Tu B'Shvat

The first Festival of the school year occurs usually in the first few weeks of the term. It is called Tu B’Shvat and is a festival linked to trees. On the 15th of the month of Shvat (5th month of the Jewish calendar) we celebrate this festival of nature and of trees in particular. It is a custom to plant trees on this day and also to eat various fruits. This is to show appreciation and to thank the Almighty for the richness of the land.

At Sharon School, all Grades 1 to 7 will therefore begin the year with work related to a theme of trees – art, handcrafts, poems and stories. Children will normally be asked to plant a tree at home, and they will receive a certificate of recognition for this. A tree planting ceremony with songs and poems about trees will be held at school

Purim

The second Festival to be celebrated is Purim. On Purim we celebrate the redemption from extinction of the Jewish people at the time of the Persian Empire. At that time an order was given to abolish Jews wherever they were. In memory of the saving of the people by Queen Esther, we celebrate this day with happiness, parties and dressing up.

At Sharon School a carnival air pervades as all the children come to school in fancy dress.They exchange gifts and picnic lunches with friends and end the day with a concert in which all grades usually participate. Parents may attend this concert if they wish. Details of the children’s dressing up themes etc. are always given in a circular well in advance of Purim.

Passover

The final Festival celebrated in the first term is Passover or Pesach. This is a very important Festival on the Jewish calendar and the school is closed if Passover falls during a school week. This Festival is celebrated in memory of the exodus from Egypt and freedom from slavery. The Jewish people’s hasty departure from Egypt is marked by eating unleavened bread — matza.

The Passover Seder is a feast which symbolises the slavery and hard times experienced in Egypt and the subsequent redemption and freedom of the Jewish people.

At Sharon School, the children hear the story of the exodus from Egypt and do art and craft works and writings linked to this Festival. The older children discuss the meaning of freedom. A seder is held in the school with all the rituals, traditions, songs and traditional foods. Parents are invited to attend.

Shavuot

Soon after arriving back for Term Two the Festival of Shavuot is celebrated. On Shavuot we celebrate the giving of the Torah. The children of Israel left Egypt and started their long journey in the desert. Mount Sinai was the location G-d chose to address the people and present them with the Ten Commandments and the Torah —the five books of Moses. In Israel Shavuot is also the time for harvesting the crops, another reason for celebrating this festival.

The festival is characterised by a short harvest ceremony at school. The children of all grades are asked to bring fruit and vegetables to school. Normally representatives from a chosen orphanage and the old people from B.S. Leon Home attend and the produce is given to them. Songs and poems about harvesting are sung by the children and parents may attend if they wish.

At Sharon School, all Grades 1 to 7 will therefore begin the year with work. The school is closed for two days at the beginning and end of Shavuot.

Rosh Hashanah

The first Festival is Rosh Hashanah, the Jewish New Year. This festival, together with Yom Kippur are called “The High Holy Days”. These are the days of prayer, introspection and endeavouring to make a change for the better. Rosh Hashanah is the beginning of the Jewish year and the beginning of the ten days of atonement which end on Yom Kippur. On Rosh Hashanah we eat apples and honey as a symbol for a sweet year ahead. We also send cards to friends and family wishing each other “Shana Tova” or “Happy New Year”. During this Festival the school will hear the blowing of the ram’s horn. This is called the “shofar.”

At school the children will make New Year cards in craft and eat the apples dipped in honey during the festival gathering at which time they will be asked to wear white.

Yom Kippur

Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, is a day of fasting. Not only will the school be closed on this day, but unlike any other Festival, afternoon activities will not occur ON THE AFTERNOON BEFORE.

This is a very holy day and a Jewish person will fast from sunset to sunset the next day. Much of the time will be spent in the synagogue in prayer and repentance.

Sukkot

The next Festival of this term is Sukkot. On Sukkot, tabernacles are traditionally built and dwelt in for seven days.

Eating, praying, and if possible sleeping, is done in these tabernacles called ‘the Sukkot’. This is to remind people of the time of the exodus from Egypt andfrom slavery to freedom when they slept in temporary dwellings. At school we decorate the Sukkah at the synagogue and celebrate the festival in it.

Shemini Atzeret

At the end of Sukkot comes another Festival called Shemini Atzeret followed by Simchat Torah, which is the rejoicing of the Torah.

Over the course of the year, the five books of Moses are read in the synagogue–one portion every week. On Simchat Torah the last portion is read from the book of Deuteronomy and straight away the book of Genesis is began all over again – closing one cycle and starting a new one which is called “the rejoicing of the Torah“.

Hannukah

At the end of the term, often during the school holidays, comes the Festival of Hanukkah. This is usually studied just before closing school, and is often celebrated in conjunction with Speech Night.

Hanukkah is the story of how the Syrian Greeks tried to force the Jewish people in Israel to abandon their religion and belief in one God and bow down to idols. Under the Maccabees, they rebelled and managed to winback the Temple, which had been defiled, as well as their religious freedom.

We celebrate this festival by lighting candles on a special nine-armed candlestick called a Hanukkiah and by eating doughnuts in memory of the one jar of oil left untouched in the temple. That jar of pure oil was miraculously enough for eight days of lighting the menorah (the candelabra in the Temple).