Posted on November 13, 2017
Another busy week in the Second Grade! On Sunday Rabbi Liben came in to read a story about Shabbat to the class. He also answered questions that we has been collecting in a “Ask the Rabbi” file. The questions were very thoughtful and included things like “Do you have to believe in God?”, “Who wrote the Torah?’ and “Is God male or female?” Rabbi Liben discussed just how we can believe in things we can’s see such love and a sense of justice we can believe in God who we cannot see. We also discussed the ability to question God’s presence and still to be able to pray as a way to express gratitude, to become more compassionate, and find inner strength. Quite a sophisticated discussion for Second Graders.
In out Torah studies we read the book Finding the Fruits of Peace, Cain and Abel by Sandy Eisenberg Sasso. We decided that the story of Cain and Abel was very sad, and once again many of the students were in favor of a Biblical character receiving a less severe consequence or being given a second chance.
We also begin reading about Noah and did some role playing with Noah and the folks who must have seen the Ark being built. Many of the students pretended to be people who didn’t believe Noah’s warning about the on coming flood and continued in their wicked ways. Others tried out being Noah who was perhaps concerned with saving his family and the animals but not the people around him.
In Hebrew we continued practicing the letters we have already learned and playing some games to reinforce the concept of a final letter which doesn’t exist in English. Be sure to ask your child about the only place in a word a final letter can appear. We are all excited about going onto new letters this week.