Making Mitzvot Personal: Sixth Grade's Mitzvah Week

Each year, our sixth graders participate in the Mitzvah Week program, learning in-depth about all the mitzvot they are about to take on as they become Jewish adults. By creating their own ritual objects, including tefillin, havdallah candles, mezuzot, challah boards and covers, Kiddush cups, Shabbat candle sticks, and Mizrach etched glass signs – as well as learning about personal safety with Krav Maga lessons and baking challah, the students get a comprehensive look at both important Jewish practices and the meaning behind them. The students reflected on their experiences in their journals, exploring what this weeklong experience meant to them.

“This was the most wonderful week at BT,” shares Morah Nina Cusner ’00, who accompanied the girls to all of their Mitzvah Week programs. “It was an opportunity for the girls to feel empowered, and learn that they have a tremendous responsibility as part of Am Yisrael. They were taught about beautiful and meaningful mitzvot in an engaging, interactive, and meaningful way--it was a perfect balance of educational and experiential learning. They are coming home this Shabbat with not only their projects to enhance their Shabbat and home, but also a deeper knowledge of the mitzvot. The girls had a blast, they bonded together, and it was overall a very positive experience.”

One new addition to the girls’ program was the Beit Hamikdash glass program. “During this presentation the students got a visual tour of what the Second Temple looked like,” describes Morah Cusner. “We learned about different rooms of the Second Temple and what purpose they had in connection to the korbanot (sacrifices) that the Jews used to give. For the project, the students created a frosted glass plaque with the word “mizrach” (which means east) to put in their houses. The girls learned about the word "mizrach" and how Jewish people face "east" towards the Beit Hamikdash when davening. Their art work came out beautifully.”

The boys focused their efforts on creating their own tefillin. They began their week with a piece of die-cut parchment and learned how to fold it into the correct form of both the arm and head tefillin. They placed the parshiyot (the parchment with the Shema written on it) into the tefillin, sewed the tefillin closed with cow sinew, and finally tied the straps on the tefillin in the correct way, taught to them by Rabbi Noach Greenberg, director of the Kesher Tefillin program. “Each step was accompanied by learning about the various laws of making tefillin and how to put them on,” says Rabbi Elie Levi, who helped facilitate the program. “The week concluded with all of the boys donning their tefillin for the very first time and reciting the Shema while wearing them.”