ATTITUDE AND GRATITUDE

If I am not for myself, who is for me?

If I am only for myself, what am I?

If not now when?  

Pirke Avot 1:14

Although this is a short week because of the Thanksgiving holiday, we did talk a bit about Thanksgiving. We talked about religious freedom, (which will again surface next month when we begin our Hanukkah story) and how Thanksgiving is truly about giving thanks and appreciating the many gifts we have. We talked about blessings, and as Jews, our responsibility to say 100 blessings every day. We talked about having too much of everything, and taking the time to show gratitude by doing mitzvot, and thinking about others, rather than worrying about what we want or what we don't have. Students shared their thoughts about gratitude, and how so much of what we do as Jews is about attitude and gratitude.   

Please ask your students to share their ideas of this wonderful piece of text from Pirke Avot. In particular, what are we saying about our needs versus the needs of others, and when are we expected to help others. 

There is no class Tuesday, November 21, and Sunday, November 26, 2017. 

Wishing you and those you a Thanksgiving holiday filled with blessings

THANKSGIVING HAIKUS

Thank you for my food

I am thankful for parents

Thank you for my bed

Will

Thank you GOD so much

I give thanks for my family

That’s why I am thankful

Hugh

I love my parents

I love my family too

I love my sisters

Levi

I give thanks for GOD

I am thankful for family

Thanks for family

Becky

I give thanks to GOD

Thank you for my family

Love is happiness

Sam

Thank you so much GOD

I am thankful for my friends

Thanks for family

Arie

JUST DO IT!

When studying Torah, we always take one step backward to review our prior lessons, and one step forward to tackle the next lesson. These discussions often bring new questions to light, and our students are often left to work through some struggle as the week ends. Such was the case with this week's discussion. Our Sunday morning Torah block began with the basic question of failure. Why did GOD put the Tree of Knowledge within reach of Adam and Eve, tempting them to break the rules? Our students offered some keen insights into breaking rules, and doing the right thing. We talked about wanting something, working towards something, and ultimately failing to achieve success, or perhaps hitting obstacles along the way.  

Using the Torah as our textbook, our students continued their discussions about being created in GOD's image on Tuesday afternoon. We talked about free will and our ability to make choices based on our knowledge of right and wrong. We introduced the concept of Yetzer Ha-Rah and Yetzer Tov, the inclination to do right, and the inclination to do wrong, and the internal struggles we all have with impulse control.  We certainly had some interesting discussions about how we learn right from wrong, and the internal struggles we face each and every day. 

To bring our discussions full circle, our students debated about taking things that don't belong to them. We looked at different scenarios and discussed what constitutes need, stealing, sharing, borrowing, or just wanting something and taking it. Ultimately, we decided that things are not always as they seem, and sometimes doing the wrong thing may not be as wrong as it seems. Please ask your student to share some of these concepts with you.

STORAH TELLING OR TELLING STORIES

The Jewish people have been telling stories, listening to stories, and sharing stories for centuries, and this week, I asked our students, why do we tell so many stories?  As a group we decided it was important to tell stories to teach a lesson, share a history and to let others know about something important that happened in the past. We all like to hear stories, and to tell them as well, and sometimes we believe the stories we hear, and other times we don't. Such is the case with the Torah. 

Last week we learned about the two creation stories told in the Torah. There is the story of GOD creating man and woman, placing them in the Garden of Eden, and telling them to rule over everything. Then, there is the story of GOD taking dust from the earth, molding man from the dust, and making Adam a partner to help him take care of all that GOD created. 

Students were given the opportunity to teach the class about the passages they read, and we had quite an interesting discussion when students realized they had read two different versions of the same story. Our discussion sent us in many directions, and it was quite interesting to hear our students trying to make sense of both versions. Our take away moment was when it was decided that both stories are true...we are both partners and rulers, and it is up to us to behave in the image of GOD, doing what is right and just at all time.  Most importantly, the stories in the Torah are collected to teach us a lesson, and every time we read Torah, we come away with a different tilt or slant.  That's why the Torah is read and reread,  and stays current throughout time.  

Please ask you students to share what story they think is most pleasing to them, and for an interesting table discussion, ask them why GOD put both stories in the Torah.