#Jewish Kindergarten

[kadimadayschool]

Why Kadima Day School is the Ideal Private Jewish Day School for Your Child

Choosing the right educational environment for your child is a significant decision. For families seeking a well-rounded education that integrates academic excellence with Jewish values and traditions, Kadima Day School is an outstanding choice. As a leading private Jewish day school, Kadima offers a unique educational experience that nurtures both the mind and spirit.

The Benefits of a Private Jewish Day School

1. Academic Excellence with a Jewish Foundation

At Kadima Day School, we provide a rigorous academic curriculum that prepares students for success in higher education and beyond. Our program includes core subjects like mathematics, science, and language arts, enriched by Jewish studies, Hebrew language instruction, and religious education. This comprehensive approach ensures that students receive a well-rounded education that supports both their intellectual and spiritual growth.

2. Strong Sense of Jewish Identity and Community

One of the defining features of a private Jewish day school like Kadima is the emphasis on fostering a strong Jewish identity. Our students engage in cultural, religious, and social activities that deepen their connection to their heritage. From celebrating Jewish holidays to participating in community service projects, our programs help students develop a sense of belonging and pride in their Jewish identity.

3. Character Development and Ethical Leadership

Kadima Day School is committed to developing students who are not only academically proficient but also morally grounded. Our emphasis on Jewish values such as kindness, respect, and social responsibility prepares students to become ethical leaders in their communities. The lessons learned at Kadima extend beyond the classroom, shaping students into compassionate and responsible individuals.

Why Choose Kadima Day School?

1. Personalized Attention and Support

With small class sizes and dedicated faculty, Kadima ensures that each student receives the personalized attention they need to thrive. Our teachers are committed to understanding each child’s unique strengths and challenges, providing tailored support to help them succeed. This individualized approach is a hallmark of our private Jewish day school experience.

2. Diverse Extracurricular Opportunities

Kadima offers a wide range of extracurricular activities that complement our academic program. From arts and athletics to clubs and community service, students have ample opportunities to explore their interests and develop new skills. These activities are designed to promote well-rounded development, encouraging students to discover their passions and talents.

3. Engaged Family and Community Involvement

As a private Jewish day school, Kadima places a strong emphasis on family and community engagement. We believe that education is a collaborative effort, and we actively involve parents and the wider community in our school events and activities. This partnership creates a supportive network that enhances the overall educational experience for our students.

Experience the Kadima Difference

Choosing Kadima Day School means giving your child an education that balances academic rigor with cultural enrichment and character development. Our commitment to excellence and community makes us a standout choice for families seeking a private Jewish day school.

Discover how Kadima Day School can make a meaningful difference in your child’s life. Join us and become part of a vibrant private Jewish day school community that prepares students for a bright and successful future.

[jewishdainix]

Most of the i/p related posts ive reblogged are very much aimed at international audiences (which unfortunately means its mostly usa centered. Like half of the posts I see israel are talking about the us. For some reason) but despite being considered by some a Nich Internet Microcelebrity me just posting stuff on tumblr isnt doing much so I am starting to look into activist groups within here because after everything that have happened I can not imagine my future not at least somewhat involving taking part of activism

[xomoosexo]

idk why I decided to go on twitter and check out these crazy people 😭😭😭 holy shit it's just all 14 year olds genuinely

[xclowniex]

A kindergarten in Sydney in a Jewish neighborhood was burned down and graffitied with "fuck the jews"

It's honestly fucking disgusting. And the kindergarten wasn't even a Jewish one, it just was near a Jewish college (highschool for north amercian folk).

Jews aren't just unsafe in Jewish buildings, now there is no escape. Even if we were to hide our jewishness, people will still find a way to attack us.

Source:

[piratecaptainscaptainpirates]

Okay, so, there's one thing that I'm kind of tired of beating around the bush with white fans about, and it's this: if you pretend to "ignore" race in OFMD, you will miss a lot of what the story is trying to tell you.

Now, I do not truly believe that race is something you can ignore in a story. I just don't think it's possible, and when you try, what you wind up with is something like the conservative worldview of "not seeing color." Trying to ignore race will make you sound racist and ignore important racialized themes.

You can't understand Stede's need for character growth at the beginning of the show if you just focus on how he's "cringe" instead. When Stede makes his crew members of color serve them at dinner when the English board, this is gross, and their faces tell us exactly how they feel about it. Stede unlearning his biases here isn't subtle (guy who called him and Pete "fucking racists" I love you forever), and learning to take all of his crew members seriously as fully actualized people, moving away from the sort of Kindergarten-teacher behavior at the start to truly valuing them as people and taking their input and suggestions, it's an important aspect. Stede asking Abshir for intel at the party isn't just funny, it's also proof he's learned to see value in people in positions like Abshir's.

You can't understand the motivations behind Ed's actions, especially the violent ones, if you ignore the racist overtones. Ed is not a randomly violent person - he gets angry at a captain for calling him a "rich donkey," and if you think it's unreasonable for a brown man to want to get revenge on a white man for calling him that? Then fuck I'm glad you can't see the conversations I have with my other black friends, man. Ed's anger and frustration at the party aren't just because he fucked up with some spoons, lol, you can't get it unless you realize he's the only brown guest in that room. Yeah, he's ignoring Stede's advice, but he's immediately under a pressure Stede never has been. Ed's wanted posters in s2, too, rely on heavily caricaturizing Jewish features to make him look grotesque and monstruous. We're supposed to be horrified by that aspect.

