MANY VOICES ONE RESPONSIBILITY

For those of you wanting a one word description of what we do in our class every week, I would have to say TORAH.  The Torah teaches us the skills we need to be a partner with GOD.    We learn Jewish values to help us live a Jewish life from the Torah, and most importantly, the Jewish people live for the Torah.  In our core class, we spend quite a bit of time turning and twisting the words in the Torah to help us understand the importance of living a Jewish life in a non-Jewish world.   The Torah challenges us to think and to take responsibility for our actions, and  no matter how often we study, speak, teach, say, learn, or live Torah, there is always more to explore.  We are teaching our students to turn the Torah over and over, in order to better understand the words passed on from generation to generation.  The take away every week, is we are created in GOD’s image, and we are here as GOD’s partner.   The stories are great, the imagery even better, but most importantly, it is the values we learn from the Torah that really stick with us.

This week we explored the last passage in Noah, and we talked about the Tower of Babel.  Students learned the first commandment in the Torah, and the importance of following GOD's commands. The generations after Noah lived a sedentary life in a small area of earth, speaking one language and pitting one against the other.  They tried to build a Tower to GOD, showing GOD their power, strength, and wisdom, and GOD quickly recognized their bloated egos and lack of commitment to bettering the world.  He confounds their speech and scatters the people to the four corners of the land. It is here we see the last of  Creation narrative, and begin to examine the lives of our forefathers.   

Finally, we talked about what we need to do to build a relationship with GOD even if our plate is quite full.  GOD understands we have many responsibilities, but also demands we work to make ourselves better so we can serve GOD through mitzvot.  We had an interesting discussion about how much we can do, and even though we are busy, we can always push ourselves to help others. It is these little things that really make a difference in our lives and the lives of others.   

Please ask your children the first commandment in the Torah, or better yet, let them ask you.