Happy New Year

Dear partners in Poland,
We wish you a Happy and Prosperous Year 2011.
Slovak partners :)

Merry Christmas

Dear Polish friends and partners,
We wish you a Merry Christmas :)
Slovak friends :)

Evaluation of the project

We have evaluated the project during the school year and in November we did the final evaluation of the project together with our partners. We are happy to say we have learnt a lot and we have enriched our knwledge by a lot of information from our Polish partners and what is more the information and knowledge from the first hand. It has been a good job!

Project "Jewish Culture and Art" has been awarded by the European Quality label

fter the project Jewish Culture and Art had been awarded by Slovak and Polish Quality labels by our NSSes, it has been awarded by EUROPEAN QUALITY LABEL because of its qualities. Great news:)

We are dreaming about rebuilding our synagogue

Slovak students are very looking forward to a rebuilt synagogue in their town Levice. They map the renovation of this great and unique Jewish synagogue, collect the phots to show the public, how the old building of Jewish synagogue has changed its face. It should be finished in 2013 :)

We have applied for eTwinning Prizes 2011

Slovak and Polish partners applied for European eTwinning competition - elearning prizes 2011. We hope... :) our project will be successful

Workshop of Slovak students

We have organized a workshop and we were talking about the Jewish art in Slovakia and other European countries and we were using modern means of ICT :)

Polish partners celebrate Jewish cultural and artistic days

A lot of new information, new presentations and many interesting activities - this means our project and the Jewish cultural and artistic days

Slovak students visited the Jewish museum in Bratislava

We saw there a lot of interesting and unique exponats and things which are typical only for Jewish traditions, life and culture and art

Jewish wedding - presentation of this Jewish tradition

Days of Jewish culture - a good opportunity for Polish students to present the habits of Jews during the wedding.

Polish partners presented Jewish humour

The students from Kielce - our eTwinning partners had a workshop where they presented typical Jewish humour :))))

Our Polish partners visited the Jewish Museum

Our Polish partners visited the Museum of Jewish art together with their teachers. They were really surprised by the exhibition of Jewish art and culture

Jewish theatre

Our workshop about the Jewish theatre gave us a lot of new information about the greatest Jewish theatres in Tel Aviv, Moscow and New York. Unfortunately, there is no Professional theatre in Slovakia nowadays.
Habima National Theatre located in Tel Aviv, is Israel's national theatre and one of the first Hebrew language theatres. In 1928 Habima invited director Aleksei Dikiy from the Moscow Art Theatre. Dikiy directed two successful plays for Habima: one was Der Oytser (The Treasure), a play in Yiddish by Sholom Aleichem, that premiered on December 29, 1928, the second was The Crown, a play by David Calderon, that premiered on May 23, 1929 in Tel Aviv. With the success of Dikiy's directorship in the season of 1928/29, Habima gained reputation as a national Jewish theatre with a permanent repertoire and stage in Tel Aviv.
The Moscow State Jewish Theater, also known by its acronym GOSET was a Yiddish theater company established in 1919 and shut down in 1948 by the Soviet authorities. The theater's repertoire included adaptations of Sholom Aleichem, such as Tevye the Milkman (also adopted in the West as Fiddler on the Roof),and of Avrom Goldfadn, such as Bar Kokhba, as well as works by contemporary Soviet Yiddish writers, such as Perets Markish and Dovid Bergelson. The theater also performed William Shakespeare's King Lear to great acclaim.
The Jewish Theater of New York is a theatre company founded in 1994, with the popular production of One Hundred Gates by playwright/director Tuvia Tenenbom. As of 2003, The Jewish Theater of New York is the only English-speaking Jewish theatre company in New York state. Some of its shows, such as Father of the Angels, Love Letters to Adolf Hitler, Diary of Adolf Eichmann, The Suicide Bomber, Love in Great Neck, The Last Virgin, Last Jew in Europe and others, have been written about in much of the Western press and are also studied in universities.

