Showing results for "Karla" in Religions

Jason has a big voice. He sings everywhere—until a whisper runs through his Jewish day school: Jason is Black. Is he really Jewish? "Can I be both Black and Jewish?" wonders Jason. He stops caring about Jewish songs and prayers. His African ancestors' music continues to touch Jason's heart and spirit, but he longs for a community where he can be his complete self. When he finds his way to services at a synagogue years later, can Jason learn to sing with his whole spirit, both Black and Jewish?

This true story begins long ago in Spain, where a bride and groom are gifted a hand-painted haggadah. It is used at many Passover seders until the Spanish Inquisition when the family escapes. The haggadah survived for centuries in different countries. Scholars declared it a treasure. To protect it from the Nazis, a curator smuggled it out of a Sarajevo museum and hid it in a village mosque. On Passover of 1995, with bombs exploding overhead, the Bosnian president brought out the book from an underground vault to show the world that it was safe.

The exercises in this book use everyday Jewish items to inspire mindfulness in children. Imagine you have a piece of fresh challah in one hand and a spoonful of hot chicken soup in the other. Smell the challah, blow on the soup. Lie down, close your eyes, and "take a walk" through your body from head to toe. Or meditate with a special word shalom, which means "peace." Our minds are like forests, and our thoughts are like monkeys jumping through the trees.