The Shabbat Box

Simpson, Lesley, and Nicole In Bosch. The Shabbat Box. Grand Rapids: Kar-Ben, 2001.

“Shabbat (the Jewish Sabbath) comes every week. It is a time of joy and family celebration. On Friday at sundown, Jewish families welcome Shabbat by lighting the candles and saying blessings over wine and challah (braided bread)” (Simpson, 1).

This brief quote is given before the story begins and immediately allows readers of all religions and ethnicity’s to understand what the book is going to be discussing. This book follows a classroom ritual of giving out “The Shabbat Box” every Friday afternoon. Each week a student is picked to take the box consisting of fresh challah, candlesticks, a Kiddush cup, and a challah cover home with them to share with their family. When the school week begins the kids are to bring the box back to school with them for the next student to take home that Friday. The children all have an overwhelming excitement to take the box home with them and cannot wait for their own turn. The narrator follows Ira as he patiently waits his turn for the box. When that winter day comes, a storm arrives and he ends up loosing the box. Ira is devastated and knows his class will be so disappointed he lost the box. He decides to create his own box, decorating a pillow case as a challah cover, painting grapes on his water cup for a wine glass and even adding candies and treats his class will enjoy. When he comes to school he reveals this new Shabbat box and the class goes wild. They love everything he did and cannot wait to take it home. After this show and tell the teacher reveals she found the original Shabbat box in the snow and has decided to keep both in the classroom so two kids a week will be able to take this special box home.
As a future teacher I love the idea of allowing children to take something that is important to them in the classroom home with them. I think Lesley Simpson does a fantastic job in giving an accurate portrayal of how kids feel about showing their families important items from their classroom. In my own experience I have witnessed this excitement kids have when showing off new items that have a special significance to them. I feel as though the author sticks with the Jewish American theme throughout informing the readers about the Shabbat ritual. She does not give an overbearing description of everything entailed however; people may feel more educated on a subject they were previously unfamiliar with.
The illustrations in this book are also colorful, bright and upbeat. I want to continue reading to see the pictures as the story progresses. People of other religions will see that Jewish Americans dress and look just like them. The school setting looks like any other school, Ira’s home looks like any other home and the neighborhood looks like any other neighborhood. Children and adults can relate to the illustrations because they are so neutral throughout. Nicole Bosch does add her own touches to the pictures giving the men kippot, a small cap they wear to show their respect for God as well as adding Hebrew letters on the chalkboard in the classroom. These small images add more the Jewish American aspect of the book.
One thing I particularly enjoyed at the very end of the book was a page titled, “Make your own Shabbat Box”. Reading this book I am sure kids would love to make their own and include their own special decorations and uniqueness. This is a fun activity for everyone and does not necessarily have to be a “Shabbat box” but a box that contains important items for any ritual or holiday. I really enjoyed this book throughout and think it is a great resource to not only teach children about Shabbat but about the overall excitement felt by children when they get the chance to share something about their school life at home.

Final Post

Before taking this class I always felt like I could handle the topic of diversity easily within my own classroom. I knew there would be different races and religions coming from all over the world but I looked at the situation as something I could overcome because its simply school. I now realize how hard it is to handle issues of diversity especially some that I had never even thought of as being so offensive [Such as schools mascots being Chiefs]. This class has truly opened my eyes and I could not be more thankful. In my own classroom I am starting to only think about using books that cover issues of diversity. It is such an important topic and I feel the earlier children are exposed to these types of issues and controversy the greater impact it will have on them in the future. Everyone needs to be exposed to the world out there even if it is only through books.
I always enjoyed critically analyzing the books we read in class because they all really got me thinking. I was looking for a deeper meaning behind every word and enjoyed hearing what my classmates thought of the book as well. One book can mean so many different things to different readers and questions arise that I would not have even thought about. The main topics in the books we read dealt with identity, discovery, inclusion, and cross cultures. These issues will most definitely be seen in an elementary classroom. Children are growing up and if they can be taught about these sensitive issues early on there is no doubt in my mind that their rate of succeeding in life will be much greater than those that are so sheltered in society they do not know any other cultures exist.
Stereotypes and generalizations have to be the most important issue talked about in class relating to all the articles and books we read throughout the semester. It is so important to understand why we need to distinguish between the two and what they both mean. This class has taught me to take everything in and look at it from different viewpoints. I know that all this information will make me a better teacher when I have a classroom of my own.

International Day

On November 19th, I attended International Day at the Engineering building on Campus. Jenna and I arrived right on time before the actual festivities were beginning so we started talking to some of the people that were running the celebration as well as artists sitting at the tables showing off their creations. The first lady I spoke to was creating cards for all of the different ethnic cultures around campus. She said how she wanted to make something that would appeal to everyone. If we wanted a card that said hello in Ghana she was willing to do it. The next booth was an African American artist by the name of Julian K. Van Dyke. He painted murals and portraits that displayed African American culture. After admiring all the different paintings he had done he talked to us about his inspiration that mainly derived from bible readings he had read and learned about.
After speaking with Julian I immediately I spotted a women across the room wearing a non-traditional type of garment. Jenna and I asked her what type of dress she was wearing and she said her dress was from an African culture and it was called a "bu bu". She said typically one would wear this at a wedding, such as the mother of the bride or a bridesmaid. It turns out this women, Maggie Blair-Ramsey was in charge of the celebration and was so excited we had come to see everything going on. She said International Day was designed to take into account all the different cultures of people that come from all over and end up here, at Michigan State. We were handed an agenda that showed us what was going on throughout the event such as bongo players and dancers. We saw many people walking around in their nations traditional garment and it was a real eye opener. It was nice to see how proud people are of their heritage even if their outfits are not the standard here in America. International Day was a success and I had a great time walking around and talking with people.

