Hi All! It is the final lap of Hebrew school… however
did the time fly by?! Oy! We have had a good run of it. And usually I
look at my books about now and think “oh my goodness! How did we get all the
curriculum in the last week.” It is akin to high school world history,
where you end up trying to get World War I through modern day in the last 7
days of school. HOWEVER, this year we made it! On Tuesday we had our
Joshua and Caleb lesson (these are the two fellas who led the Israelites into
the Promised Land). We MADE it to the Promised Land! Hurray!
Our lesson Tuesday was a favorite of mine, and despite the
warm weather and the squirrely kids, they enjoyed it too. It was about
PERSPECTIVE. The story of Joshua and Caleb is one where Moses and Aaron
send 12 spies to the Promised Land to check things out. The first group
comes back and tells Moses and Aaron that it was a beautiful land, but that the
inhabitants were HUGE and scary and that clearly the Israelites will get
stomped when they enter it. They describe the people as giants, and say
that these people make them feel like grasshoppers. Alternately, Caleb
and Joshua, WHO SAW THE SAME THING, say that it is a beautiful land, and with
God’s help, we will be victorious. BOTH saw the same thing… Joshua and Caleb
choose to see the positive. And hence, they were rewarded.
I had the kids do a “glass half full and half empty”
activity. We looked at multiple perspective pictures (the crone and the
princess was one) and we saw how one image could have two conflicting pictures
in it. The Torah shows us that there are many ways to look at one
experience, and how we view it.. how we frame our experience is up to us.
God rewards the optimist. So look up: God is on our side!
On Sunday we had our 10 commandments lesson. We
watched the 8 commandments of Homer clip from the Simpsons (kids had a good
laugh), and then we discussed what part of the 10 commandments were still
appropriate to today. The kids were mixed. Many thought that some of the
commandments didn’t need to be laws, since they were common sense. We
then rewrote the 10 commandments and discussed which rules were MORE important
than others. Most of the kids wanted to add rules that had to do with
being kind, empathetic, helpful. This made me smile. Good kiddos.
We also talked about the honor your mother and father law a
lot. The kids learned that they are supposed to clothe, feed and support
you in order to maintain your dignity. SO BOOK THAT FANCY RETIREMENT VILLAGE
NOW!!!! AND SEND YOUR CHILD THE BILL!
We are in the home stretch! Enjoy this Sunday off for
Mother’s Day. Personally, I’d like about 3 hours .. or 8 .. to myself. J Mother. Of. The. Year.
We then have next Tuesday, Sunday and it is a wrap!
However did the time go by so quickly.
Have a great weekend and take care,
Leah
No comments:
Post a Comment