SATURDAY, JUNE 2
EVENT ACTIVITIES 7:00 p to 9:45p
Del Valle Regional Park, Livermore

CLICK HERE TO SIGN UP!!!

TRANSPORTATION PROVIDED
$10 pp by May 29th

RESERVATION REQUIRED

Questions? Contact: Day Schildkret, Director
925.549.1664
midrashatvtc@gmail.com

Midrasha students and Alumni mark the end of the school year with Director Day Schildkret.
A NOT TO BE MISSED FIRST TIME EVER PROGRAM.

TRANSPORTATION SCHEDULE

STUDENTS CANNOT DRIVE TO EVENT LOCATION
The site at Del Valle is a difficult to find, walk-in site with no nearby parking.
Convenient Bus transportation provided from TBT. CBE and Livermore Location (TBD)

5:35p depart TBT to CBE
6:00p departs CBE to Mendenhall Middle School, Livermore
6:25p depart Livermore to Del Valle

7:00p – 9:45p Havadalah, teachings, s’mores, beverages and surprises

Bus Departs Del Valle 10:00p
Bus Arrives Mendenhall Middle School, Livermore 10:20p
Bus Arrives CBE 10:35p
Bus Arrives TBT 10:50-11:00p

All transportation choices must be known by RSVP date.

*There is no cell reception at Del Valle so no changes can be made the day of event.

DETAILS:
$10pp by May 29th

Checks made out to TVTC Midrasha can be mailed, dropped-off or brought to a Midrasha Session and given to Director Day Schildkret or to Board President Sharon Cohen.

ITEMS TO BRING:
Flash lights or battery operated lanterns

Blanket or towel to sit

Sweatshirt recommended

Pants highly recommended

Faces of Israel
Not Politics. Not Falafel. Everything in Between.

Sunday, April 29
7:00 to 9:15p
Congregation Beth Emek

Filmmaker Amy Beth Oppenheimer joins us for a screening of her documentary and a discussion about marriage, state and religion in the Jewish homeland.

7:00 to 8:00p
FACES OF ISRAEL for teens
7:00 to 8:00p
ISRAEL INSIDE for adults, with guest speaker Riva Gambert

8:00 to 9:15p
FACES OF ISRAEL for adults

Filmmaker Amy Beth Oppenheimer joins us for a screening of her documentary and a discussion about marriage, state and religion in the Jewish homeland.

A Taste of Midrasha
Sunday, May 6 | 6:00 – 8:15p
CBE Sanctuary and Social Hall

Incoming student and parent open house for all current 7th graders and 8th – 12th graders not currently enrolled.

Midrasha Graduation
Sunday, May 20 | 7:00 – 9:15p
CBE Sanctuary and Social Hall

Join us in honoring the 2012 Midrasha graduates.
Parents, grandparents, extended family, friends and the entire community are all invited.

Teen Fire Circle
Saturday, June 2
Del Valle Regional Park, Livermore

Midrasha students mark the end of the school year with Director Day Schildkret. Havadalah, s’mores and surprises!
Transportation to be provided. Details, including time, coming soon.

More: midrashatvtc@gmail.com
925.549.1664

November is my favorite month of the year. Not just because it’s my birthday month, but also because as Jews and Americans we are asked to be more aware of the abundance in our lives through the lens of gratitude.

One of the most authentic ways I know how to live as a Jew and human being is in gratitude: thankful for the roof over my head, the food in my kitchen, the community I’m a part of, and for the abundance I receive. I can sense many of you are grateful for these things as well.

The Hebrew term for gratitude is hakarat hatov, which literally means “recognizing the good.” The practice in our lives is to focus our attention on recognizing the good that is already here.

My blessing for our community is that we can take a moment, at least once a day, and observe what we actually have in our lives and find gratitude, hakarat hatov.

I know many of us are recognizing the good of what is happening at Midrasha, and for that we are grateful.

Have a wonderful Shabbat!

Day Schildkret
TV/TC Midrasha Director

Teens and Parents: Come learn about LET’S GO ISRAEL (LGI), an East Bay Federation-sponsored summer Israel experience for teens in grades 10 & 11. This will be an opportunity to meet the trip directors, watch the recruitment video, hear testimonials from LGI alumni and have all your questions answered.

RSVP to Day if you’re planning to attend.

A Tasty Backwards Adventure … with Burritos, Blindfolds and the Beastie Boys!

8th graders have an opportunity to get a “taste” of the Midrasha retreats on this afternoon adventure. Eat s’mores around a campfire, enjoy the talents of your fellow 8th graders, take a nature hike, and munch on a tasty snack while the Beastie Boys play. Not only will your 8th grade teen have a “mini” retreat experience, they will also meet other 8th graders from all four East Bay Midrasha campuses.

