It’s been busy at BPY celebrating so many milestones! Third grade students had their Mesibat Toshba play and first grade students received their very first Siddur.

Third graders are very excited about beginning to learn Rashi and Mishna. At the Mesibat Toshba, the students acted out some of their favorite stories from Chumash including when Yaakov who ran away from his brother Eisav, the quarrel of the stones on whom the righteous Yaakov would lay his head, as well as Yaakov’s dream of the ladder and the angels. The students included scenes and songs about Rashi’s interpretations of Yaakov’s dreams. In addition, students presented the first two mishnayot they learned in class: “Moshe received the Torah from Sinai” and “Rabbi Shimon HaTzaddik used to say “the world stands on three things’’ through singing and dancing. At the end of the mesiba, students and parents played a Blooket game that summarized all the topics presented in the play. Each student received a bag full of treats to sweeten the learning of Torah, a memory game of Rashi letters that the students prepared in class and a stone with their name inscribed in Rashi script with the meaning of their names. The students are so excited to continue on their journey in Chumash and learning.

Meanwhile, BPY’s first graders have been diligently preparing to receive their very first Siddur! Earlier in the week, BPY invited the first grade students and their parents to hear a beautiful lesson from Rabbi Zucker about the importance of tefillah. Then they decorated beautiful bookmarks to use with their new Siddur. The morning concluded with the Chazzan Biton leading tefillah with parents and students in the beit midrash and the children were able to use their new Siddurim! On Sunday, the children formally received their Siddur in front of their fellow classmates and family. During the mesiba, the students performed songs and tefillot from Jewish life: Modeh Ani, Shabbat songs, tefillah for the children. They summed up the mesiba with Tefillah L’Shlom HaMedina which was very moving. During the celebration, the parents watched beautiful videos of every child’s personal tefillah, and received a souvenir magnet with the child’s picture and tefillah to capture the moment. BPY knows that this is just the beginning of the students’ lifelong love for tefillah and learning.

Thank you to the amazingly dedicated BPY teachers and staff, and the loving BPY parents that made these mesibot so special!