Don’t Miss a Thing

by Arliene Botnick, September 30, 2021

For our Bet Sefer Solel families, school has begun very smoothly. We are meeting at Solel Sunday mornings from 10:00am until noon and, thus far, we’ve been able to meet very safely and comfortably outdoors. All grades from kindergarten through grade 8 are meeting Sunday mornings (some grade 8’s may have opted to do only the Sunday night Chai program online) and we will probably move indoors by October 17, unless the weather is still comfortable enough to meet outdoors. We need documentation of double inoculation +2 weeks from parents, as soon as possible, if your child/children is/are turning 12 before December 31. Solel’s Covid policy is that people 12 years of age and over must have this second vaccination to be the shul. Also, please remember that the COVID-19 screening must be done each week on the Saturday before school. Here is that link: bit.ly/solelscreener.

Please remember there is no school on the Thanksgiving weekend (October 10). Parents, we are supplying Sunday morning snacks, so if you haven’t already notified us of any food allergies your child may have, please do so as soon as possible.

For Tuesday night school, grades 4 – 7 are meeting online. Thank you, parents, the attendance is excellent. Occasionally, we do need your support to help your child focus on the screen and keep their video on if at all possible. It is much easier to teach when we can see their faces rather than just a name on a screen. We have asked the children in our junior grades (up to grade 3) and in grade 5 to purchase one book each and these books will still be available to be purchased this Sunday. These are Hebrew books and they are essential to your child making progress in Hebrew reading and decoding.

Just one more school reminder: we have started an excellent new online program Sunday evenings from 7:00 – 8:00pm for our ‘Chai” school (grades 8, 9 and 10 students), in cooperation with the New Israel Fund, on understanding and relating to Israel, its challenges its heterogeneous nature, its successes and its failures. That link is being sent out directly to the families of students in those grades. If you have a child in one of those grades and you are not getting that link, please contact me.

As for our adult education opportunities, we have a number of programs for our lovers of books. We have joined the Port Washington Book Club and their first presentation is Wednesday, October 6 at 8:00pm with Dr. Meryl Ain, author of “The Takeaway Man.” This is an excellent read! You must pre-register to attend via Zoom. Our next program will be “Rebel Daughter” by Lori Kaufmann and it will be on November 3 at 1:00pm. One more heads up: on November 17 at 8:00pm, we will discuss the book by Joanne Samuel Goldblum – “Broken America.” Many of these sessions will be led by the authors of the book. This is a super opportunity and we were very lucky to be invited into this group.

For our amazing Lunch & Learn programs, we begin at 11:30am on October 19 with our very own Rabbi Emeritus, Rabbi Larry Englander. More information about his topic will follow.

Finally, for adult learning opportunities, please pay attention to the links in the Shammas for the programs being run by the World Zionist Organization, the first one being October 13 at noon explaining what the Iron Dome is in Israel and how it works once.

Thank you all for the support you have given Solel over the past year and a half. Living and working and teaching during a pandemic is new to all of us but I am thrilled with and thankful for the success of our programs, as well as your support and involvement. If there is anything else you would like us to be able to present to you, please do not hesitate to contact us at Solel.

I wish you all a happy healthy year, a year where COVID ceases to be a shadow over our lives and a year where Solel continues to thrive and grow. “Keyn Yehi Ratzon.” May it be God’s will!

Filed under: Educator's Message

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