And, yeah, when we ignore the racist tones to Izzy's behavior, I think that's undermining an important aspect of who he is as an antagonistic character. Him buying Ed from the English should feel like a gross violation, because it is. When he sits in front of the crew eating and making Fang and Ivan serve him, I think it's a pretty obvious parallel to how the crew members of color were similarly insulted in the pilot. It's impossible to ignore race in the way he dehumanizes Ed and tries to force him back into a caricature of behavior he hates and is horrified by - when he calls Ed a "wild dog" in s2, if that doesn't cause a visceral reaction of disgust in you, I dunno what to tell you. This doesn't mean that Izzy is irredeemable - just as Stede wasn't - but it does mean that racist biases are things Izzy had to unlearn.

OFMD so often takes so much care with how its characters of color are depicted. We get thoughtful, relatable moments (those French boat people getting humiliated and setting their boat on fire after they'd tried to touch Ed's beard is so satisfying, guys) and excellent, supportive friendships between men of color. The characters of color on OFMD are clean, smart, respected, and it's wonderful. And just because these things aren't always relatable to you specifically doesn't mean they're not important parts of the story.

[yellowballoondogs]

My x-men teacher headcannons

Scott Summers

The kids have a dumb nickname for him that he only tolerates because he wants them to think he’s cool (none of them think that)

Now hear me out. He’s the drivers Ed teacher. (Yes this extends to the X-jet) I just think it fits him- I can’t even explain it

Every-time a student asks him to sponsor a club he just says yes. He ends up with a variety of random clubs to sponsor

Rouge

The kids are afraid of her at first but love her by the end

She teaches auto-mechanics and gym

She really wants to coach some kind of sports team but hasn’t had the time for it

Remy Lebeau

The kids love him. They trust him and think he’s cool. None of the adults do.

He teaches sex-Ed (canonically) but I think he’d also teach home ec. He loves cooking and spent the entire krakoa era househusbanding- he’d love it.

He really wants to run a cooking club but can’t get enough students to join

Kurt Wagner

In cannon most students think he’s creepy but it’s a school for mutants so fuck that. They love him in my heart. They just also think his jokes are stupid and he���s cringe.

He started out teaching German but got bored of it pretty quickly

I could’ve see him as a kinder garten teacher. He loves working with the little ones and they love him. He’s definitely one of those teachers who has a classroom theme every year that they overdecorate for.

If he’s not a kindergarten teacher he’d do theater. Man would go all out for a Shakespearean play,

He also runs a ton of extracurriculars- baseball (which he canonically loves), Bible study, and gymnastics. He really wants a sword fighting club but was rejected because it was too dangerous.

Colossus

He has a gaggle of kids that hang out in his room during lunch

He teaches art class (I’m fairly certain that’s already cannon)

He runs an art club and does the school musical every year, which he runs like the goddamn navy

Kitty pryde

Tries to stay hip with the kids and lets them call her by her first name.

She teaches any tech related class or club you could think of. Even if only one student is interested she will beg for it to be on the curriculum

I don’t think she’d actually enjoy being a teacher all that much. Maybe later on she’d go on to be a dean or social worker, and much later the headmistress.

She runs a robotics club that she’s been trying to bypass anti mutant laws to bring to state competitions every year. She also runs the Jewish student union

If you want me to do anyone else please just ask (:

[historicity-was-already-taken]

Received this question just now. Posting my response sans askers' username per their request:

Hi, as you are a holocaust historian, and as you mentioned in a recent post, words mean things, I was sort of wondering what you thought about people saying that what’s happening in Palestine isn’t genocide because the holocaust was genocide/6 million Jews was genocide. I’ve seen a couple people saying stuff along the lines of ‘if what’s happening in Palestine is genocide, we need another word for the holocaust’. I’m not worried about you knowing it’s me asking (like asking on anon) because I think you talk to people pretty reasonably but if you could answer it in private or without my name on the ask I would appreciate it, people seeing it could get… unpleasant, talking about this stuff and I try to stay out of the line of fire to the best of my ability. Totally fine if you don’t want to answer, I don’t want you hounded about Palestine either, it just seemed like you might have an interesting take with your studies

Anyone is capable of genocide, of following orders to commit human rights abuses, of attacking civilians, etc. No identity groups’ past—however violent and traumatic—makes them incapable of committing war crimes. Referring to what’s happening in Gaza as genocide doesn’t invalidate Jewish communal thought regarding the Holocaust. Moreover, the fact that the State of Israel has built Holocaust memory into its nation-building doesn’t mean that that country is inherently incapable of crimes against humanity. There is a cohort of primarily 65+ Jews who hold a trauma-induced belief that Israel could never be capable of these crimes because everything Israel does is in the interest of protecting the Jewish people. It’s a pretty thought, and one I used to hold, but it’s not reality. Many as well would argue that, because the October 7 attack was inherently genocidal, Israel was moral and just doing what it needed to do to bring the hostages home and stamp out Hamas cells. Indeed, these hypothetical individuals would continue, the fact that Hamas has built itself into the civilian architecture of Gaza means that Hamas is using Palestinian civilians as human shields; not that Israel is committing genocide. I personally think that’s wishful thinking. Hamas 800% bases itself near structures like hospitals and kindergartens so Israel will look bad when it attacks those places,* thus willfully allowing the people it governs to exist as human shields. HOWEVER, I don’t believe for one minute that the Israeli military doesn’t have the technology needed to seek out evidence of heat, heartbeats, etc, in hidden subterranean areas. Their counter-attack was always going to happen, but the way it’s been fought? Naw man it’s indefensible.

