Sixth Grade Penpals

Sixth Graders: The pen pal letter has been sent. If you would like to know about the students with whom we are corresponding, read the following article and the home page of the organization (the second link):

Giving English New Meaning
AHAVA

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Dear Israeli Friends,

Shalom from the United States!

We are very excited to learn about you and to tell you about ourselves. We have many questions about you and your lives in Israel, but we'll start with a description of our class. We are students at Congregation Etz Chayim, a liberal synagogue in Palo Alto, California. Palo Alto is near San Francisco. We go to "regular" school for about seven hours a day, five days a week (Monday through Friday). What is it like to go to school six days a week?

We do our Jewish learning here. On Wednesdays, we come to the synagogue after school for two more hours of Jewish Studies and Hebrew learning. We also come here at 9:30 a.m. on Sundays and stay here until noon.

One of the nice and unusual things about Etz Chayim is that we have some shared customs and also allow people to follow their own traditions. At our synagogue, men and women sit and pray together, without any separation. We all welcome non-Jews into our services and community. However, some of us sit for the Shema, while others stand. We are interested to know how many of you go to synagogue and what types of synagogues you attend.

Most of us are eleven years old. Many of us have already traveled to other countries including Israel. Some of our favorite vacation spots are Los Angeles, Hawaii, Mexico and Greece. A few of us are planning to visit Israel this summer. Do you have any recommendations for where we should go and what we should do? What are your favorite places in Israel? And have any of you traveled outside of Israel?

When we are not busy at school or the synagogue, we like to "chillax"—chill out and relax. A bunch of us like sports; American football, soccer, baseball, gymnastics, skateboarding, and snowboarding are popular with us. Some of us like to doodle and draw, others like to play video games and surf the internet. All of us like to hang out and chat with our friends!

We are really excited that Hanukkah is almost here. Many of us like spending Shabbat and holidays with our families and friends. What are your favorite Jewish holidays?

We can't wait to hear back from you!

Best wishes,

Kitah Vav

Michael Becky Aaron D. Aaron H. Josh Hannah Maya Frieda Eli Rex Harrison Andy Matt
Rachel Tatiana Ellie Andi Lisanna Jack Talia

Isabel Sasha Alex Ilan Sophie

and their teachers, Rachel and Noya