In Jewish studies class, we had to read chapter 2 of Pirkei Avot and choose five verses and a song to match each verse.

 

Verse 6: 

Verse: “He also saw a skull floating upon the water. Said he to it: Because you drowned others, you were drowned; and those who drowned you, will themselves be drowned.”

Song: Karma by: Alicia Keys  

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EUMC_raxpSc 

I chose the song Karma because it connects to verse number 6 which also talks about Karma. The verse isn’t exactly saying that if you do bad things they will come back it is showing us an example, if we drown someone in the water you will be drowned, this is basically saying that if you do bad things they will come back for you. Karma is when you do something back it will come back to you. The song is saying the same message, don’t do bad things because they will turn back at you. In the song, it says “‘What goes around comes around, what goes up must come down” The song is saying that if you do bad things they will always come back no matter what it is that you did. Everything you do has consequences. 

 

Verse 10: 

Verse: “[Rabbi Yochanan] said to them: Go and see which is the best trait for a person to acquire. Said Rabbi Eliezer: A good eye. Said Rabbi Joshua: A good friend. Said Rabbi Yossei: A good neighbor. Said Rabbi Shimon: To see what is born [out of one’s actions]. Said Rabbi Elazar: A good heart. Said He to them: I prefer the words of Elazar the son of Arach to yours, for his words include all of yours.”

Song: I Choose You, by:  Sara Bareilles 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xjE5D9cHiOk 

I chose the song I Choose You because it talks about choosing the right people to be with. In Pirkei Avot 2:10 the text says what qualities a good friend should have for example the text says that a good friend should have a good heart and a good eye. These qualities are important in friendships because without a friend that has a good eye (notices when things are happening to you) or a good heart (cares about you) then it isn’t really friendship. In the song, it talks about how no one has all the qualities a friend needs but everyone should still try their best. In the song, Sara Bareilles says “We are not perfect, We’ll learn from our mistakes” which is another thing that the Pirkei avot is trying to teach, no one is perfect. 

 

Verse 3:  “Be careful with the government, for they befriend a person only for their own needs. They appear to be friends when it is beneficial to them, but they do not stand by a person at the time of his distress” 

Song: Blame’s On Me by: Alexander Stewart 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lMgoo5gtaXE 

I chose this song because it connects with the Pirkei avot, the Pirkei avot talks about how you have to be careful when trusting the government because they might just be using you. The people in the government can be greedy and selfish and only think of themselves. 

The song I chose is a song about someone who isn’t paying attention to anything and is only focusing on themself, like the government in the Pirkei Avot. “ Usually I’m the one getting burned Didn’t realize I was hurting you” -Alexander Stewart

This song connects to this verse because they have the same lesson. 

 

Verse 15: “Rabbi Tarfon would say: The day is short, the work is much, the workers are lazy, the reward is great, and the Master is pressing.”

Song: Stop Wasting Time- PaulWetz 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddBJlLIBsno 

I chose this song because it connects with what Rabbi Tarfon is saying in this verse in Pirkei Avot. Rabbi Tarfon is saying that we shouldn’t waste our time and stand there waiting for something to happen, we should go and do things ourselves. In the song it says “Stop wasting time Waiting and wishing you were somebody else” This means that even if you are upset you should always be doing things because you don’t know what might happen to you and you want to get as many things done as possible in your life. 

 

Verse 4: “He would also say: Make that His will should be your will, so that He should make your will to be as His will. Nullify your will before His will, so that He should nullify the will of others before your will.

Hillel would say: Do not separate yourself from the community. Do not believe in yourself until the day you die. Do not judge your fellow until you have stood in his place. Do not say something that is not readily understood in the belief that it will ultimately be understood [or: Do not say something that ought not to be heard even in the strictest confidence, for ultimately it will be heard]. And do not say “When I free myself of my concerns, I will study,” for perhaps you will never free yourself.” 

Song: You Can’t Judge a Book by the Cover – Bo Diddley 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OkJ9glPmv7c 

This verse is a long verse and it’s saying a lot of things that we shouldn’t do, like don’t remove yourself from the community (don’t think you are better than everyone else) and many more. The song i chose is only about not judging people before you get to know them. We all know that judging someone before you get to know them is wrong, you might think that the person looks very mean even though inside they are actually really nice. We all know the famous saying don’t judge a book by its cover this saying is saying the same thing but in different words, you can’t say that a book is really boring just because the cover is ugly. The song that i chose is saying the same thing “You can’t judge an apple by looking at a tree You can’t judge honey by looking at the bee You can’t judge a daughter by looking at the mother You can’t judge a book by looking at the cover” these are many examples from the song that say the same thing that the pirkei avot is saying.

In social studies class, we were assigned a project. we had to choose the Patriots or the Loyalists and make an advertisement for them.

 

patriots ad by renana.lipshitz

This year’s innovation day project was a filtration project, we were told to make a water filter. before we started the project I was a little nervous because I didn’t really understand the project, after I understood everything, I found the topic kind of interesting.  when Maya and I started working on the research and the experiment I was very nervous because I felt like we were very behind and everyone was so ahead, also I was absent when we did the experiment so I felt like Maya was doing most of the work because it was based on the experiment and I wasn’t there so it was stressful. when we were building our filter we ran into some problems because our filter wasn’t working, so we re-did the filter a few times until it worked. then, we had to make our poster which was fine even though we were a little bit behind. I found this project interesting and I did pretty well.

 

Pour terminer notre unité au sujet des animaux sauvages, Madame Sylvie nous a demandé de faire une recherche sur un animal de notre choix. Après avoir choisi mon sujet “le renard, j’ai recherché de l’information et préparé une présentation sur CANVA. Ce que j’ai appris de plus intéressant sur le renard c’est que… Les renards sont considérés comme des animaux solitaires Voici le lien de ma présentation ci-dessous.

le renard by renana.lipshitz

I chose to learn about the Righteous among the nations. I chose this because it looked most interesting.  I think that it is important to learn about the holocaust because if we don’t we will forget and there will be no one to teach us about it and so that the holocaust doesn’t happen again.

Who were the Righteous Among the Nations?

The righteous among the nation are the non-Jewish people who risked their lives to hide and save the Jewish people from the natzis.

Do you believe the non-Jewish members of society were responsible to look out for/speak up for their Jewish neighbors? Why or why not?

Yes, I believe that they were responsible because if they did speak up and tried to stop the natzis maybe the holocaust would have ended earlier and fewer people would have died.

this made me think about how important it is to help others even if it doesn’t include risking your life.

 

we were assigned a project in social studies where we had to explain about a climate factor. my climate factor was latitude.

see the video below

climate factors by renana.lipshitz