You know I don't do comparisons or Holocaust inversion, but I do have feelings and emotional responses which don't care about my Serious Intellectual Historian views on comparisons and Holocaust inversion. And, there's a very disturbing moment in one of my primary sources for my book where a woman describes a Nazi attack on a hospital in the Warsaw Ghetto. She describes the screaming and the panic and the civilians begging to be euthanized. Similar readings and sources exist for hospitals in Warsaw during the 1944 Warsaw Uprising when the Germans were destroying the city. I suspect similar descriptions exist of any hospital of a densely populated civilian area under siege. And, even if I was still bullheadedly in my Zionist era, I wouldn't have been able to simultaneously do the work I do, watch Israeli soldiers attacking hospitals, and emerge completely fine with everything. All of that doesn’t erase the simultaneous facts that: 1) the Holocaust happened and was a traumatic moment in Jewish History, the memory of which will endure throughout the millennia; and 2) the October 7 attacks were carried out by Hamas with genocidal intent.

What you’re seeing is people within our community dealing with cognitive dissonance. And honestly the experience of watching people lash out is stage 1 of that process (or as I call it, the Cognitive Dissonance Temper Tantrum). It’s no fun to witness, but can be positive if the person doing the temper tantrum chooses to learn from it. 

ETA: When I discuss things I felt/believed in my "Zionist Era," I'm discussing stuff from when I was like, under 21 years old. For reference I am currently 35.

No one has my permission to use my words to silence other Jewish people. You have no obligation to stick around for people having cognitive dissonance freakouts or saying shitty things about Palestinians, but I see part of my...duty as being available to work with Jewish individuals who want to deal productively with their cognitive dissonance once the freakout period dies down, if they want help.

*Here my Unnamed I/P Reader notes that it’s quite a bit more complicated than stated here in part due to Gaza’s pre-Oct. 7 2023 population density.

[kadimadayschool]

Why Kadima Day School is a Leading Jewish School in California

Finding the right school for your child involves more than just academics; it’s about choosing an environment that nurtures their growth, values, and identity. If you're searching for a well-rounded educational experience rooted in Jewish traditions and values, Kadima Day School is a top choice. As a premier Jewish school in California, Kadima offers a unique blend of academic excellence, cultural enrichment, and personal development.

The Benefits of Choosing a Jewish School in California

1. Academic Excellence with a Cultural Foundation

At Kadima Day School, we provide a robust academic program that prepares students for success in higher education and beyond. Our curriculum covers essential subjects like mathematics, science, and language arts while integrating Jewish teachings, Hebrew language, and religious studies. This holistic approach ensures that students receive a well-rounded education that fosters both intellectual and spiritual growth.

2. Strong Jewish Identity and Community Engagement

One of the key advantages of attending a Jewish school in California like Kadima is the focus on developing a strong sense of Jewish identity. Our students engage in a variety of cultural, religious, and social activities that deepen their connection to their heritage. From celebrating Jewish holidays to participating in community service, our programs emphasize the importance of living and learning within a supportive Jewish community.

3. Character Development and Ethical Leadership

Kadima Day School is committed to shaping the next generation of ethical leaders. Through our curriculum and daily practices, we emphasize values such as kindness, respect, and social responsibility. Our students learn to navigate life’s challenges with integrity and compassion, which are essential qualities for future leaders in any community.

Why Kadima Day School Stands Out as a Jewish School in California

1. Personalized Learning Environment

With small class sizes and a dedicated faculty, Kadima ensures that each student receives personalized attention. Our teachers are not only educators but also mentors who guide students on their academic and personal journeys. This individualized approach helps students excel in their studies and build confidence in their abilities.

2. Comprehensive Extracurricular Programs

Kadima Day School offers a wide range of extracurricular activities that complement our academic program. Whether it’s through arts, sports, or community service, students have the opportunity to explore their interests and develop new skills. These activities are designed to promote well-rounded development and encourage students to discover their passions.

3. Family and Community Involvement

As a Jewish school in California, Kadima places a strong emphasis on family and community involvement. We believe that education is a collaborative effort, and we actively engage parents and the broader community in our school activities. This partnership ensures that students receive the support they need to thrive both academically and personally.

Experience the Kadima Difference

Choosing Kadima Day School means giving your child an education that balances academic rigor with cultural enrichment and character development. As a leading Jewish school in California, we are proud to offer an environment where students can grow intellectually, spiritually, and socially.

Discover why Kadima Day School is the right choice for your family. Join us and be part of a vibrant Jewish school in California that prepares students for a bright and meaningful future!

[jewish-joy]

After a tizzy of a freshman year of college as a jew-ish student, I'm packing boxes for uHaul.

