Welcome to this free Kitah lesson prepared by Rabbi Johnny Solomon! We invite you to share this lesson using Google Classroom or any other online e-learning platform.
About this lesson: In this lesson, Rabbi Solomon studies the sources in the Shulchan Aruch about why we eat special foods on Rosh Hashanah, as well as why we “cast” our sins into the sea during Tashlich. You can assign the lesson as homework, or as an in-class assignment (if the students have their own devices)
Suggestions for Class Discussion: Here are some suggested classroom activities for a classroom lesson, after the students have watched the lesson and answered the questions. 1. Does your family have an unusual simanim that make special use of words either in Hebrew or English, or have some type of experience? 2. Divide into groups, and try and “create” three new Simanim that will have special meaning for us for this year: What foods would you use? What blessings would you offer. 3. What is the most unusual place you’ve done Tashlich? Did you feel like you “threw” your sins into the water?
How to Share the Lesson with Your Students To use this lesson, you can access the editable version of the form with this link. Click on “Use Template” in the top right corner, and save it in your Google Drive to share with your students. You can also feel free to add or change any of the questions, as you see fit.
Feedback We’d love your feedback on this lessons. Please take a moment to send us an email and let us know how the lesson went with your students at feedback@kitah.org. You can view the lesson below!
We are very excited to announce that expert Torah and technology educator Rabbi Jonathan Simons has agreed to serve as the first Kitah Classroom teacher. Rabbi Simons is an experienced Torah teacher and is also a trained consultant in educational technology. Most importantly, he recognizes the importance of connecting with his students and giving them the best possible learning experience. You can read Rabbi Simons’ bio on our Staff Page.
With Rabbi Simons’ position secured, we are very excited to officially open registration for the 5781 Kitah Classroom.
Dates and Schedule: The first Kitah Classroom class begins on Monday, September 7th, 2020. (We know that this is Labor Day in the United States, but remember that all KITAH classroom lessons are asynchronous. While the lessons will be assigned on Monday, your child can study at any time throughout the week.)
Tel: +972-54-220-4347, (US number in Israel: +1-347-434-9212)
Rabbi Reuven Spolter, Kitah Founder and Director
Kitah, a new Online Jewish Education Initiative, to Help Schools Weather the COVID Crisis
KITAH unveils an exciting online Jewish Education platform to help Jewish Day schools and Jewish parents address the uncertainty they will face over the coming year.
YAD BINYAMIN, ISRAEL – Last March, when the COVID crisis struck shutting down cities and communities around the world, schools scrambled to shift to distance learning. Teachers and students adapted to Zoom classes and virtual schedules, utilizing online teaching resources to bring their students meaningful learning experiences.
Teachers quickly realized that they could not expect the same level of attention and focus from their students in Zoom lessons that they did in person. Judaic teachers discovered that while their counterparts on the “secular” side could access a wide range of digital teaching resources, very little ready-made online Jewish material was available for their own instruction.
“It was a struggle,” said Adina Blaustein, a high school Tanach teacher at the Fuchs Mizrachi School in Cleveland, OH. “I couldn’t just email a worksheet and expect the students to manage on their own. And there simply was no available digital teaching material that we could easily assign our students.”
Recognizing this need, a group of English-speaking Jewish educators built an online educational platform aimed at giving Jewish studies teachers powerful digital educational tools.
Titled Kitah (which means “class” in Hebrew”), the platform is modeled after the world-famous Khan Academy “flipped classroom”. In a “flipped” classroom, teachers assign students lessons via YouTube which they watch on their own. When the students meet in class, a teacher can follow-up, enhancing and expanding on what the students have already learned.
Kitah is built on this innovative educational model. However, instead of teaching math or science, Kitah focuses on classic Jewish subjects including Chumash, Navi, Mishnah and Gemara. Courses combine YouTube videos prepared by seasoned Jewish studies teachers with Google Forms, making the lessons easy for teachers to use in classrooms around the world.
“We built Kitah to allow teachers to assign home-based study focusing on skills and text reading,” explains Rabbi Reuven Spolter, founder and director of Kitah. “A student can watch a lesson once, or as many times as needed, in order to answer the included questions.” This allows students the time and focus they need to properly understand the Hebrew text, greatly enhancing and improving the classroom experience later on. “A teacher does not have to start from scratch. Students enter the classroom having been exposed to the basic meaning of the text, allowing teachers to focus on broader themes and deeper lessons they otherwise might not address.”
This coming school year, with the significant possibility of further community closures, Kitah offers schools the peace of mind that, should they need to shift to distance learning, they will have digital Jewish studies lessons ready to deploy.
“While we did not build Kitah because of the COVID crisis,” explained Rabbi Johnny Solomon, Kitah’s educational director, “Our platform is certainly an important option for schools looking for Jewish online learning tools.”
Spolter agrees. “In the end, we know that we’ve built a tool that will help Jewish children learn and connect to classic Jewish texts. If we can help Jewish schools and teachers weather this incredibly challenging time, that will be an added bonus.”
For more information about Kitah, contact Rabbi Reuven Spolter or visit their website, Kitah.org.
