THE POWER OF A PROMISE

Welcome Back!  

Our Kitah Dalet students continue to study the text of Noah, and this afternoon we talked about honesty, integrity, and the importance of building a relationship with GOD.  After some true confessions, we began to see how building a relationship with others is how we  build a relationship with GOD, and this relationship is at the heart of making the world a better place.  

As we examined the text in Parsha Noach, we found the promise GOD made with man, and we talked about the importance of keeping our word. We talked about GOD being remorseful when destroying the world, and questioning his decision to destroy all of his creations. Finally, we talked about GOD'S promise to never destroy the world again through a flood. We talked about the Hebrew word for promise, Brit, and the strength of this commitment.  When talking about GOD's promise, students were asked to think about agreeing to do something, and then changing their minds. We also talked about trust, and honoring their commitments. Digging a little bit deeper, we had a rather heated discussion about how we feel when others promise to do things, and then go back on their word.  On the same note, students were asked to think about how others feel when we say we will do something, and fail to follow through.  

Finally, we talked about the relationship we have with each other, and how important it is to follow our words with actions.  We talked about the teacher student relationship, and how it feels when our teacher may not think our word is good, or worse, when a teacher doubts our integrity.   Fortunately, this is not the case in Kitah Dalet, and I made a promise to our students, and they made one as well. It will be interesting to see how strong our relationship is on Sunday morning.

Please spend a few minutes talking with your students about the power of their words, and what their thoughts are about building relationships through integrity.  

YOU ARE WHAT YOU EAT

Many of classroom units are woven into teaching everyday life lessons, and we constantly pull from a variety of resources to make sure we are giving our students many opportunities to understand how the Torah is relevant to our lives. In Bereshit we talked about how GOD created the world for man to take care of. We are commanded to care for all of the animals, birds, fish, and bugs, as well as the land, air and water. Most importantly, GOD commands us to take care of all living things. In Parshah Noach, again GOD teaches us to care for all the animals by telling Noah to save the animals before GOD destroys the world.

Furthermore, GOD commands Noah to take seeds from all of the trees and plants so he can care for them once the world is restored. This week we took these lessons one bit further and talked about the importance of being mindful of how we treat animals, plants, trees, and seeds. The Torah is very clear when talking about our responsibility for caring for all of GOD's creations. When GOD instructs Noah to build the ark, GOD is quite clear about what Noah's duties are.

In class we talked about being mindful of what we eat, and how we treat the food we have. Specifically, we talked about keeping kosher, and why we are commanded to observe the dietary laws. In the Torah, we learn Noah took seven pairs of kosher animals on the ark, and two of each non-kosher animal, one male and one female. We talked about what makes animals kosher, and how kosher means fit or proper. The most important reason for keeping kosher is to be mindful of what we eat, and the importance of thinking about being Jewish when we put food in our mouth. We need to have food to live, and being mindful of what we eat, makes us live a meaningful life.

On Tuesday, although our class was quite small, we had a lively discussion about using animals for research, and whether the Torah supports this cause. We talked about the ethical treatment of animals, and your children were really quite torn with this controversial topic.  I encourage you to continue the discussion at home, as your children had some interesting opinions about this very relevant topic.

Please have a safe and pleasant winter break, and we will see you on Tuesday, February 23, 2016

WALKING WITH GOD OR GOD'S PARTNER

The Torah provides us many opportunities to explore our relationship with GOD. Our Kitah Dalet students have been looking at the story of Noah and we have been talking about what it means to be a partner with GOD.  We shared our ideas of what a partner is, and what responsibilities we have to make the partnership work.  We talked about trust, and how the best partnerships are based on mutual trust and communication. We examined the relationship between Noah and GOD, and decided Noah walked with GOD, but was not GOD'S partner.  

In our classroom discussions, we talked about building relationships through trust, and what we have to do to earn the trust of our parents, friends, family, and teachers.  We talked about standing up and doing the right thing when we feel someone is being wronged, and how this helps makes us a trusted member of our community.  We talked about Noah working for GOD, but never having the strength to challenge GOD when GOD wanted to destroy the world.  To bring our point home, we found partners and traveled around the synagogue on a Trust Walk.  On our first attempt, most of us opened our eyes, failing to totally trust our partners or build a relationship.  As we continued our travels, we began to communicate with our partners and became more secure in our relationships. We shared our feelings about trusting others, and challenged our partners when we felt they were not cooperating or treating us fairly.  

To end the week, we talked about Noah not arguing with GOD because Noah's family was being taken care of, thus the flood wasn't his problem.  Unfortunately this was not the case, and the Torah teaches us over and over again, that not everything is about us.  We are commanded to step up and help others when they are in need,  Finally we talked a little about the water contamination in Flint, and how even though it's not in our backyard, it is still our responsibility to step up and help those in need.  

Please ask your students to share their ideas about trust and partnerships, and what they have to do to earn your trust.