Shema Teach the 6 words of the Shema. Watch Rabbi Darby teach the Shema in sign language on YouTube. https://youtu.be/MDUU4vy2tmM Make a Shema pillowcase. Write 6-word statements about your life, Judaism, the Shema. Write them on your Shema pillowcase or on a poster you can hang. Decorate. Use the book The Bedtime Sh'ma by Sarah Gershman for how to spell Shema. Read Do Jews Believe in Angels. myjewishlearning.com/article/angels Explain We proclaim the first 6 words aloud and whisper the Baruch Shem Kavod because that line was added later to complete the poetry but isn’t in Torah, so it doesn’t get as much volume. Some close their eyes when saying Shema to focus and have full intention. Enduring Understanding: The Shema is about unity. It is about connectedness, peoplehood and tradition. The meaning transcends the literal words. It means, I am part of the Jewish people and these are our words. It means that there is One Force/Source/Place/Love/Mystery and we can wonder.

Golden Rule Read The Golden Rule by Ilene Cooper. Write out your favorite version or a version with your own words. Make a gold poster to hang in your kitchen or playroom. Use all kinds of gold art supplies like papers, stickers, glitter, etc. Enduring Understanding: The Golden Rule is part of world literature. Every religion has a version of it. Judaism’s version is one of the most ancient. It is the basis of how we aim to be in relationship with other people. We treat people the way we wish we were treated. It takes empathy. It takes patience. It takes being non-judgmental. It takes openness. It’s easy to say and how to do. It takes practice every day.

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Blessings Talk about why we say blessings.

• Why do we tell God, You are blessed? • What does it mean to be a blessing? • How is saying, “Wow!” a blessing? • What if you don’t know the “right Hebrew words?”

Learn the candle blessing, Kiddush and Hamotzi. Write each of these blessings in your own words. Write a haiku (5, 7, 5) for each of these blessings. Make a Hamotzi placemat with a blessing in your own words that you can use for breakfast or on your desk in your room. Cut out pictures of your favorite foods from magazines or on-line and glue on cardstock. Use clear contact paper on front and back. Investigate where your apples or bread comes from. Learn about saying 100 blessings a day. Read through blessings for various occasions. Make a blessings wooden plaque with your favorite one. Enduring Understanding: Blessings are a way to have gratitude. They are scripted so that we don’t have to work to find the right words. It’s hard enough to have intention and thought when saying them. Living with gratitude has been proven to lead to and be a grounding force for happiness. Why do you think? How would your day be different if you approached all things from the standpoint of thankfulness and appreciation and awe?

Rosh Hashannah/Yom Kippur What do these two words mean in English? Learn about apples and honey as a symbol of wanting a sweet new year. Why a round challah? Try to blow a shofar. Talk about being a spiritual alarm clock for our souls to wake up. What do we want to wake up to do this coming year? Read the book The Hardest Word. Talk about how hard it is to say sorry and mean it. What is teshuvah? What does it mean to return to ourselves? Play with a Velcro dart board and talk about chet and missing the mark and re-aiming and trying again. Write what we are aiming for this year that we need to work on? Get a Jewish calendar. Look up your Hebrew birthdate and mark it. Explore the Jewish calendar. Enduring Understanding: The Fall holidays are about starting over. They are about hoping for a sweet new year (hence apples and honey and a sweet round challah.) They are about associating study with sweetness in Judaism. They are a time to figure out who we want to be, what we want our reputation to be and aiming for it.

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Sukkot Hold a lulav and etrog. Smell it, notice it. Describe them. Shake them. How do you feel? Silly? Weird? Awkward? What do you appreciate about nature? Meet a farmer/orchard owner. Go to a Farmer’s Marker and ask questions. Write a short blog about a local farmer and share it with friends and family to raise awareness. Visit a sukkah. Talk about ushpizin (biblical guests) and welcoming guests. Who from history and your family do you wish you could meet right now? What would you ask them? Make a gratitude poster with the word Todah (thank you) in the middle and 100 things you are thankful for all around. At your thanksgiving or Sukkah table, ask everyone to add one thing to your poster. Enduring Understanding: Sukkot is about building a temporary dwelling and realizing that all of our shelters, even our homes, are not permanent. We are vulnerable and that can be scary, but it helps us connect ourselves to those in need around us. We are interconnected. We all share the same air and land and water. We need to be responsible for the natural world that we all share. This is a time to be thankful for food.

Simchat Torah Read the book The Sofer by Eric Ray. Try to draw the beautiful Torah letters from the book on thick water color paper using a feather and black paint. Learn about your Hebrew name. Write it. Read the PJ Library book The First Gift. Watch elitalks.org/Julie to hear from a modern-day scribe. Enduring Understanding: Simchat Torah is about celebrating the Torah and appreciating with awe the narrative of the scroll. The very process of writing a scroll is profound and intensely beautiful and it teaches Jewish values. The Torah is not all factual, but it contains great and timeless truths. The narrative is our sacred myth that we treasure and read and re-read to see more of the layers. As we change, we see the stories differently.

