By Amanda Klein

OFJCC Ulpanon Preschool Program Educator

Once the air is crisp, the apples ripen and students return to school, we know it is the season for the High Holidays! The Jewish High Holidays at the Leslie Family Preschool and in the Ulpanon Hebrew immersion classrooms are a special time of year. Followers of Judaism mark their years by the High Holidays, similar to how educators’ annual calendars are delineated by the school year. When autumn descends, so do Rosh Hashanah, Yom Kippur, Sukkot, Simchat Torah and other holidays to follow. The fact that these holidays fall at the beginning of a new school year means that the energy is high and everyone is ready to commit themselves to a new year. For educators, we commit ourselves to making the coming school year especially meaningful for our students. The holidays are a prime opportunity to engage in sensory exploration, social-emotional learning, fun activities and powerful community building.

Here in the Ulpanon Hebrew immersion program at the OFJCC Leslie Family Preschool, we teach students ages three through five, and strive to make the holiday activities age appropriate as well as social-emotionally and spiritually significant. We do this by focusing on engaging students’ senses. Our educators design activities and explorations that encourage the students to use different parts of their bodies and minds to learn about the holidays and create meaning for both themselves as explorers of the world and interpersonally, as members of a school community.

This year, during our Rosh Hashanah celebrations, our students dug deep into learning about bees:

• How they transfer pollen, drink nectar, make honey, and form their honeycombs
• Some students were more interested in the bees themselves: their body parts, the colors of the bees, and their ability to fly
• Others were fascinated by the formation of honey, how it develops from nectar, or just how sweet it tastes

As educators, we offered students the opportunity to cook honey cake, read about bees, make their own bees out of loose parts and craft materials, touch honeycomb and beeswax, design their own honeycomb out of blocks, and play with yellow slime and sand in sensory bins to symbolize honey.

By offering such a wide variety of activities that allowed the students to engage in the topic in different ways, we show the students that we see their different interests and are committed to helping them further their learning and explore new topics using that they are comfortable with and excited about.

These activities often encourage students to mingle in new combinations and meet new friends with shared interests. The memories of the joy and intrigue bolstered by the holiday spirit of the High Holidays lingers through the fall, creating a stronger sense of community and wonder in the classroom.

This week’s Parasha is Chayei Sarah, which literally translates as “‘the life of Sarah,” but, ironically, the story of this week’s Torah portion begins with the death of Sarah and then focuses on the next generation. The story is about Rivkah (Rebecca), the wife of Isaac, Sarah’s and Abraham’s son.

The last act of Abraham’s life entrusts the responsibility for maintaining the heritage of his people to none other than his top assistant (whose name we don’t even know). Abraham is sending him off to Aram Naharaim (modern-day Iraq), the old country, to find a bride for Isaac, Sarah’s only son, who was nearly sacrificed by Abraham. Isaac is nearly forty years old, yet he isn’t trusted to carry out the mission that God gave to Abraham. In a sense, Abraham puts the fate of the Jewish people in the hands of the future wife he does not know, and will never meet in his life. Rivkah has such an important role before she even realizes it.

Contrary to Isaac, Rivkah is actually asked for her consent and agrees to go the long way, committing herself to the big mission, even though she doesn’t know Isaac. When they marry, Rivkah has difficulties conceiving. When she finally gets pregnant, it is the first time she asks the big question: “Why me?” (“למה זה אנוכי”). We might read that as an expression of the existential crisis of a young woman facing immigration and a change in family status without support, support from a family or community, and pressure to birth a whole new generation.

What I love about the stories in the Bible is that we encounter core human situations which do not change over years and cultures. Rivkah’s experiences of loneliness, lack of support and coping with dramatic life changes resonate with the community that I work with.

Five years ago, we at the ICC@JCC founded Libi as a center of empowerment for new mothers, Israeli immigrants who were desperately in need of connection and a sense of belonging. As an immigrant myself, who came here with very young kids, following our relocation adventure, I felt somewhat like Rivkah many times, and Libi was my way to give back.

