really dislike treadmills.
After two minutes, I said to the nurse I’d had enough.
“The doctor said you must do four minutes,” she in-
formed me sternly. “Four minutes?” I cried. “This feels
like four hours!”
Life can be a tedious treadmill. We find ourselves run-
ning and running and getting nowhere fast. A grueling
rat race, where even if you win you’re still a rat—all of it
leaves us wondering what it’s all about and why we are
working so hard with no meaningful, consequential re-
ward.
So this year, in addition to going for a physical, why not
go for a spiritual? Find a kohen, a Jewish spiritual
teacher/healer, who can search your soul for its healthy
characteristics as well as your necessary growth points,
and prescribe a spiritual fitness program tailored for you
and your neshamah. May we all be healthy, physically
and spiritually. From www.Shaloh.org/Magazine
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Toddler Room
This week we celebrated a very important date for Israel-The Independence day- Yom
Azmaut. To commemorate the day we made a spe-
cial project - an Israeli flag.
We also continued to talk about
spring , which is finally here, and made
a special project .
This week's letter is P- for puzzle and pizza.
We had a lot of fun using real puzzle
pieces to decorate the letter.
This week we read two Parshiot- Tazria and Metzora.
We discussed Shabbos and made a Kiddush cup, and we also discussed
Lashon Hara and made a special sign to remind ourselves to only speak
nicely to others and about them.
We also continued to practice our songs for the end of year performance.
All in all, a very busy week!
We wish you and your family a Good Shabbos,
Morah Anna, Morah Leah and Morah Masha
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Shaloh House Update #25 (5772) Friday, April 27, 2012 Light Candles at 7:22 pm Page # 5
Preschool Room
Boruch Hashem, we had a very busy week. We learned all about the parashiyot of Tazria and
Metzora. They teach us that you are not allowed to speak lashon hora. We may only speak
nicely with each other. We even made a lashon hora stop sign, so that if we see someone
about to speak lashon hora, we can stop them by showing them our sign and saying
“Shhh! That’s lashon hora!”
Please ask me about Parshiyot Tazria and Metzora:
• The parashiyot of the week are (Tazria and Metzora).
• What big lesson do we learn from these parashiyot? (to never speak lashon hora).
• What is lashon hora? (saying something not nice about someone else.)
• What used to happen to someone who spoke lashon hora? (They would get tzara’as.)
• Where did the tzara’as appear? (First on their house, then their clothes, and finally, on the person)
• Who decided if it was really tzara’as? (the kohen).
• Where does someone who has tzara’as have to go? (away from everybody)