Jewish film

There are a lot of good films about Jews, their life: These are some of them:
Schindler´s list - Schindler's List is an epic 1993 American war-drama film about Oskar Schindler, a German businessman who saved the lives of more than a thousand Polish Jewish refugees during the Holocaust by employing them in his factories. The film was directed by Steven Spielberg and based on the novel Schindler's Ark by Thomas Keneally. It stars Liam Neeson as Schindler, Ralph Fiennes as Schutzstaffel (SS) officer Amon Göth, and Ben Kingsley as Schindler's Jewish accountant Itzhak Stern.
Holocaust - The film Holocaust tells the story of the Holocaust from the perspective of the (fictional) Weiss family of German Jews, and from the point of view of a rising member of the SS, who gradually becomes a merciless, bloodthirsty war criminal. Holocaust highlighted numerous important events which occurred up to and during World War II, such as Kristallnacht, the creation of Jewish ghettos and later, the use of gas chambers. The series ultimately attempted to portray the atrocity of this genocide to viewers.
The Chosen - The film elucidates the friendship between two young Jews of differing factions. Benson is Hassidic, while Barry Miller is a Zionist. Though separated ideologically, the boys find a common bond through their love of stickball.
Fiddler on the roof - The story centers on Tevye, the father of five daughters, and his attempts to maintain his family and religious traditions while outside influences encroach upon their lives. He must cope with both the strong-willed actions of his three older daughters—each one's choice of husband moves further away from the customs of her faith—and with the edict of the Tsar that evicts the Jews from their village.
Driving Miss Daisy - An elderly Jewish widow living in Atlanta can no longer drive. Her son insists she allow him to hire a driver, which in the 1950s meant a black man. She resists any change in her life but, Hoke, the driver is hired by her son. She refuses to allow him to drive her anywhere at first, but Hoke slowly wins her over with his native good graces. The movie is directly taken from a stage play and does show it. It covers over twenty years of the pair's life together as they slowly build a relationship t transcends their differences.
Shoah - Shoah is a nine-hour film completed by Claude Lanzmann in 1985 about the Holocaust (or Shoah). Though Shoah is conventionally classified as a documentary film, director Lanzmann considers it to fall outsid of that genre, as, unlike most historical documentaries, the film does not feature reenactments or historical footage; instead it consists of interviews with people who were involved in various ways in the Holocaust, and visits to different places they discuss.

Lich'vod Hachanukkah -Chaim Nachman Bialik - Chanukah song

Jewish holidays

A Jewish holiday or festival is a day or series of days observed by Jews as a holy or secular commemoration of an important event in Jewish history. In Hebrew, Jewish holidays and festivals, depending on their nature, may be called yom tov (good day) or chag (festival) or ta'anit (fast).
Rosh Hashanah — The Jewish New Year - According to the Talmud and oral tradition, Rosh Hashanah is the Jewish new year, day of memorial and the day of judgment, in which God judges each person individually according to their deeds, and makes a decree for the following year. The holiday is characterized by the special mitzvah of blowing the shofar. According to the Torah, however, this is the first day of the seventh month of the calendar year that marks the beginning of a ten day count to Yom Kippur.
Aseret Yemei Teshuva — Ten Days of Repentance - The first ten days of the seventh month of the Jewish year (from the beginning of Rosh Hashana until the end of Yom Kippur) are known as the Aseret Yemei Teshuva. During this time it is "exceedingly appropriate" for Jews to practice "Teshuvah," which is examining one's deeds and repenting for sins committed against both God and one's fellow man in anticipation of Yom Kippur. This repentance can take the form of additional supplications, confessing one's deeds before God, fasting, and self-reflection. On the third day, the Fast of Gedalia is celebrated.
Yom Kippur — Day of Atonement - Yom Kippur is considered by Jews to be the holiest and most solemn day of the year. Its central theme is atonement and reconciliation. Eating, drinking, bathing, anointing with oil, and marital relations are forbidden. Fasting begins at sundown, and ends after nightfall the following day. Yom Kippur services begin with the prayer known as "Kol Nidrei", which must be recited before sunset.
Hanukkah — Festival of Lights - Hanukkah marks the defeat of Seleucid Empire forces that had tried to prevent the people of Israel from practicing Judaism. Judah Maccabee and his brothers destroyed overwhelming forces, and rededicated the Temple in Jerusalem. The eight-day festival is marked by the kindling of lights — one on the first night, two on the second, and so on — using a special candle holder called a Chanukkiyah, or a Hanukkah menorah.
Pesach — Passover
Erev Pesach and Fast of the Firstborn known as "Ta'anit Bechorim" — 14 Nisan
Passover 15 and 16 Nisan
The "Last days of Passover", known as Acharon shel Pesach, are also a holiday commemorating K'riat Yam Suf, the Passage of the Red Sea. — 21 and 22 Nisan
The semi-holiday days between the "first days" and the "last days" of Passover are known as Chol Hamo'ed, referred to as the "Intermediate days".
Passover commemorates the liberation of the Israelite slaves from Egypt. No leavened food is eaten during the week of Pesach, in commemoration of the fact that the Jews left Egypt so quickly that their bread did not have enough time to rise.
Rosh Chodesh — the New Month - The first day of each month and the thirtieth day of the preceding month, if it has thirty days, a minor holiday known as Rosh Chodesh (head of the month). The one exception is the month of Tishrei, whose beginning is a major holiday, Rosh Hashanah. There are also special prayers said upon observing the new Moon for the first time each month.
Shabbat — The Sabbath - Jewish law accords Shabbat the status of a holiday, a day of rest celebrated on the seventh day of each week. Jewish law defines a day as ending at nightfall, which is when the next day then begins. Thus, Shabbat begins at sundown Friday night, and ends at nightfall Saturday night.
New Israeli/Jewish national holidays
-Yom Yerushalayim — Jerusalem day
-Yom HaShoah — Holocaust Remembrance day
-Yom Hazikaron — Memorial Day
-Yom Ha'atzmaut — Israel Independence Day
-These four days are national holidays in the State of Israel, and in general have been accepted as religious holidays by the following groups: The Union of Orthodox Congregations and Rabbinical Council of America; The United Hebrew Congregations of the Commonwealth (United Kingdom); The Chief Rabbinate of the State of Israel; All of Reform Judaism and Conservative Judaism; The Union for Traditional Judaism and the Reconstructionist movement.
-Yom Ha'atzmaut — Israel Independence Day
-Yom Ha'atzmaut is Israel's Independence Day. An official ceremony is held annually on the eve of Yom Ha'atzmaut at Mount Herzl. The ceremony includes speeches by senior Israeli officials, an artistic presentation, a ritual march of flag-carrying soldiers forming elaborate structures and the lighting of twelve beacons. Dozens of Israeli citizens, who contributed significantly to the state, are selected to light these beacons.

