Religious School Voices: Grade 6 Blog

JUDAICA

On Wednesday, we had a lesson that the whole class seemed to really enjoy and be engaged in. After talking a lot about the significance of Torah reading as a community in the past few lessons, we decided to participate in an informal debate. We started off by listing all the ways that we know people give and receive information and the students got creative. Then I asked the students to cross off all the means of communication that did not exist around the time of Ezra and marketplace in around 450 B.C.E. We were left with very few and began to better understand why it was necessary for all of the people to gather in the marketplace and read Torah and discuss news. In each corner of the room was a piece of paper that offered the following choices:

1. I definitely think the Torah should be read publicly. (Community-based Judaism)
2. I definitely think the Torah should not be read publicly. (More individual-based Judaism)
3. Unsure but I think that the Torah should be read publicly. (Leaning towards community-based Judaism)
4. Unsure but I think that the Torah should not be read publicly. (Leaning towards individual-based Judaism)

The students arranged themselves in a corner (or in between, acting as it was a continuum) and then we transitioned into an awesome debate about Judaism as a community versus individual.

Becca