My target-bought menorah went into the first box, along with all ten of my hillel sweatshirts. Pictures I had printed out from Purim are taken down, and neatly put into an envelope to be hung up later. My many books on Jewish culture and religion went into the second one. And so on, and so forth. The hamsa I lost three months ago was under my mini fridge.

As I put away each Jewish item, intermingled with my sweater collection and stuffed animals, I remember both the joy and grief of this year. A hostage necklace goes hand in hand with my Magen David in my jewelry box. A newspaper on a local antisemitic hate crime finds it place next to the belated "Hanukkah gift" my friend got for me in April. It's been so much to carry- both the joy of finding home along with the tangible feeling of uncertainty, fear, and pain.

And finally, I am on the fifth box. In the pocket of two separate winter coats, I found posters of two people-

one, the childhood best friend of a man I know, currently a captive in Gaza. I'd been given that picture, personally, by my friend who kept on referring to this hostage in the past tense. Then, he would continually correct himself, looking even more stricken as he made that mistake of letting what he's resigned to slip out. And I can't imagine- I can't. If the boys I played in the summer streams with were currently being tortured by my worst enemies. If I had no idea if the friend that sent me funny texts and assurances after a bad day was alive or not. The other, Hind Rajab, a Palestinian child killed in the crossfires of war. I found that poster blown off from a fence. It was one out of around sixty so I felt comfortable taking it home with me, just to look at her and remember. Her little face would've blended right in with the kids I helped out with every Monday for the last two semesters. Who could've cried on her last day of kindergarten, because she wouldn't see her teachers again, just like how all the six-year-olds clung to me when they realized it was my last day. In that moment, I laughed, pushing their hands off of me gently because I had to leave for Pesach celebrations. But at the same time, I thought of her and how she didn't get to see Eid.

When I come back to campus in September, with those boxes waiting in my new dorm for me, I will open up that box and see their faces. And I'll feel that sorrow as deeply as I feel it now and the moment I first learnt their stories. But I hope my friend's near-brother will be back home. And I hope - I hope to everything- that Palestinian children just like Hind will be able to go back home, get the help they need, and spend the rest of their childhoods crying over their teacher assistants leaving for summer breaks.

And when I see them in September, I'll think "We've done it. I'm sorry it took so long, I'm sorry it took this pain and nothing ever deserved to happen to you. But we did it."

[hellochildrenoftheatom]

Queer Jews Project Day 15 - Jared Polis

The first openly gay Governor of a U.S. state, Jared Polis was elected as Governor of Colorado in 2018. He was reelected in 2022 and is still governor. His legislative accomplishments include full-day kindergarten and expanding preschool. He married his longtime partner, Marlon Reis, in a Jewish Renewal ceremony in 2021. They have two kids.

Learn more about Jared Polis here.

Queer Jews Project

[mariacallous]

Picture this, if you will: hundreds of grey-haired grannies ganging up to face down a group of neo-Nazi skinheads. Some of the skinheads have beer bottles in their hands. The grannies are armed with nothing more than umbrellas and hand-knitted woolly hats. It sounds like a corny sketch for a TV comedy show. But no. It’s election time in Germany’s eastern Länder (federal regions), and the grannies are out on the streets.

There’s no Granny Party. The movement, called in German Omas gegen Rechts (Grannies against the right), has grown into a national and international force since it was founded in 2017 by an Austrian psychotherapist and evangelical priest, Monika Salzer.

It is widely assumed here that apathy and low voter turnout will result in a far-right victory. But election posters showing a cartoon granny with a rainbow flag carry a simple message: “Granny says – go out and vote!” Apart from the rainbow, a symbol of tolerance, sexual liberation and diversity, there is no instruction on how to vote.

In between elections, the Grannies are busy knitting and babysitting. But they also raise funds, for example by baking and selling cakes, to finance the poster campaign and a set of beer mats that make up a pub quiz.

In Leipzig, my new home town, the Grannies have raised enough money to install three new Stumblestones (Stolpersteine). These are little brass plaques inscribed with the names of people whom the Nazis deported and murdered in the 1930s and 40s. The new plaques commemorate the Wesly family – Hermann, a Jewish publisher of music and books, his wife, Berta, and their daughter, Margot. Berta and Hermann were taken to Auschwitz and murdered in the gas chambers. Margot escaped to England – but the British authorities put her in a concentration camp too, as an enemy alien.

A violin and an accordion were played during the installation of the little plaques where the Weslys’ house once stood. The stonemason’s hammer punctuated the music with a slow beat. Then Granny Gisela read out a short account of how the family was persecuted and how we must never forget. Many spectators were in tears. The memorial is on the doorstep of the new building that now stands on the site – a kindergarten. Its head teacher joined the ceremony and promised to find a way of explaining the story to the kids “without scaring them too much”. I remarked that it was a very special moment. Granny Sylvia put me right.

“Sadly, it’s not so special. This brings the number of Stolpersteine in Leipzig to almost 800. There is one on almost every street,” she said, before inviting us all to join her for coffee and cake.

Later she shared a link to the Stolpersteine app in the Google Play store (also on Apple). It’s true – there are hundreds of Stumblestones. Many are not for Jewish victims, but for brave souls like William Zipperer who tried to stop the Nazis and save their neighbours. He was executed in January 1945 for plotting against the state. 

