October 11, 2024 |

Grade 5. Kitah hey. March 8

Posted on March 9, 2016

Todah rabah ……..a big thank you to Robin for following through with our bagel breakfast!

My students were overjoyed!
After our sumptuous breakfast, we enjoyed our usual Sunday morning tefillah (prayer)!  
It works!  I can see my students becoming more comfortable and knowledgeable with each week that passes.  There truly is no better way to learn than to be immersed in our beautiful tefillot.
Back upstairs we continued with our Torah discussion.
Besides the “many references” to Jews gathering for bagels…….
          😉.    Vayakhel also was a reminder of Shabbat observance.
No work is allowed on Shabbat……
“You shall light no fire in your houses on Shabbat.”
But…………,wait……….what exactly constitutes WORK?
Kids guessed that meant no cooking, no lifting a fork…….
So, do we starve on this day??
They were quite surprised to learn there are 39 types of forbidden work!
How many could they list??
Actually very few……. 
The 39 categories led to hundreds of forbidden activities!
We leave the world alone………and resting on Shabbat.
A couple of students had a clue……but most were quite surprised as we investigated further.
Hmmmmmmm, playing soccer………forbidden!     It is ploughing the earth!
What an interesting morning.
Earlier in the week we had been discussing “pikuach nefesh”, saving a life .  All of the Shabbat laws……..Any commandment can be broken to save a life!     We are told to “LIVE by the commandments……not to die by them!
We had the week of a million questions.  I love that!
We have been talking about Purim, and the concept of Jews being responsible for one another.
How is this played out in the story of Purim?
What about modern times?
Too tired to rite more…….
To be continued!……….