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