Libi provides community and professional support for young families during pregnancy, birth and their first years as parents. We offer fifteen different programs. Some, like Moms Talk, allow young mothers to share their deepest feelings in a safe environment. Others, like Baby Classic, expose babies to music and Sign Language for Babies is offered together for both English speakers and Hebrew speakers.

One of the key motivations for Libi is community building. We know we are successful every time that we hear about groups of moms from our programs coming together with their families and becoming close friends for years, with children going together to school, families having weekend gatherings, trips and so on.

Last, but not least, by empowering these families early on, we want to open them up to the larger community as well as to Jewish lives within and outside of the Israeli group.

Some people go to work to escape their family lives. At the Oshman Family JCC, we bring our families to work! By our count, there are at least 10 pairs of OFJCC staffer parents who work here with their teenage or adult children.

“So many of our kids have grown up at the JCC,” said Nathaniel Bergson-Michelson, who is Tuvya’s father and Chief Marketing Officer at the OFJCC. “For kids whose earliest memories are JCC preschool and swim lessons, or who loved their time in JCC camps and afterschool programs, it makes sense that so many of them want to be part of creating that same experience for others.”

“For a lot of them,” he added, “It’s also a serious statement about the kind of work they want to do—the first step in a career of community service. Staff kids have seen first hand what the day-to-day work of building community looks like, and how fulfilling that work can be for their parents.”

You really can find multiple generations staffed at the OFJCC. Let’s meet a few:

Sally Flinchbaugh and Tess Flinchbaugh

Pictured: Sally and Tess Flinchbaugh

Sally Flinchbaugh, the Chief Operating Officer/Executive Vice President, has long been the person responsible for overseeing the entire OFJCC operation. Since the pandemic closed our campus in March 2020, she has been the point person directing our leadership teams to ensure safety and continuity for our campus and our programs. Her daughter, Tess, is a camp counselor with the Otter group of kindergarteners!

Mykenzie Busser and Ryan Busser

Pictured: Ryan Busser

Mykenzie Busser is the Assistant Director of Education at the Leslie Family Preschool, and her son Ryan is the head counselor of the preschool summer camp! He also works throughout the preschool school year as a substitute teacher, and has brightened our welcome desk with his warm smile and goofy antics.

Ryan attended our preschool years ago, and now works alongside teachers who taught him as a toddler. Did you know? He’s also a drummer by night, and he has worked at the OFJCC for four years!

Nathaniel Bergson-Michelson and Tuvya Bergson-Michelson

Pictured: Tuvya, Ezra, Nathaniel Bergson-Michelson

Nathaniel Bergson-Michelson is the Chief Marketing Officer at the OFJCC. His career actually began in Tokyo, with PR for Japanese government clients. With passions for data visualization, honey collecting, and puzzles alike, he can be found either singing with Peninsula Cantare or at home, losing strategy games to his wife and two sons.

His son Tuvya is a Member Experience Advocate at the OFJCC—you may have encountered his sunny personality at the front desk. Like his father, he has collected no small amount of zany experiences in his lifetime. Let Tuvya know if you have also tried tar-, spinach- or durian-flavored ice cream. He has also met Alex Trebek on a game show, and met Joan Baez at a protest. If you happen to speak Portuguese, all the better. Tuvya will appreciate the opportunity to hone his skills. 

Ilana Gelemovich and Julia Dubovoy

Pictured: Julia Dubovoy and Ilana Gelemovich

Ilana Gelemovich is the Assistant Director of Operations at the Leslie Family Preschool, and the proud parent of two OFJCC Leslie Family Preschool alum—including her daughter Julia, who works as a summer camp preschool counselor. Throughout her 15 years of working at the OFCC, Ilana has served as a classroom teacher and a curriculum coordinator. 

Seth Leslie and Abby Leslie

Pictured: Abby and Seth Leslie

In Seth Leslie’s own words, “I woke up one morning to discover that I had been hired as the Chief Development Officer at the OFJCC. I am absolutely elated that I can get paid to ask people for money.” 