The Jewish Wedding Video

Jewish traditions

JEWISH TRADITIONS
-BABY-NAMING CEREMONIES
-Simchat Bat - Traditionally, the Simchat Bat ceremony for baby girls, takes place in the synagogue on the first Shabbat following her birth. During the ceremony, either the father or both parents are called to the Torah for a reading and blessing
-The Bar and bat micwa - According to Jewish law, when Jewish children reach the 13 years for boys and 12 for girls they become responsible for their actions, and become a Bar or Bat Mitzvah„The ceremony is symolizing the begining of adulthood.
MARRIAGE - The groom smashes a glass with his right foot, to symbolize the destruction of the Temple. Traditionally, the day before the wedding, both the bride and the groom fast. The man then places the ring on woman's finger and says "Be sanctified to me with this ring in accordance with the law of Moses and Israel."
The tora - This is the most important displayed text, colich consists of five books in Hebrew language, written according to tradition by Moses on God's recommendation.
Jewish prayers - A Jew should pray three times a day. Szachrit morning, Mincha in the afternoon, Maariw in the evening.

Jewish humour II

Have fun with us and Jewish jokes:
• Jew pilot
• Q: Is one permitted to ride in an airplane on the Sabbath?
• A: Yes, as long as your seat belt remains fastened. In this case, it is considered that you are not riding, you are wearing the plane.

• Two boys
• Two little boys talking:
• I'm getting operated on tomorrow
• Oh? What are they going to do?
• Circumcise me!
• I had that done when I was just a few days old.
• Did it hurt?
• I couldn't walk for a year!

• A Penny Saved
• Abe's son arrives home from school puffing and panting, sweat rolling down his face. "Dad, you'll be so proud of me" he says, "I saved a dollar by running behind the bus all the way home." "Oy" says Abe, "You could have run behind a taxi and saved $20"

• Truer Words Were Never spoken
• A little Jewish boy was telling his mother about how he had won a part in a play that was being done at school. His mother asked, "What is the part you will play, Saul?" Saul responded, "I shall play the Jewish husband," to which the mother replied, "Well, you go right back to that teacher and tell her that you want a SPEAKING part!"

• Another Stamp
• Moishe walks into a post office to send a package to his wife.
• The postmaster says, "This package is too heavy, you'll need another stamp."
• Moishe replies, "And that should make it lighter?!"

Jewish Traditions : How to Light the Menorah