We had a fantastic 2nd day of religious ed. Today we learned our Torah Strong! themes; we will use these themes to frame all of the learning we do this year.
For our mifgash (our intro 15 minutes), we were a bit time tied, so we did it in 5 minutes. We discussed names and the importance of names. The kids were REALLY REALLY into learning what their names meant. They also got a GIANT kick out of learning that my name means "weary one." Au contraire!
I will bring a Hebrew/English book in next week, so that the kids can look up their names.
First, we began with our bracha over Torah study (ends "la'asok b'dvrei Torah"), then we did our 1 footed Hillel's Rule Core strengthening, our Chazak! Chazak! V'nei Chazek 'Guns' Show and our Wrestling with Judaism stance. Please ask your child what each of these mean and what the physical movement is that goes along with them. We will begin each day this way, to help start our learning with a single focus that will thread throughout the year. In a nutshell, we are reinforcing that : studying Torah is holy work, that we need to treat others the way we want to be treated, that learning Torah will help strengthen us and that it is O.K and even expected for us to wrestle with our faith.
We then headed out for some Torah Strong Fun! I was channeling my inner Richard Simmons, and we went out and did the following:
Activity One:
Chumash Hold: With 2 spotters - kids have to hold 2 bibles over their heads in each hand for 1 minute
Needed: 4 Torahs, stop watch
Teachable Moment: Moses HELD the 10 commandments over his head for all of Israel to see. They were STONE! He was OLD. This took INCREDIBLE STRENGTH. This strength is both physical and spiritual. To UPHOLD THE TORAH, especially in a non-Jewish world, IT TAKES STRENGTH. It is not easy... that is what makes it rewarding. We TRY to uphold as many of the 613 commandments as we can and we “live Torah.” To do this we must be Torah Strong!
Pass out sheets that say: Torah Strong means we need inner STRENGTH to LIVE JEWISHLY
Activity Two:
Don’t Miss the Mark Archery: Students will be given 3 magnetic arrows OR the slingshot (choose method of choice). Students must try to hit the 613 in the middle of the dart board.
Needed: music stand, dart board, magnetic arrows, slingshot and balls
Teachable Moment: There is no direct translation in Hebrew for the word “SIN.” The closest word means to “miss the mark.” Think of this as like playing darts. We TRY to hit the bullseye - that is our goal, but when we fail we “miss the mark.” This does not mean we are bad or evil, but that we must keep practicing to get it right and we need to FOCUS on our goals. To be Torah Strong we need to have the commandments as our GOALS and when we fall short and “miss the mark,” we need to NOT give up, but keep practicing to live righteously!
Pass out sheets that say: Torah Strong means we need to keep our eyes on the goals and Aim for righteousness - don’t miss the mark
Activity Three:
Learning From Our Mistakes March: Students will be given a bin with fragments of rocks in it PLUS a replica of the 10 commandments. 2 Students will need to walk backwards (so they are holding the bin, but not facing it... this will be AWKWARD) in a straight line while marching!
Needed: plastic bin, rocks, replica of 10 commandments, start and end cones
Teachable Moment: A midrash tells us that the 1st 10 commandments -- the ones that Moses threw on the ground and broke with the Israelites were worshiping the golden calf -- were ALSO in the ark with the complete 10 commandments. Therefore, when the Jews were wandering the desert, the ark was HEAVIER PLUS the broken rocks would have clanked together to make noise. This constant noise served as a REMINDER that they had made a mistake and it helped remind them to learn from that mistake! To be TORAH STRONG we need to remember our mistakes to grow and move on. We must not dwell on our mistakes, but we MUST LEARN from them!
Pass out sheets that say: Torah Strong means that we need to remember our mistakes so that we may learn from them.
Activity 4:
Hit it out of the Ballpark / Aim High: Students will use the inflatable bat and balls. The object is to hit the ball as far as they can. Because the ball is inflatable, it cannot go FAR, but it can go HIGH! The kids want to hit it UP as far as they can.
Needed: inflatable bat, inflatable ball
Teachable Moment: To be Torah Strong and live Jewishly, we must AIM HIGH! We must always keep our eyes on God and try to RISE UP and BE HOLY. To do so, we need to STEP UP and focus our attentions on constantly reaching ourselves above where we are.
Pass out sheets that say: Torah Strong means that we need to RISE UP and BE HOLY.
Activity 5:
It is a marathon, not a sprint: Students will need to jump rope for as long as they can without stopping.
Needed: jump rope
Teachable Moment: To be Torah Strong we need to remember that it is a LIFELONG commitment. We don’t just learn it all and then fizzle out after our bnai mitzvah. We need to commit ourselves to the LONG HAUL and pace ourselves. There is a LIFETIME of learning and improving that we can do. Torah Strong people reflect each year to see where they came from and what they want to accomplish. As Jews we try to increase our level of commitment and observance so that we are constantly moving upward. Our goal is to know at the end of each year that we lived more Jewishly than we did before
Please feel free to contact me with ideas, thoughts, concerns and comments.
Your children are a blessing. It is such an honor to teach and learn with them and from them. I can't wait for next Sunday.
HAve a great week,
Morah Leah
No comments:
Post a Comment