When he’s not schmoozing his way through a work day, he’s with his amazing family playing board games or sharing single origin bean-to-bar dark chocolate—and now he can do everything at the same time! His daughter Abby works on campus as a preschool counselor.

Pictured: Julia Dubovoy, Ryan Busser, Dana Yeffet, Abby Leslie

Other parent-child staff combos include:

• Anna Gukasian, HR/Payroll Manager and Luiza Arutjunian, Development Associate
• Eugene Vinokur, IT Director and Isaac Vinokur, AV Intern
• Mia Yeffett, Preschool Teacher and Dana Yeffet, Preschool Camp Counselor
• Renana Oved Barak, Preschool Teacher and Maya Barak, Maccabi Sports Camp Division Leader

As you can guess, these cool and confident staff members get along quite well with their parents-coworkers. The friendly vibe comes hand in hand with working towards a common mission at the Oshman Family JCC.

Editor’s note: OFJCC President and CEO Zack Bodner had the privilege of addressing the Leslie Family Preschool Class of 2021 on May 28, 2021 as they marked the end of their preschool years and journey forward. Please find Zack’s speech below.

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Welcome, Leslie Family Preschool Class of 2021! It’s a joy see you all here. This past year has been a challenge. It hasn’t been easy. We have had to wear masks, we’ve had to cancel travel plans, and we’ve stayed inside a lot.

But now that more people are getting vaccines, and we are seeing COVID rates going down, this is a time to celebrate and be happy. And what better way to do that than by smiling more?

Friends, that is my message to you today: Smile more.

Even if you’re wearing a mask, when you smile more, people can see your eyes crinkle up and they know you’re smiling.

Even if you’re on Zoom, when you smile more, people can see that you’re happy.

When you smile more, you make new friends more easily.

When you smile more, you feel more optimistic about life.

When you smile more, your body makes chemicals that make you feel more relaxed and helps your body fight disease.

When you smile more, it’s contagious! Kind of like yawning … you ever notice how when you yawn, you can make others yawn too?! Well, the same with smiling: if you smile at someone, you can make them smile too!

When you recognize things that make you happy and smile about them, you see more of the good in life. There is an old Jewish teaching called “hakarat hatov” – recognizing the good. It’s an attitude in life. It’s like if you lose your keys to your house, you have to think: well at least I have a house! That’s ‘seeing the good.’ That’s hakarat hatov. And that attitude has to make you smile more.

Graduating preschoolers, this is where you have something to teach the grownups. Some say that adults smile around 40 times a day, while children smile hundreds of times a day!

Preschoolers, you adapted brilliantly to your changing environment over the last year. Educators, you brought out the best in everyone. And parents, your partnership is what made it all possible. That is resilience in action.

Graduating preschoolers, you will be entering the next phase in your lives: kindergarten. It is a time to reflect back on your years at the Leslie Family Preschool and the beautiful memories you’ve made here. We hope you’ll stay part of the community here. We hope that you’ll come to swim in the pool, play on the Oasis Play Space, take a jog around the field, attend a great family event or say hello to an old teacher. We’ll be waiting for you … with a smile.

Thank you and congratulations!

I was born during an election year. It was 1988 – Bush v. Dukakis. My birth and the election are tied together as one story in my family’s lore because we were, at the time, living next door to Michael and Kitty Dukakis. When my parents took me home from the hospital, they had to verify their identity with a security team before pulling into our driveway. Sitting in our driveway at that moment was Barbara Walters, interviewing Michael Dukakis, the Democratic Presidential Nominee.

Michael Dukakis did not win the 1988 Presidential election. On that first Tuesday in November, 1988, Michael Dukakis lost the race. He came home to the street where we lived. He returned to regular civilian life. I knew him as a neighbor, not a President. For me, Michael Dukakis represents the day-after-Election-Day. He represents the next four years. He is a reminder why we vote at all.

When Michael Dukakis lost the election, he never held official political office again. But he never stopped serving his country. I remember seeing him walking our street on Saturday mornings with paint cans, repainting mailboxes or street signs that needed fixing. He showed that one person can contribute to making a better, safer, healthier America. Every city block matters. Every neighborhood accumulates. We are a nation made up of many, many, many parts. Every single one of us and every single piece counts.

