Learning to Give, Curriculum Division of The LEAGUE
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Purpose:
Duration:
One - Forty-five Minute Class Period
Objectives:
The learner will:
- define chevruta and explain its application.
- cite various sources that speak of the Jewish responsibility for tikun olam.
- derive values from traditional Jewish texts.
- derive practical rules for living based on these values from traditional Jewish Texts.
Materials:
- A variety of facsimile signs (i.e. road signs, Danger signs, No Smoking signs, No Trespassing signs, etc which can be obtained from the Internet and enlarged for classroom use.
See: www.Google.com/images, then search for desired image category - Attachment One: Working with Texts
- Attachment Two: Write The "Rules"
Instructional Procedure(s):
Anticipatory Set:
As the learners enter the classroom have a variety of facsimile signs posted around the classroom. Ask the learners to share their knowledge of the intent of these signs and how their intent might relate to “rules” that are intended to influence and regulate personal conduct. Have them consider other rules they are asked to follow that perhaps are not posted as visibly as these street signs, etc.(i.e. taking turns, appropriately using words like “please” and “thank you”, etc…) Have them share where these rules come from and how they might have come to know them.
Teacher Note: Assist the learners in understanding that sometimes rules come via parents, families, communities, and governments, but that we are also governed by rules that are part of our culture and tradition. Sometimes those rules are implicit and other times they are explicit. Our Jewish tradition is replete with texts that contain explicit and implicit cultural rules and values.
- Distribute a copy of Attachment One: Working with Texts to each learner and have assigned learners read all the texts aloud.
- Be sure that the learners at least understand the surface meaning of these texts before arranging the class into groups of two (chevruta/chevrutot) traditional text study partners.
Teacher Note: Chevruta is the Sephardic pronunciation of Chevrusa (study partner, either male or female, never mixed). Chevrutot is the plural for study partners meaning groups of study partners. Hence, one could have a partner for Mishna and another study partner for Gemorrah.- Assign a specific text from the Attachment One: Working with Texts to each pair of study partners.
Teacher Note: Be sure that all texts are assigned.- Working in their chevruta, have the learners re-read their assigned text and be able to respond to the questions posed at the end of the handout.
- When chevrutot have completed their work, have each chevrutot briefly share their responses to the rest of the class. On a display board, chart the responses offered by each group to the final question utilizing this suggested format:
Text # Time Talent Treasure # 1. # 2. (etc)
- Once completed, involve the learners in a discussion looking at the similarities and differences in each text’s response to how a person is to use his/her time, talent, and treasure as reported by the assigned group.
Teacher Note: Traditional teaching are translated into cultural mandates that are renewed in all times and places by the individuals that live within that culture.- As homework, distribute Attachment Two: Write The "Rules" and assign the learners to work independently and with their families to complete and return this assignment for the next class period or at least prior to beginning the instruction of Lesson Three.
Assessment:
Learner involvement in group discussions, evidence of thoughtful and thorough work in their chevrutot and the successful and on-time completion of their homework assignment will form the basis for assessment in this lesson.
School/Home Connection:
The learners and their parents are asked to work together to complete the homework assignment Attachment Two:
Write The "Rules"
Bibliographical References:
www.Google.com/images (variety of signs)
Lesson Developed and Piloted by:
Sharon HalperAreyvut
http://www.areyvut.org
Bergenfield, NJ 07621
Handouts:
Handout 1Print Handout 1
Working with Texts
- Our teachers have said:
Once, while Moses, our Teacher, was tending (his father-in-law) Yitro’s sheep,
One of the sheep ran away.
Moses ran after it until it reached a small, shaded place.
There, the lamb came across a pool and began to drink.
As Moses approached the lamb, he said,
“I did not know you ran away because you were thirsty. You are so exhausted!”
He then put the lamb on his shoulders and carried him back.
The Holy One said,
“Since you tend the sheep of human beings with such overwhelming love –
by your life, I swear you shall be the shepherd of My sheep, Israel.” (Exodus Rabba 2:2) - “A time to embrace” (Ecclesiastes 3:5)
If you see a group of Tzaddikim – Good People standing near you,
Stand up and hug them and kiss them and hug them again.
Ecclesiastes Rabba 3:5, 1 - Shimon (the son of Rabban Gamliel) says:
It is not what one says, but rather what one does,
That makes all the difference in the world.
Pirke Avot 1:17 - Take note of how God’s voice was understood by all the Israelites:
Everyone according to his or her own capacities:
old people according to their own abilities, young according to their own abilities
children according to their own abilities, infants according to their own abilities,
women according to their own abilities, even Moses according to his own strength(s),
as the verse states,
“Moses spoke, and God responded with a Voice” (Exodus 19:19)-
a Voice that others could handle. Exodus Rabba 5:9 - Rabi Elazar says:
Tzaddikim – Good people say little and do much.
Bava Metzia 87a - (At the Time of Judgment) in the Future World everyone will be asked, “What was your occupation?” If the person answers, “I used to feed the hungry,” they will say to him, “This is God’s gate; you, who fed the hungry, may enter.” Similarly with those who clothed the naked, raised orphans, who performed the Mitzvah of Tzedakah, and who performed acts of caring, loving-kindness… Midrash Psalms 118:17
- Living is not a private affair of the individual.
Living is what man does with God’s time,
What man does with God’s world.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel - To be is to stand for.
Rabbi Abraham Joshua Heschel - The opposite of love is not hate, it’s indifference. The opposite of faith is not heresy, it’s indifference. And, the opposite of life is not death, it’s indifference. Because of indifference one dies before one actually dies.
Elie Wiesel
* * * * * *
Read your assigned text with your partner. Our assigned Text # is __________
- What themes are most clear in your text?
- What is the viewpoint of human life that is most obvious in it?
- Write a single value statement that you can generalize from the text:
- Complete this chart entry for ‘your’ text: What does your text say about how a person is to use his/her:
TIME ?(lives) TALENT?(abilities) TREASURE? (possessions)
Handout 2Print Handout 2
Write the Rules
When you were born you were given a name and your parents applied for a social security number for you. Those are the rules!
You probably went to the pediatrician regularly and got your inoculations. It’s the rule you know!
When you reached the mandated age you were enrolled in school. It’s the rule!
When you learn how to drive you’ll need to take a test and get a permit and practice with a licensed driver and drive within the speed limit and on the proper side of the road and take a road test and have your eyes checked and start all over again if you fail. Yes, those are the rules of the road!
There are just a couple of the written rules… but there are also seemingly a zillion more that you don’t read, you just know. Every family, every community, every organization and every nation has those rules. Obey the rules and no one mentions them. Break the rules and you get reminded in all sorts of ways.
Based on the texts that you have read in Working with Texts (Attachment One), what are some of the Jewish “rules of the road”? How are we expected, based on our tradition, to live our lives? Write some of these rules – the ones that are not written- in the form of simple sentences.
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
___________________________________________________________
For your family:
Ask your parent(s) to contribute to your list. By what Jewish rules do they live in the world?
6.
7.
8.
Unit Contents:
Overview:We Are Partners in the Work of Creation (Tikkun Olam) (Private-Religious) Summary
Lessons:
- 1.
- To Repair the World: Why? (Private-Religious)
- 2.
- To Repair the World: How? (Private-Religious)
- 3.
- To Repair the World: Methods and Me (Private-Religious)
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