November 2, 2024 |

Grade 5 and 7 – KITAH HEY & GESHER ARE TEFILLAH WRITERS!

Posted on October 22, 2017

During the Gesher and Kitah Hey Tefillah (worship) experience today, we wondered about what we do when we pray: talk to God, express our gratitude to God, ask God for what we need, reflect on our lives… We learned that the Hebrew word for worship, avodah, also means work and we realized that sometimes praying is like work.  We learned to say the blessing prior to putting on a tallit and then wrapped ourselves in tallitot.  We heard a story, The Tallit, about a boy who wrote prayers and blessings in the folds of his tallit and gave his beloved tallit to a stranger. At his bar mitzvah, this tallit magically reappeared with new blessings, “To the boy who showed me so much kindness when I needed it most.  I give you my blessing. Shana tova v’chaim tovim–A good year and a good life.  I pray that you will not be hungry, cold, or lonely.” 
Students were invited to write prayers and blessings to be metaphorically put in the folds of their tallitot.  Their prayers and blessings are beautiful and profound!  Kol hak’vod!

  • God, I pray that no one is hungry and everyone has a home.  I pray for world peace and no war.  I pray for everyone to be happy.
  • I pray for world peace. Bless this world, for understanding others.
  • I wish for all to share and care for each other just as I do.
  • Please help all the world.
  • May everything turn out the way you would like it to.  May you be blessed with love, peace, and happiness.
  • I pray that nobody suffers and will never be lonely.
  • I pray that everyone I know stays healthy.
  • My prayer is that every kid could have a good family.  My prayer is to be in control of my body and my words.
  • Dear God, I pray that a kid who doesn’t get to go to camp, will go to overnight camp in the summer and have fun!
  • Blessed are you Lord our God, please make it so everyone can eat, be warm and sleep in peace.
  • I pray that when I grow up, I will have a good life.
  • This year, I hope that all the people will not be hungry; people will have what they need.
  • I pray that the clothes, toys and books that we donated some day will belong to someone who used to be poor.
  • I pray that everyone in my family and my friends are all very healthy and happy.  I pray that God is happy and healthy too.
  • Dear God, I pray that I will never do something bad.
  • Don’t be greedy and give to the needy.
  • My prayer is that all who are hungry get food.
  • I pray that there’s no poor people
  • Once upon a time there was a little girl.  She wasn’t very good at Hebrew.  Her best friend moved away and she was very sad but her mom showed her the tallit and she feels better when she sees it and is a lot better.