As a mark of respect, the Grannies regularly go out to polish the small memorials set into the pavements, to light candles and lay flowers.

There is another side to the movement. They are part of the Antifa, Germany’s radical ultra-left. Not quite as radical as Lina Engel, the antifascist activist who is serving jail time in Dresden for plotting physical attacks on neo-Nazi pubs and meetings. Nor have any Grannies been caught setting fire to building sites where executive homes are replacing the old affordable blocks of flats – a typical Antifa action. 

They upload videos to TikTok. And they are taking their campaign out of the city and into villages and suburbs where right wing parties recruit people who feel neglected or “left behind” by the Berlin government.

“Solidarity without borders instead of right wing propaganda,” says the Radical Grannies’ poster, urging supporters to join them in a mass demonstration. These are Grannies who don’t knit. 

[jewish-vents]

They're doing it again. They just announced the death of Shiri Bibas and her two kids and I've seen posts on X that makes me want to throw up and shout at these vile beasts. They're saying Shiri was an occupier and a participant in the 'genocide' of Palestinians because she used to work in the IDF when all she probably ever did was sitting behind a desk on a computer. They're doing everything in their power to find something incriminating against her and her family meanwhile they were only innocent citizens who never killed anyone. Her parents were assassinated in cold-blood. Hamas returned the bodies of the two sons but Shiri's body is still unknown as we speak. And many on social medias are celebrating her death and justifying it. I have seen tweets about Yarden Bibas saying 'look! even the husband says Israel killed Shiri and the babies!' DISGUSTING MONSTERS. He was abducted as a hostage being filmed against his will with armed terrorists behind the camera. They're mocking the kids hair color saying they look European, that they didn't belonged there, that they would grow up to be occupiers. Shiri was a PEACEFUL woman who never did a crime against Palestinians, her parents Yossi and Margit were PEACEFUL Jews as well, her father was a Leftist Jew and used to give lectures on socialism in his free time. Margit worked in kindergarten and teached to Jewish and Arab children. They believed in peace and coexistence. Look what they've done to them. When they say "from the river to the sea" they mean EVERY JEW even the peaceful ones.

My blood is boiling and I feel so much rage and hatred inside of me. All sorts of thoughts the main one being that we will never have peace with these inhumane people, disgusting beasts incapable of thinking with their fucking brains and no compassion.

.

[jellybeanium124]

so today illymation released the video: "why sunday school SCARED me." and I wanna talk about the absolute most baffling thing to me about this video.

I'm a reform jew, and went to hebrew school from age 5 to 16, or from kindergarten through 11th grade. my temple's hebrew school is split up into two main phases: k-6, which is more tradition hebrew school and happened during the day on sundays, and our hebrew high school program for 7-12 (it had a specific hebrew name but I'm just gonna call it HHS because I don't wanna accidentally doxx myself). secondly, 4-6th graders attended hebrew school twice a week, on sundays and in the evenings on a week day, to give them more time to practice learning prayers for their b'nai mitzvah in a few years.

so illy talks about her experiences growing up lutheran, and her experiences at lutheran sunday school. and most of that experience was... memorizing. their homework assignments involved memorizing bible verses. their confirmation "test" involved memorizing the 10 commandments and all the books in the bible, along with a one page essay on "what jesus means to me." and for her lutheran church, confirmation happened in 7th grade, and confirmation class was from 5-7.

and this just. baffled me.

because, okay, the early years of hebrew school? like, k-3? it's all memorization and being told what to believe. I remember being a teacher's aid for a second grade class when I was 15 and the teacher just told them stories and stuff about gd and they were also starting to learn to read the hebrew alphabet.

but as kids got older, there was so much more conversation. yes, 4-6 did involve a lot of just memorizing prayers for your b'nai mitzvah, but we also talked about jewish teachings and beliefs, and we were all allowed to have our own relationships with gd. by the time you enter HHS, the teachers don't even have any expectation that you believe in gd at all, and the classrooms were much more open, almost socratic style class, with everyone asking questions and learning and sharing their different opinions. we didn't spend those hours just memorizing things, certainly not as tweens and teens. my 7th grade year at HHS was spent learning about the holocaust, not memorizing passages from the tanakh.

now, because I'm reform, we stole confirmation, and the reform movement does that at 15. it's sort of a mini b'nai mitzvah for the whole class, and it wasn't a test, we were leading a service as a group. now, yes, again, there was some memorization involved (prayers, a song we sung as a class), but our classes in 10th grade weren't focused on memorizing things, we'd sit in a circle and talk about different issues and topics related to judaism. we'd talk about current events and our personal experiences with antisemitism.

there's this... emptiness to the way illy talks about her sunday school experiences. for other people who grew up christian, is this what sunday school was like for you? memorizing bible verses? my only experience with christian sunday school is from the simpsons, and those scenes are usually a bit more interesting because it's a tv show lol and they're not gonna have pointless scenes of making the kids learn bible verses. and I will admit my hebrew school may be an outlier. my parents HAAAAAATED their hebrew schools growing up, saying it was boring and meaningless and as soon as they were b'nai mitzvahed they were out of there like a shot. I think my mom even joked about leaving a her-shaped hole in the wall once lol.

anyways the idea that sunday school = memorization blew my mind. is illy's experience common???