It seems to me that this year’s election is operating at human-scale more than ever. Barack Obama’s election, by contrast, was seen as an election that would upend the system – to give hope, to make change, to break boundaries, set new standards. The rhetoric was abstract and it was lofty. But today’s election comes at a moment of such crisis in our country – the crisis of Coronavirus and all the other dormant crises that the virus awoke – that this election’s rhetoric can’t afford the luxury of abstract ideals. We are voting for real, pragmatic, visible fixes that need to happen and need to happen fast.

And tomorrow, the results will be in. Our most important wish is that we hear an answer announced and an announcement accepted. And then, after that, we can remind ourselves of every other important day of the year. The-Day-After-Election-Day and the many days that follow are about more than just the President’s duties. It will be on us to make sure that no one gets forgotten in the aftermath of this election cycle. We each must do our part to protect and sustain our families, our schools, our communities, and our health centers.

If Michael Dukakis, the almost-President, can walk the neighborhood painting mailboxes, then we must each do our part, too. We are lucky to live in a country where every vote matters – because we live in a country where every person can make a difference. Today is about the President; tomorrow is about us.

Shuli Zilberfarb-Sela from the OFJCC’s Befed Kefet Hebrew Language Afterschool Program shares her personal take on the hardships of this year and how they relate to this week’s Torah portion. This article originally appeared in Hebrew in BAInyanim.

This week’s Torah portion, “Re’eh” arrives for me with perfect timing that relates to our situation. The Torah portion opens like this: “Behold, I have set before you this day a blessing and a curse.” The children of Israel are just before the end of the journey in the desert and about to enter into the Land of Israel. They will come to the Promised Land in which life is an unfamiliar reality full of uncertainty for them. The story opens with God’s demand from the people to make a decision prior to entering the new environment, to a world that has both blessing and curse. The story continues with explanations: a blessing if you have walked in the way of God and the commandments, a curse if you turn away from God.

Shuli’s son, Barak, learning Hebrew with Beged Kefet in April

Like the children of Israel, although we will not really compare five months of the coronavirus pandemic to 40 years in the desert, we too are today on the verge of crossing the river. Are a moment before entering a new and unclear academic environment. An environment that seems almost impossible and has new and binding commandments and laws. Will we accept it as a blessing or a curse. And do we even have a choice? We learn from the story that in the divine vision, the choice is in the hands of each and every one of us. God tells the children of Israel that they have a choice—a blessing or a curse—it is up to you.

Blessing or curse—it depends on us… I also believe that not only do we have a choice, but we have an obligation. An obligation to choose to adopt the new rules and see them as the blessing—they maintain our health. Ours and our children’s. True, we have a lot of frustration with the system, and we wanted more certainty, and more flexibility and more correctness. Now, at the end of the summer (we managed to get through it!), we are on the verge of entering the proverbial Land of Israel. If we choose to enter it in a positive spirit, leave out the great frustration and the desire to blame, we can lead the way for our family and for our community.

It is so important that just before they return to the virtual school, we parents are chosen to embrace with them the mitzvos and laws in humility and completion so that a year and its blessings begin.

A significant difference in the situation is that we do not have “Moshe Rabbeinu.” The commandments and laws come to us from foreign sources and not from a leader whom we followed from slavery to freedom. It is difficult. There is even a crisis of confidence. The Children of Israel were faced with a choice but their starting point is much better than ours. They have a common trust in leadership, acquaintance, culture, history and memory. They are also facing a dream come true, the end of a long journey towards the coveted goal of the Land of Israel. The road was difficult, and even now Moshe is preparing them for the challenges that will come, they are not going out to freedom, they are on the way to fight for the new land, to build houses, an economy. Everything is going to be different. But they have leaders, Moses leaving them with his successor Joshua son of Nun.

And what about us? With us it is more complex, we have less confidence in the leadership. Despite this, I think that even if we [Israelis] do not have representation in the leadership, and even if our connection to local culture and politics is not natural, we have our community. It is an amazing community with action, caring and positivity that pulls forward on so many planes of doing and giving. A big blessing.

