Year 1, Term 3: Judaism

Lesson 1 Worship at home What is Shabbat?

Are there rituals in your life that you follow?

  • Recap what children know about Judaism. How many Jewish festivals can children name (from prior Celebrations unit)?
  • Discuss with the children what activities they do each morning when they get up. Ask the children if they have any religious routines to abide by in their homes. Link this to school routines. Explain that typical Jewish worship is led, either in the home or in the synagogue with rituals that are followed.
  • Show BBC video clips: How do Jews worship God? What do Jews feel is special about Shabbat? What makes a Jewish home special? What happens in a Jewish home on Shabbat?
  • Explain that, even away from the synagogue, Jews find time to worshipGod by celebrating Shabbat each week.
  • Children write an invitation to a friend inviting them to a Shabbat. Decorate with pictures of items used at Shabbat and explain what the meal will include and why.
  • Show the animation of the folktale of the Shabbat Lion - BBC active - Following God's law about Shabbat. Ask children to explain how the Shabbat meal helps to remind Jews why they keep Shabbat special.

Lesson 2 Worship at home What is a Mezuzah and why is it important to Jews?

How should you treat precious things?

  • Talk to children about symbols which show that they belong to a group. Remind them of Jewish symbols and show them these symbols in books or by IWB. The children could talk about any religious artefacts which they have at home and why they have them. Explain that many people like to have them to remind them of their faith and that they treat them as precious things. Show the children the mezuzah case and let them handle it. Tell them that it is a religious artefact for Jews: it should be treated with respect. Ask what it might be.
  • Ask pupils what might be inside the mezuzah. Tell children that a Jewish prayer called the Shema is put inside the mezuzah. Explain that the Shema has not been put into this mezuzah case because it has to be written by a religious scribe and would not be handled after that because it is holy.

NB

Mezuzah is a Hebrew word meaning ‘doorpost’ and mezuzoth (plural of mezuzah) are fixed to each doorpost in a Jewish home. The mezuzah reminds Jews of God every day – that God is in the room. Jews touch or kiss the mezuzah as they pass it

Ensure that pupils know that the Mezuzah is the scroll inside the case and not the case.

The Shema begins :’Hear, O Israel, the Lord is our god, one Lord, and you must love the Lord your God with all your heart and soul and strength.

  • Make own Mezuzah case and decorate with Jewish symbols (star of David, menorah)
  • Read the part of the Bible which instructs Jews to have mezuzoth on their doorways (Deuteronomy 6:9)

Lesson 3 Worship at home What do many Jews do each day to express their beliefs?

When and why do you eat special foods?

  • Show children the symbol identifying kosher food products (hechsher). Have a selection of products in the classroom for sorting activity of foods which can or can’t be eaten and some of the reasons for this.
  • Sort foods into Kosher and not Kosher sets. Write an explanation card for each food.
  • Talk about times in the children’s lives when they eat special food. Why?

Lesson 4 Worship in a Synagogue

What happens during Jewish worship in the synagogue?

Do you have a special place to go when you need to think?

  • Since the destruction of the Temple in Jerusalem around 70CE, the synagogue is the central and most sacred place for a Jew. In Orthodox synagogues women sit separately either at the back of the synagogue or in an upstairs gallery: Hebrew is the language used most of the time and there is no instrumental music. In Reformsynagogues women sit with the men, the language common to the country is used and organ music may be played.
  • Show BBC video clips or use downloaded pictures from the internet, posters or photos and artefacts to ‘visit the synagogue in the classroom or the internet for a ‘virtual visit’. ( Star of David, menorah, yad, torah scrolls, two tablets of stone)
  • Create a 3D synagogue within a cardboard box and label the key features looked at so far. Or, fold a piece of A4 paper so the left and right edges meet in the middle. This forms the two doors on which appropriate symbols for a synagogue can be drawn. Inside the children could draw the layout of the synagogue. Explore the symbolism with pupils.
  • Can the children compare the way Jewish people worship to how people of other religions worship? Talk about special places the children like to go to when they need to think or to worship.

Lesson 5 Worship in a synagogue

What is the Torah and why is it special to Jews?

What is special to you?

  • Show children a torah scroll, emphasising that it is something very special. Ask the children to tell the class about their most precious possession, and why is it so special to them. Show a short clip which shows the Torah being handled and read in a synagogue.
  • Show the Yad and let the children examine it carefully. Ask if there is anything in their home that they are not allowed to touch and what is so special about it. Explain that Jews believe that the Torah is God’s way of communicating with them. It is his most precious gift to them.
  • Create Torah scrolls, and yads for the cardboard box synagogues. The children could use letters from the Hebrew alphabet as decoration. They could also make a decorated cover.
  • Start to make a display of the class special books with labels saying why they are special and to whom.

NB: the Torah is the scroll version of the first five books of theOld Testament. The Torah was given to Moses on Mount Sinai and is also known as ‘oral law’. Torah means ‘ teaching’.

Lesson 6 Worship in a synagogue

What are the Ten Commandments?

How can books teach us how to live?

  • Discuss how people find out about God. Explain the link between the Bible and The Torah. Using copies of the Bible find the first five books and locate and re-read a familiar story eg Noah’s ark, as an example of stories which teach people about God.
  • Ask how the children know how to behave and treat other people – at home and at school. Explain that the Torah teaches about these things too, and that it has rules or laws for living which guide the lives of Jewish people.
  • Find the Ten Commandments (Exodus 20 v 3-17). Discuss what these might mean in practice.
  • Can the children think of other rules for living? For home? For school? Talk about the content of the Torah and that it teaches Jewish people how to live. Ask the children to choose 5 rules which they would like to keep for their class. Write them out and attach to pieces of dowelling and roll up to make scrolls. They could also make a case.
  • Discuss rules for the wider community and even the world.