In the Jewish Lyceum № 144 named after Levi Yitzhak Schneerson brightly celebrated the jubilee Yud Shvat – the 75th anniversary of the key event of Jewish life of our generation – the Day of departure of the Previous Sixth Rebbe, Rabbi Yosef-Yitzhak, and assumption of the title of Rebbe by Rabbi Menachem-Mendel Schneerson.
“This year the concept of Yud Shvat in the lyceum was common for all classes, but taking into account age peculiarities, – told our site Aliza Rabinovich, head teacher on Jewish traditions of the lyceum, – each age group gathered together and the event took place during the lesson – first we watched a video about the influence of the Rebbe on the example of the famous Jonathan Sacks, then there was a game for each age group, after that we talked about the resemblance of each person to a tree and created a “Class Tree”, then everyone made a good decision, and the event ended with a festive farbrengen with niguns. I would like to note that all the activities were held in Ukrainian and it was very well received by both children and teachers”.
For the younger classes there was a task to put a puzzle together and then on the back side it was possible to read the Rebbe’s famous sayings reflecting the essence of his teachings, the “Class Tree” was offered to them ready-made, but they had to decorate it, including their own photos, and on the Farbrengen all the younger classes were happy to sing “No, there is no one but G-d alone” together with the Rebbe and Hasidim on the archive video.
For middle schoolers, the game was more challenging – they had to choose emoji for different stories about the activities of the Lubavitcher Rebbe, the “Class Tree” had to be drawn by themselves, and the farbrengen was also different.
The game task for the seniors was not easy – after reading an adapted account of Maamar’s “Bosi LeGhani” they had to formulate the main idea on their own and also choose the right emoji. They also had to create a “Class Tree”, make good decisions, and then there was a farbrengen for them.
Aliza Rabinowitz says, “The kids made good decisions for a week and pasted them together with their picture on the class tree,” – during the week, a paperboard with each tree is placed in a prominent place in the classroom and everyone can remind themselves of the importance of keeping this decision. For high school students it’s also a special challenge – they post on Instagram the fulfillment of their resolutions and we will summarize the results of this competition on Tu Bi Shvat. We purposely limited the duration of the commitment to one week, but of course the kids know that if they can continue to fulfill it – it will get social acceptance.”