[kadimadayschool]

Why Kadima Day School Stands Out as a Premier Jewish Community Day School

Choosing the right educational environment for your child is one of the most important decisions you can make. If you’re looking for a school that not only delivers academic excellence but also instills strong cultural and ethical values, a Jewish community day school like Kadima Day School could be the perfect fit. At Kadima, we pride ourselves on creating a nurturing and dynamic learning environment where students thrive both academically and personally.

The Unique Benefits of a Jewish Community Day School

1. Integration of Academic Excellence and Jewish Values

Kadima Day School offers a curriculum that seamlessly blends rigorous academic programs with Jewish teachings and traditions. Our students excel in core subjects such as math, science, and language arts, while also gaining a deep understanding of Jewish history, Hebrew language, and religious studies. This dual-focus education helps to develop well-rounded individuals who are prepared for future academic challenges and life’s moral complexities.

2. Strengthening Jewish Identity and Community Connection

A key advantage of enrolling in a Jewish community day school like Kadima is the opportunity for students to build a strong Jewish identity. Our programs encourage students to explore and appreciate their heritage through various cultural, religious, and social activities. By being part of a close-knit Jewish community, students not only strengthen their personal faith but also build lifelong friendships and networks with peers who share similar values.

3. Emphasis on Character Building and Leadership

At Kadima Day School, we place a significant emphasis on character education. Our goal is to cultivate compassionate, responsible, and ethical leaders who will contribute positively to their communities. Through our Jewish teachings, students learn about kindness, justice, and social responsibility, which are integral parts of our daily school life. This emphasis on character development is what sets a Jewish community day school apart from other educational institutions.

Why Kadima Day School?

1. Personalized Attention and Support

With smaller class sizes, Kadima ensures that each student receives the individualized attention they need to succeed. Our dedicated teachers are committed to fostering a supportive learning environment where every child feels valued and encouraged to reach their full potential.

2. Enriching Extracurricular Activities

Beyond the classroom, Kadima offers a wide range of extracurricular activities that help students develop new skills and interests. From arts and sports to community service projects, our programs are designed to complement academic learning and promote personal growth.

3. Strong Family and Community Engagement

At Kadima Day School, we believe that education is a partnership between the school and families. We actively engage parents and the wider community in our educational journey, ensuring that students receive consistent support both at school and at home. This collaborative approach is a hallmark of our Jewish community day school.

Join the Kadima Day School Family

Choosing Kadima Day School means choosing an educational experience that fosters academic achievement, personal growth, and a deep connection to Jewish values and community. We invite you to visit our campus, meet our dedicated staff, and see firsthand why Kadima is a leading Jewish community day school.

Make Kadima Day School your partner in your child’s educational journey, and discover the difference a Jewish community day school can make!

To know more information visit us on:

[papasmoke]

Forgot to screenshot before I blocked them but I just got an anonymous ask that said "posting is performative, go make calla walsh proud and firebomb a jewish kindergarten." Calla Wash is one of the activists who just got arrested for disrupting the operation of the weapons and technology manufacturer Elbit Systems which works closely the Israeli government and military including creating the mass surveilance tech used on Palestinians in the Gaza strip. In the mind of the antisemitic zionist supporters of Israel, disrupting defense contractors, punishing them for their complicity in ethnic cleansing and genocide is as bad as murdering jewish children because they view all jewish people everywhere as collectively, equally responsible for the actions of the apartheid Israeli state.

[sopranoentravesti]

Not directly inspired by anything except for *gestures vaguely at the surrounding shitshow* but I do think more people could stand to read this article by Dara Horn about Roald Dahl from 2021.

I’ve included text of the article as well, under the cut. And to head off the whining of those who will perceive this as an attack on their favorite children’s book writer or whatever: read the damn article. This isn’t about “cancelling,” someone for being bigoted (hell, if I boycotted books or plays because the author was virulently antisemitic, there would be precious little to read). It is about understanding a really dark part of human psychology that is at play in conspiratorial thinking— which of course is at the heart of antisemitism— that Roald Dahl capitalized on. Developing a more mature sense of morality, rather than indulging in the bloody politics of blame and vengeance is crucial.

There’s nothing quite like the realization that what you thought was an empowering work of art is actually a 200-page exercise in trolling. It took me more than 30 years to figure out that I’d been trolled by Roald Dahl.

Dahl, who dominated juvenile publishing when I was growing up, revealed himself late in his career to be a vicious antisemite, who thought “powerful American Jewish bankers” ran the US government. He told the New Statesman that “there is a trait in the Jewish character that does provoke animosity, maybe it’s a kind of lack of generosity towards non-Jews. I mean, there is always a reason why anti-anything crops up anywhere; even a stinker like Hitler didn’t just pick on them for no reason.” This was in 1983, the year in which Dahl published The Witches, his 13th novel for children.

Apparently, Dahl had been an antisemite his entire life, but it didn’t prevent him from being essentially canonized after his death in 1990, and it didn’t much affect my thoughts about him either. I had adored his books as a child, and I’ve never taken much interest in the now-obligatory grunt work of connecting artists’ personalities (often horrible) with their works (sometimes great). And although Dahl was not only an antisemite but also (and even more damningly these days) a misogynist and a racist, he hasn’t been canceled yet. Who doesn’t love Roald Dahl, or at least his stories?

