Dear Hevre,

As the new year starts I wanted to wish you all a shana tova umetuka, one in which all your heart's desires are granted for good! 

I assume that by now  each of you are immersed in teaching and giving to your students and I am sure you all have tons to prepare and then share. On this end, we thought that it might be nice if you could also be on the receiving end, and in your spare time get in a little learning besides. 

 To that end, I have prepared  some study materials on sefer Yonah, including study questions (with suggested answers), resources for further study, some ideas for the classroom and a podcast.  Part of the study questions overlap with the study guide that some of you received in the bekiut nakh class. (We did not cover the sefer every year so quite a few of you might have never received it.)   All the answers are new, though, and there is an entirely new section of questions with ideas for teaching in addition.  The podcast is about 1/2 hour long.  Even if you do not study the sefer with all the study questions beforehand, you should be able to follow it, though I do suggest that you at least read through the sefer before listening. 

 We would love if everyone (after or in the midst of their learning) could open a discussion about the sefer, with the opportunity to ask any questions you have about either its content or how to teach it.  And of course, if you have ideas or resources of your own to share with others, please do so! Please go to: http://groups.google.com/group/pepalumnilearning?hl=en

 We would love feedback about this project so we can figure out how to best continue in the future - which of the resources did people find most useful? (Which did you actually find time to look at?)  Would you be interested in similar podcasts or learning materials in the future?  If so, on which sefarim or topics? 

 I hope you all enjoy your learning, and, again, I wish you a wonderful year!!