Confirmation Trip to Washington DC

On Thursday, March 24th, thirteen 10th graders, Jennifer Newfeld, Andy Schwebel, and Ari Kaimen descended on Washington DC for four incredible days of bonding, learning and experiencing. We visited the Newseum, saw an exhibit called, "Choosing to Participate" which looked at moments in history where individuals or groups choose to participate and the difference they made, hung out in Georgetown, visited GW Hillel and met Jewish college students, walked a lot, rode the subway, bonded as a group, celebrated two birthdays, prayed as a community, visited a Conservative synagogue, listened to head of the Public Relations Team for the Clinton Administration and the next nominated U.S.ambassador to Israel, worked with the JCC on homeless issues, visited the Capital, Monuments, White House and the Smithsonians.

We did a TON in four days, and it was an incredible experience.  Some of the best parts were....

• "The Holocaust Museum really opened my eyes."
• "Doing Havdalah outside the Kennedy Center as one group together really made me feel like we were one big family."
• "I really enjoyed the Kabalat Shabbat service at Hillel because everyone was there because they wanted to be."
• "The best part of the trip was experiencing DC while at the same time getting to know my classmates."
• "Walking to Shul in the morning with Rabbi Ari which mixed our Judaism with a walking tour of the streets of D.C."

Purim

Purim was awesome at Pardes this year. We had Circus Harmony, Sushan celebrations, lots of Megillah reading, all sorts of costumes, thundersticks,  hamantashen and lots and lots of smiles. We boo-ed Haman, gave away a bike and ate tons of sugar. Hope you had fun with us!

 

Check out the great pictures to the right.(Click on the thumbnail photos to see more)

Sherut Luemi

Once a month our "Israeli girls" come to Pardes and spend the morning bringing Israel to our K-5th grade students. Sara and Tova are spending one year of their Israeli National Service living in St Louis and working in Jewish education, connecting students to Israel. Tova and Sara always bring a fun and educational activity to our students. Last month they made Chocolate Balls, an Israeli cooking classic and this month, while teaching about water issues Israel faces they had our students acting out the story of Honi Hamagel (Honi the circle maker) in Hebrew and playing a water relay game. Our students really enjoy the Sundays when a little bit of Israel visits them.