Hollywood certainly does. The most recent Dahl adaptation, which began streaming on HBO Max this Halloween season, is called Roald Dahl’s The Witches (note the value of the authorial brand), directed and written by Robert Zemeckis, with the help of two younger Hollywood powerhouses, Kenya Barris and Guillermo del Toro. It stars the high wattage Octavia Spencer, perhaps best known for her Oscar-winning role in The Help, and A-lister Anne Hathaway, not to mention the voice of the comedian Chris Rock. In fact, this is the second big-budget version of The Witches, the first having been a 1990 film starring Anjelica Huston.

But The Witches was on my mind long before I’d heard about the new movie. It was one of my favorite books when I was a child, one I read repeatedly and pressed into the hands of friends. I was eager to share it with my own children and hesitated only because, as a child, I’d also found it somewhat terrifying. But when I read it aloud to my eight-year-old son last month, I discovered that it was far more terrifying than I remembered, and for entirely different reasons.

The key to Dahl’s success as a children’s author lay in how he pitted children against adults, making children into a beloved underdog class whose moral victory lay in vanquishing their powerful exploiters. His heroes are blameless boys and girls tortured by diabolically abusive adults, whom they destroy in outrageous revenge sequences of the sort even the most fortunate child occasionally fantasizes about. In James and the Giant Peach, for instance, the orphaned James, enslaved by his villainous aunts, squashes them to death with the titular fruit. In Matilda, a kindergartener uses magic powers to terrorize a school principal who routinely locks children in a nail-studded closet. In Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, the starving Charlie, living in the sort of poverty that would make Oliver Twist qualify as a one-percenter, inherits a fantastical candy factory—but only after a book-length morality play in which wealthy children and their entitled parents are absurdly tortured and maimed. In George’s Marvelous Medicine, a boy forced to care for his heartless grandmother concocts a potion that makes her shrink and disappear.

In short, Dahl is like a modern Charles Dickens, except instead of social justice and spiritual redemption, Dahl’s books offer only revenge. Kids, like all emotionally and morally stunted people, eat this stuff up. Dahl tapped into something primal and hideous in the human psyche: the desire of disenfranchised people to feel righteous precisely by demonizing others. As a kid, I bought this too. The sheer sadism of it went right over my head until I shared these books with my children and saw how I’d been punked. And The Witches was the worst.

The Witches is about a boy who is orphaned in the opening chapter—pity points are always crucial for Dahl—and then adopted by his loving Grandmamma, a kindly old lady who fills him in on a little-known scourge. Witches, she explains, are real. They are demons disguised as women, and their sole purpose is to entrap and destroy innocent children through their diabolical magic. One unfortunate boy, for example, went off with a witch and returned unharmed—but later hardened into a stone statue. After vanishing with a witch, a girl reappeared only in a landscape painting in her family’s home, changing positions whenever the family wasn’t watching and even aging as years passed. (That one haunted me for decades.) Other children are “disappeared” in ways worthy of an Argentine junta. Kids better watch out.

One summer on a beach vacation with Grandmamma, our hero wanders into a hotel conference room occupied by a group calling itself the “Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.” In fact, it is a coven of witches discussing their latest plan, a potion designed to turn children into mice. They discover the boy and immediately mouse-ify him, but now that our talking mouse hero knows where they keep their potions, he and Grandmamma hatch a clever plot to administer them to the witches themselves. Hijinks ensue, evil is vanquished, and although the narrator remains a mouse, he doesn’t mind. He and Grandmamma embark on a crusade to take out the witches of the world, and he never has to go to school again.

The book chimed perfectly with the stories of “stranger danger” that other 1980s children and I were constantly fed in state-mandated school curricula, but it made that threat delightfully preposterous—and manageable since all one had to do was believe that certain adults were actually demons with recognizable tells. It was a highly rewarding fantasy. After all, it was clear to me, as it was to every young reader, that even adults who didn’t molest children in shopping malls were nonetheless conspiring against us, making us do dehumanizing tasks like making beds and taking tests. The book was empowering. With its frisson of secret knowledge, it made us feel righteous and invincible. Unfortunately, revisiting it as an adult revealed that the book was cribbed from the Protocols of the Elders of Zion—and helped me understand, for perhaps the first time, antisemitism’s seductive appeal.

“Witches,” Grandmamma explains, “are not actually women at all . . . They are demons in human shape.” How do you spot one? Well, since they’re demons, they have toeless hooves instead of feet and claws instead of fingers, disguised by fashionable shoes and gloves. You can’t spot those, but you can spot their “larger nose-holes than ordinary people” (the better to smell you with, my dear). But the real tell, of course, is that witches are bald—which is why a witch always wears “a first-class wig,” which she puts “straight on her naked scalp.”

As I read this aloud to my enthralled son, it was hard to miss how much these witches resembled women in, say, Stamford Hill (the London version of Borough Park). It was also hard to miss how much they resembled caricatures from Der Stürmer or a medieval blood libel. Was I overinterpreting?

You be the judge: “Wherever you find people, you find witches,” Grandmamma tells her innocent grandchild. “There is a Secret Society of Witches in every country. . . . An English witch, for example, will know all the other witches in England.” If this was too subtle, Grandmamma clarifies: “Once a year, the witches of each separate country hold their own secret meeting. They all get together in one place to receive a lecture from The Grand High Witch of All the World.” The boy’s question about this fun fact is, at this point, predictable: “Is she rich?”

