Short Hiatus; Texting

Hi all--I'm taking a hiatus from posting current events for the next month, until after the New Year. Things are just a bit too busy right now...Thanks for understanding and please check back in 2015! 

For a final hurrah: speak with your kids about texting/using mobile devices. When is it safe/unsafe to do so and why? When is it rude to do so and why? When is it appropriate? Then watch the following two videos to help generate discussion.  

Video #1: Texting during dinner.

Video #2: Texting while driving

Happy Chanukah, Happy New Year and see you again in 2015!

Commemorating Jews from Arab Lands

Article: Yesterday, history was made in Israel. November 30 is now the official day commemorating the plight of Jewish refugees from Arab lands and Iran. Kids: do you know someone whose family originates from an Arab land/Iran? Ask them how and why their family left and how long they had been there (likely thousands of years). Nov. 30 was chosen because it is the day after the anniversary of the UN resolution partitioning Palestine (Nov. 29, 1947), after which Arab states basically expelled their Jewish populations that had been living there since the 1st Temple's destruction thousands of years ago. In 1948, close to 1 million Jews lived in Arab lands. After 1948, Algeria Jews went from 135,000 to 0, Tunisia Jews went from 90,000 to 1000, Libyan Jews went from 40,000 to 0, Egyptian Jews went from 75,000 to less than 100, Iraqi Jews went from 125,000 to 0, Yemenite Jews went from 45,000 to 200, Syrian Jews went from 27,000 to 1000, etc. Kids: find each of these lands on a map. Because of this new heritage day, the history of Jews from Arab lands will become part of the school curriculum and the commemorated history of the Jewish people. Kids: why is this important?

Here is a film on the history. PARENTS: I would cut it off at 5.00 minutes because it gets graphic (killings, pogroms, etc.)

Yemenite Jews arriving in Israel around 1948