Hate Kills - Sylvia Guerrero Seminar

This past Friday I attended a seminar where Sylvia Guerrero spoke about her daughter Gwen's brutal murder in 2002. The lifetime movie, "a girl like me" re-tells the tragic story about Gwen Guerrero's death. Born a boy, Eddie, never felt right in his body, as his mother says. Around high school, with the support of his family, he decided to stop deceiving himself and started dressing like a girl and taking hormones. He named himself Gwen and was overall much happier as a female than a male. When Gwen was 17 she went out to a party and was harassed. 4 boys at the party demanded to know if she was a girl or a boy. They took it upon themselves to undress her and witnessed "she" was indeed a "he". After beating her up, the boys tied her up, strangled her and continued to abuse her. After she was dead, the beatings continued and they dragged her outside where she was buried under dirt and boulders. Police reports and witnesses state the boys went to McDonald's for breakfast after the brutal slaying.
The seminar started off with a short clip of pictures of Gwen and news reports of what happened to her. I never thought I would get so emotional after watching the news reports but simply seeing how people could be so horrible to a transgendered individual was a real eye opener. As soon as Sylvia started talking about her daughter I immediately teared up. She spoke not only about her daughter but about the lives saved by people listening to her story. She encouraged everyone to be brave and live their lives how they want to live, like her daughter wanted too. The one thing that struck me the most about listening to Sylvia speak was how she said she forgave the men that took away her daughter. The fact that she was willing to visit 2 of the 4 men who killed her daughter took so much courage and strength and I truly applaud her for that. The seminar ultimately left me with the powerful saying, "hate kills". Its frightening and sad that we live in a world with so much hatred but if people recognize everyone is human like Sylvia is trying to preach, lives will ultimately be saved and hopefully feelings could be changed.

GLBT Seminar

After watching the Video at the GLBT safe school seminar I was shocked about the information shown and told. When the video talked about all the prejudices and hardships families have gone through dealing with being gay or lesbian it was a huge eye opener. Hearing stories about people committing suicide for fear of coming out was saddening. One of the families mentioned that their daughter was so scared to come out and would rather take her own life than live a life she resented. The statistic in the movie about how gays were 3 to 7 times more likely to commit suicide is scary. It seems so hypocritical and maddening to me that people argue the bible states that homosexuality is a sin and therefore people find the need to write death threats and hate mail to people who are gay. But do these same people not believe everyone should be treated equal and that god loves us all? In today's world, homosexuality seems to be much more openly accepted and mainstreamed. The fact that Gene Robinson, in 2003 became the first openly gay bishop shows how far society has come. Or so it seemed. Hearing the death threats against him was terrifying. It seems the world has progressed so much and realizing just how many people are still so prejudice is discouraging.

Blindness

To be honest a movie like Blindness does not appeal to me which is why I have not seen it. It is not because the NFB is protesting it but that just gives me more reason not to see it. Depicting characters that have a physical disability in any way is hard to watch and not be offended however it is just a movie. It is hard for me to take a stand on the issue because I am not blind and do not know anyone that is. I completely understand how in any situation discrimination of a physical characteristic is upsetting and the fact that the characters in the movie are being portrayed as "incompetent, filthy, vicious, and depraved" (Mauro) make people even more disgusted by the whole premise. It is too coincidental that the one civilized person in the movie is not blind and she ends up saving the day. Miramax says how the film is "a courageous parable about the triumph of the human spirit when civilization breaks down," but the fact that being blind has everything to do with it is completely inappropriate. In her article, Terri Mauro uses the example about being blond and everyone becoming "vapid idiots". No one would ever make a movie about this because the whole idea is ridiculous, much to the whole idea that being blind is an epidemic. The NFB has every right to protest this movie and I applaud their courageous effort to try and get people to understand where there coming from.

My Kindergarten Class

After reading Al Capone Does My Shirts I thought alot about the different attitudes the kids on Alcatraz held towards Natalie. I am sure for many of the characters, especially the younger ones, they have never experienced being integrated with a child who has special needs. Linton mentions in her article how back then (around the 30's) it was very common for children to be sent away to institutions or homes where they are not seen as an obstacle for their family. On that note, I am a Kindergarten teacher at a hebrew school in East Lansing. One of the girls in my class, Rosie, has cerebral palsy. She is in a wheelchair so the kids immediatly realized she was different. Her mom informed me she would have a helper with her the entire time but that Rosie was very verbal and could comprehend alot of information. After our first class I knew Rosie could understand everything I was teaching and she loved to give me kisses. She was such a happy girl and was excited to be in her own class, without her mom there. The other kids were very skeptical to play with her or even help her because they looked at her as someone too different than themselves. We just finished our 6th week in hebrew school and by now all the kids understand Rosie is very similar to themselves. They all include her to play with them and even like to roll her wheelchair when we move to another room. Being kindergarteners I am so happy they already are experiencing being in a class with a child who has special needs. They are unaware at how much knowledge they are gaining and how lucky they are to have someone they can learn something new from in their class.