Grandmamma replies, “She’s rolling. Simply rolling in money. Rumour has it that there is a machine in her headquarters which is exactly like the machine the government uses to print the bank-notes you and I use.” The boy then asks, as any normal child would, “What about foreign money?” You already know the answer: “Those machines can make Chinese money if you want them to.” Here, the boy turns skeptical: “If nobody has ever seen the Grand High Witch, how can you be so sure she exists?” Grandmamma counters, “Nobody has seen the Devil, but we know he exists.” All of this isn’t merely true, we are told, but “the gospel truth” (the italics are Dahl’s). After all, Grandmamma “went to church every morning of the week and she said grace before every meal, and somebody who did that would never tell lies.” As Grandmamma warns her dear boy, “All you can do is cross your heart and pray to heaven.”

Alas, crossing his heart and praying to heaven doesn’t protect our hero from his encounter with the Elders of Witchdom, at which point Dahl drops all pretense. The Grand High Witch, we learn, “had a peculiar way of speaking. There was some sort of a foreign accent there, something harsh and guttural, and she seemed to have trouble pronouncing the letter w. As well as that, she did something funny with the letter r. She would roll it round and round her mouth.” The Grand High Witch, in her Yiddish accent, explains to her secret society how they will lure England’s children by buying high-end sweet shops and poisoning the candy, since “Money is not a prrroblem to us vitches as you know very well. I have brrrought with me six trrrunks stuffed full of Inklish bank-notes, all new and crrrisp” (italics mine).

Few children can resist the lure of witches. My son loved the book so much that he wanted to see the movie. Perhaps you are wondering: is the 2020 Hollywood version, whose creators unsurprisingly included plenty of Jews, antisemitic? The short answer is no, or not exactly, but that’s also the wrong question.

Adapting from a source this hideous was never going to be easy or entirely uncontroversial, and the new film has already been slammed for portraying limb differences as evil (instead of the claws mentioned in the book, the film’s witches are depicted with missing fingers). Despite that tone-deaf choice, it’s clear that the filmmakers were aware of the book’s larger problems. To their credit, they knew they had to fix something, and they went big: instead of contemporary England, Roald Dahl’s The Witches takes place in 1968 Alabama, and the protagonist and his grandmother are Black (Octavia Spencer’s Grandmamma is even a voodoo healer). Unlike the 1990 movie, the witches no longer have big noses and are, in fact, racially diverse. At first, this does seem poised to dilute some of the book’s inherent awfulness: when a Black witch attacked the protagonist in an early scene, I had high hopes for a story where “evil” was depicted solely through Marvel Universe methods of pancake makeup and special effects. But that scene proved to be half-hearted tokenism, since the rest of the film focuses almost entirely on, to use the current term, white-presenting witches—and most tellingly, what really distinguishes witches in this film is that they are rich. As we watch a flashback of the lily-white and fabulously dressed Anne Hathaway as the Grand High Witch attacking an impoverished Black child in a 1920s Alabama shantytown, Grandmamma tells us that ���witches always prey on the poor.”

This class warfare idea is utterly absent from Dahl’s book, but it perhaps unintentionally provides a trendy update to his rather old-school racial antisemitism: the idea that a secret society of fantastically wealthy “global elites”—often, but not inevitably, Jews—prey on the poor. This means that bigotry against them, rather than being retrograde, is, in fact, a fresh and righteous way of “punching up.” Instead of just protecting innocent children, this new Grandmamma now also shares her truth to defend the downtrodden, like every righteous nutjob tweeting about the Rothschilds or George Soros. In the book, nothing much happens with the Grand High Witch’s counterfeit cash. But here Grandmamma commandeers it at the film’s triumphant end and hands out hundred-dollar bills to the hotel’s exploited Black employees.

If this sounds tedious, it is. Roald Dahl’s The Witches is wretched less because of the book’s wretched premise than because it is a conventionally lousy children’s movie, full of Hollywood pieties (in the climactic scene, Grandmamma actually lectures the Grand High Witch about the Power of Love), canned stereotypes and recycled animation. That doesn’t mean kids won’t love it, of course. As Hollywood knows well, everyone loves a good conspiracy theory—and that’s the problem.

My kids laughed their way through the movie’s animated mice and cookie-cutter triumphs, enjoying everything that conventional children’s stories do best—reinforce their audience’s expectations, vanquish villains, and make powerless people feel superior. Conspiracy theories make for great stories, but in an era when a nontrivial proportion of the American electorate apparently believes in the QAnon conspiracy theory that a secret cabal of satanic pedophiles preys on American children and the country, I couldn’t help feeling that this film was, at the very least, ill-timed.

It is so easy, after all, to believe in a conspiracy, so self-indulgent, so appealing—and, as I now finally understood, so much fun. Watching this mediocre and unremarkable movie left me shockingly ill at ease, precisely because it was so mediocre and unremarkable. My discomfort was compounded by the knowledge that the eight-year-old me would have loved it too, not knowing any better. Few children do. In the elaborate, magical long game of luring innocents into handing over their hearts, it turns out that the Grand High Witch was actually Roald Dahl.