Later in the Parsha, Moshe gives the children of Israel some instructions, mitzvot, and equips them with the tools for the new challenge they will face. For the first time they will have land, they will have property, and naturally there will be those who will have more and those who will have less.

One of the commandments that Moses describes in the Parsha is the commandment to care for the poor, for those who have no land and livelihood in the land of Israel: Just as God announced that there is a blessing and there is a curse, God announces here that there will be poor. It is a fact that there are poor people in every human society. In recent months our community has proven that our people have accepted this mitzvah.

Shuli’s daughter, Nili, taking her Kindergarten assessment on Zoom.

More than ever, initiatives have emerged that aim to take care of those who are having a hard time during this complex period. To help those in isolation, to keep in touch with those who need it, to take care of the neighbors, to support them mentally, to remember to call, to walk in the park and be free, to shut themselves together inside and go through it together. Our community, as always, implements and cares and we will understand later what is needed.

This week’s Torah portion begins with the word, “Re’eh,” or “see,” and I want to expand and wish us all to see and feel seen. We will take the reminder that we have a choice. See the options and be able to choose your spirit. This is not a one-time choice, this is an almost daily choice that does not get easier with time and uncertainty. But, I hope we can choose it and succeed in it. To send the kids to the virtual schooling environment with a smile, patience and love. Remember that these amazing children, far from grandparents and the rest of the extended family, are going through the pandemic themselves and choosing daily between a blessing or a curse. We will choose well and demonstrate it for them. We will convey trust in the system, participation and responsibility, and it will permeate them.

Welcome to “Seeing” the sitution with new eyes for all of us, a year of schooling, work and friendship and of course as good health as possible.

Sometimes, nature needs a helping hand. Though you often hear to leave nature alone, there is no denying that we are tied to the natural world around us.

Walking around the backyard of my parents’ house (and my childhood home) just a few days ago, I came across an American bushtit nest nestled in the branches of an oak tree. Bushtits make beautiful hanging nests (pictured), with a small opening on the top to come and go. Typically, they make these nests from natural fibers, sticks and greenery. Mixed among the usual materials of this nest, though, I noticed the synthetic stuffing from dog toys and strips of blue plastic ripped from tarps.

These days, most people are stuck indoors (or they generally should be). Even so, we can still help support our animal and plant neighbors in our backyards and parks. So what can we do to help?

When I was younger, my family would make “bird gifts.” We would collect the shed fur from our dog’s fluffy under coat (which they begin to shed every summer) and put it in big tufts in trees and bushes. We would also snap twigs or dried grass into manageable pieces and put those in piles. Birds would take the fur to line their nests, and use the grass and sticks for the structure. This is a great way to help give birds natural materials that they prefer, so they don’t need to settle for the plastic that is so unfortunately abundant. Perhaps if we had kept doing this, the bushtits wouldn’t have started using the synthetic materials they did.

Want to try it? Here’s how:

Step 1: Collect the materials

Natural Fibers:

• Collect short pieces of animal fur, feathers, short hair, cotton fluff, or other natural plant fluff.

Tip: Don’t use dryer lint, plastics, or long strands of material, as these can hurt the birds.

• Plants: Gather small twigs, pine needles, dry grass (straw) and moss.

Tip: Make sure the pieces of twigs are a manageable size for a small bird.

Step 2: Delivering your gift

Birds will look for these materials in the places they usually spend the most time—among trees, bushes, and undergrowth. Try putting your gift in an easily accessible location, where the birds will notice it. I like to put it in a place where I can see it through a window. Some suggestions:

• In small piles on the ground near trees (works well for leaves and twigs)
• On top of a fence, posts or railings
• Placed in and around the crevices of trees
• Near a tree where you know a bird is nesting.

Step 3: Waiting and watching

It may take some time for the birds to notice it, and they may not approach it at first. But you’ll soon notice the stuff disappear. If they don’t seem to be going for it, try moving it to a new location later.