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Chanukah Learn the historical and spiritual stories of Chanukah. Make posters with black cardstock and lots of shiny paper and jewels and glitter. Cut out 8 rectangles to make a poster of the 9 candles and using a metallic sharpie, write words all around the black paper about being a light to the world. Who you think is a light in our world and words of hope? You can also make bee’s wax candles and even Chanukah menorahs. Talk about the hope. What gives us hope? Learn the shehecheyanu prayer that is said on the first night of Chanukah. It is said for joyful occasions and when we do something for the first time. The middle of the word, shehecheyanu is the word chai, life. It is a prayer to celebrate life. Make cardboard 18 decorations to have on your table or desk to remember shehecheyanu. Learn how the word Chai adds up to 18. Enduring Understanding: Chanukah means dedication. It refers to the rededication of the holy Temple back to God after it was defiled. The word for education in Hebrew is Chinuch, from the same word as Chanukah. What is the connection between education and dedication? What are you dedicated to? Chanukah is also a time of light in darkness, of family fun, of gift giving and receiving and of hope for miracles and wonder.

Tu Bishvat Read Solomon and the Trees. Go on a nature walk. Gather sticks and stones. Using sharpies, write words about the beauty of nature on these items and put in a beautiful bowl. Plant parsley and hope it grows and stays good for the seder. Enduring Understanding: Tu Bishvat is a time to learn about the weather in Israel and planting trees in Israel and water projects in Israel. It is a time to learn about the mystical tradition of a special seder meal with 4 cups of grape juice or wine representing the seasons. It’s a time to commit ourselves to being responsible for the earth and natural resources.

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Purim Read the actual story from Esther. Draw out the scenes of the story in a blank book. Talk about the lessons from Purim: Stand up for yourself, be proud of who you are, thinking about that even when I am safe or something doesn’t directly impact me, that we can still heed the call of, “Am I my brother’s/sister’s/neighbors keeper?” Make keychains with a word or phrase from Purim that inspires you. Enduring Understanding: Like Passover, Purim is one of those holidays with the basic plot of “they tried to kill us, we survived, now let’s eat…”, but there are many, many layers to the Purim story. The Rabbis played with the topsy turvey nature of the plot and talked about gender and gender roles. There is a feminist lens to understand the story. It’s become a dress-up holiday for children with a carnival atmosphere and adults take part in parties. We eat the hamantaschen cookie. Purim at its core is about being proud of who we are and standing up for ourselves.

Passover Learn about all the number 4s in Passover and make a poster: 4 questions, 4 children, 4 cups of wine Talk about freedom and the song of the sea. Make a scene of the crossing of the sea. Make tambourines and learn about Miriam. Look at eh Song of the Sea in the Torah and how it looks like the Sea is splitting open. Write a poem in English in this same way to look like the sea is splitting open about what freedom means to you. Write your own questions about the story of Passover. Enduring Understanding: Passover is a hard story for many different reasons. There is so much death and how God is portrayed in the story is challenging, but the message of not oppressing the stranger and the message of all who are hungry, come and eat…are the basis of Judaism.

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Shavuot Read the two versions of the 10 commandments. How are they different? Talk about how we were all at Sinai. What does it mean to be part of an ancient people? What does it mean to be part of a diverse people? Talk about covenant. What does it mean to be the next link in the chain of tradition? What is our part? What is God’s part? Do you think of yourself in an agreement with your parents, your teachers, your friends? How do we know what to do? Write your own rules for your world/your life/your community/your reality… What are the most important ideals you try to strive for? Eat cheese cake and blintzes because of the tradition that Torah nourishes us and the idea that Israel is the land of milk and honey. There is also the midrash that when Torah was given Mt. Sinai erupted in grass and flowers (hence the prohibition not to let the cattle graze…a little odd because it was the desert!). Make flower bouquet centerpiece for your table or a vase. Enduring Understanding: Shavuot means weeks. It is 7 weeks after Passover. After becoming free, were entrusted with Torah. We are free to be Jewish. We choose it every day. How does this work? How can we be free and be commanded? The main take away of Shavuot is how much Judaism values study!

Peace-Shalom Talk about what shalom really means. Learn the Priestly Benediction and how the last line is about gaining peace. Make a Peace pillow. Enduring Understanding: Shalom is how we say, Hi, Bye, and Peace. It’s how we greet each other. It’s what we pray for. Shalom means wholeness. It means that things aren’t broken. If children are hungry, there is no shalom. If there are homeless people, there is no shalom, etc. Give other examples are what’s not right around us. What can we do to bring more shalom? What about having a Shabbat Shalom each week? How can we do this?

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Tzedakah Read Dalia and the Yellow Comforter. Learn about the ladder of Tzedakah. Make tzedakah boxes. Ask for $3 dollars a week so that one can go to save, one for share (tzedakah) and one for spend. Decide with your parents what you have to do to earn that. On your birthday or on Rosh Hashanah each year, empty the share jar or your tzedakah jar and decide where to send your money or what to do with it to help others. Learn how to evaluate a non-profit. Decide on what causes you care the most about. Become more of an informed citizen on a cause and write about it or make a video of your talking about it for your friends and family so that you can advocate for your cause. Enduring Understanding: Tzedakah is one of the most major Jewish concepts like Shalom and Tikkun Olam and Chesed (kindness). It is the idea of making things a little more right with money. It is about taking responsibility for people in the world and for issues around us.

Additional Topics Tikkun Olam (Fixing the World): Learn about Jewish mysticism. Hamsa: Symbols, Jews around the world Mezuzah: V’ahavta Jewish Values: Middot

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