RSVP now to confirm your attendance at the 8th grade sneak-peek adventure, which takes place in and around Berkeley. Bus transportation is available from Beth Chaim Congregation in Danville (pick-up at 12:30p, return at 6:30p). For more information, contact Day Schildkret (925.549.1664).

The RSVP link for the Fall retreat weekend is now OPEN for 9th through 12th graders who are planning to attend. Even if you signed up for the Fall retreat when you initially enrolled, you must RSVP “yes” or “no” by November 21 to confirm your attendance.

Additionally, if your teen needs financial aid for this retreat and you haven’t already submitted a financial aid application, please contact Day Schildkret with the specific request before November 21st.

There is much to share: The autumn chaggim are concluding, Midrasha is in full swing, and this week Gilad Shalit returned home to Israel. There is much to be grateful for.

In Midrasha news, there are a few VERY IMPORTANT EVENTS to be aware of:

1. The first retreat of the 2011-12 year is DECEMBER 9-11, 2011 at Camp Newman! This retreat is open to 9th-12th graders. Anyone planning to attend must RSVP by November 21. (The online RSVP link will go live this Monday, October 24 … stay tuned!) If your teen needs financial aid in order to attend the retreat, please contact me directly at midrashatvtc@gmail.com with the specific request before November 21st.

2. Our first ever 8th Grade retreat orientation is also coming up. Appropriately entitled “A Tasty, Backwards Adventure, this afternoon excursion on December 11 (from 1:15 to 6:00p in the Berkeley/Oakland area) is a sneak-peek at the Midrasha retreats. If your teen is in 8th grade, watch for the RSVP (which will open this week).

3. If you or your teen is interested in LET’S GO ISRAEL, be sure to attend the information session for parents and teens in grades 10 & 11 on November 6th at 7:15p. (Email Day at midrashatvtc@gmail.com if you plan on being there.) The LET’S GO ISRAEL trip is scheduled for June 19 through July 18, 2012.

And, finally, if you’d like to read more about the joyous release of Gilad Shalit, check out these New York Times articles.

Looking forward to seeing you and your teen on Sunday, October 23rd for another deep, fun, thought-provoking, exciting, playful, calming, educational Midrasha!

Until then,
Day

**PLEASE NOTE**
Due to a scheduling conflict, this Sunday’s Parent Class,”Your Teen and Sex,” is being RESCHEDULED.
Stay tuned for the new date!

As we continue our turning through the year, we are now heading toward the joyous and nature-based holiday, Sukkot, the seven-day festival of the harvest.

During this time, we feel the fullness and abundance of the Presence, and eat, sleep and hang out beneath the skies in roofless booths (sukkot) that represent the impermanence and vulnerability of our journey. We celebrate and give gratitude for what we have from the Earth’s harvest – food, shelter, clothes, money, land, clean water and air. We wave a bundle of the palm branch, the willow, the myrtle, and the citron, as a reminder of the fruitfulness of the world. And, within the structure of the sukkah, we are able to see the stars — the pinpoints of fire — which remind us of the much bigger picture, Spirit.

Last Sunday night, during our special program for upperclass teens/parents and our regular program for underclass teens, we encountered all the aspects of the sukkah. From the impermanence and vulnerability to the gratitude of the much bigger picture, our teens experienced the deeper meanings of the Jewish holidays AND what it really means to be a member of a community. A very powerful evening.

This Sunday night we will have our regularly scheduled Midrasha with a little surprise in the sukkah. So, let your teen know to prepare for an adventure!

See you in the sukkah!
Day

P.S. Check out these new, fabulous sukkah designs:
→ Private Booth: A portable sukkah
→ Redesigning the Sukkah

We have entered into the next step of the Tishrei season: Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, a day of fasting and praying for the strength to change what we must change.

The liturgy of Yom Kippur is both tender and challenging, evoking both the serious consequences of our actions, good and bad, and the tremendous potential of our lives for goodness.

It is ten days later, and the moon is bright, letting us know that it is possible to awaken ourselves. We fast on Yom Kippur as a kind of symbolic death, to remind ourselves that we must accept change for new life to become possible.

Here at Midrasha, we acknowledge that this time for a teenager (and as a parent of a teenager) is ALL ABOUT CHANGE. Our classes and teachers give our teens the skill and empowerment to explore this change and not fear or suppress it.

Have a meaningful fast and a renewed perspective for the upcoming year. It already is a year of change, so may we be in flow with it.

G’mar Chatimah Tovah,
Day

There is, indeed, Midrasha tonight (October 2) at 7:00p!
We will see all your renewed, beautiful New Year faces then.

Day