If you’d like to take the helping hand one step—or should I say—seat further, there’s always a squirrel picnic bench! Recently a craze circulated the internet, especially in the woodworking forums I follow. People were making tiny benches for squirrels! My mom saw this and immediately asked me to make one, so I did. Check out these plans, or make your own design! Happy helping.

Greetings from my fancy new office—“Shelter in Place.”  It is quite lovely here and I am adjusting well to my new working conditions and office mates.  My current priority is remembering that my daily Zoom calls focused on helping the OFJCC navigate this unprecedented health and economic crisis warrant at least a fresh t-shirt every day…

It didn’t take this novel coronavirus, COVID-19, to inspire me to immerse myself in the world of board games, but it sure is a good time to familiarize yourself with this wealth of entertainment resources.  I’ve been doing that for many years already.  In fact, I grew up playing all sorts of games, many of which you’re probably familiar with:  Monopoly, Risk, Stratego, Rummikub, Spades, Charades—the list goes on.  Today, you may be surprised to learn, we’re experiencing a game renaissance, and the epicenter is in… Germany!  Who knew.  I didn’t, and I don’t know why, but somehow the Germans have become the world leaders in games.  In fact, perhaps the most prestigious annual gaming awards bestowed upon the industry’s top games, the Spiel des Jahres, comes out of the German gaming community.  The link will take you to the 2019 winners.

I’d like to share some of my favorites with you today, and I hope you might pick some of these up and enjoy them with your families. They’re all available on Amazon, and some if not all have digital versions, so you can even play online with friends and family. These are generally small business owners, so you can support those folks in need at the same time.

Introducing our youngest blogger! With the support and encouragement of his parents, Yuval was able to pursue his musical theatre passion and shine in the OFJCC School for the Arts production of Aladdin as the youngest performer in the troupe.  Since then, the eight-year-old has co-produced, co-directed and acted in his own neighborhood street theatre production.  In his charming, reflective style, Yuval generously offers some words of wisdom for anyone who’d like to start their own project.

This article was adapted from an interview with and an article written by Yuval F.

This year, I was in the OFJCC School for the Arts play. It changed my thoughts. My parents signed me up and I was happy to perform with 40 kids. The OFJCC School for the Arts let me think that I could be a good actor wherever.

After that, I set up my own street theatre for different plays, with six kids and over 25 audience members. If you’re thinking about starting your own street theatre, you will need technology like a wireless microphone, speaker, electricity and extension cables. My grandma made a super special curtain for me that is from Israel. We needed volunteers and backstage people to help with decorations and moving stuff. We needed chairs for the audience and props for the play.

We asked if one of our neighbors could help us with the music, and sometimes we used my piano keyboard to make trumpet noises. We performed on my family’s driveway and we thought it was a good stage. We used my costumes or shirts to look like characters and sometimes we used a little bit of make-up to look even more like real story characters. Here are my six tips to creating a street theatre in your own neighborhood.

“We used my driveway to be a stage.” -Yuval

1. Get inspired.

[After performing in the OFJCC’s School for the Arts production of Aladdin,] I started thinking about starting a theatre with all my neighbors and friends.

2. Be a friend.

My friend introduced me to some of her friends and I became friends with them. I told them about my idea for street theatre and they decided to perform.

3. Involve everybody.

You need enough people to perform, so it won’t be you and your siblings as the only people who perform. We rewrote the story of different plays and we did votes.

4. Take breaks.

You have to have time to rest and not rehearse all day long. We rehearsed four times a day for one month because we take it seriously. Mostly, we were always together. It’s important to rest because, when you rehearse a lot, you can get tired.

5. It doesn’t have to be perfect.

We used my driveway to be a stage. It doesn’t have to be wood, all flat and smooth. It was cement, not that flat, a little bumpy, but it worked.

6. Be safe.

When we were trying out two different tables to use [as a prop], one of them was not safe and we picked the other one. Don’t ever pick unsafe choices. If there’s a situation where you don’t know what to do, you want to make the safe choice.

I think next time, I’ll do invitations for people, so people all over the street could come and watch. I hope you will come knocking on my door this summer!