Rachel Greengrass
Opening Day Activity
May 30, 2007
Introductory Session: Judaism and its Foundations
INTRODUCTION:
This is an opening day activity for a 20-week long Introduction to Judaism course
that will give the students basic knowledge about Judaism and help to launch the learner
on a path to authentic personal Jewish identity. The participants will include those
thinking of converting to Judaism, their spouses, those interested in learning more about
their own religion, and those who simply are curious about the Jewish religion.
Big Idea
The “Big Idea” for the curriculum is that Judaism provides frameworks to help
add meaning to the events that take place in our lives. Throughout the course of study,
students will learn about the history of the Jewish religion, the sacred texts, the cyclical
nature of Jewish time, and the meaning that Judaism can bring to both holidays and lifecycle events as well as be sufficiently proficient in the basics of Judaism should they
choose to engage in further academic exploration of this wonderful religion. Through
class discussion, journaling, lecturing, and group work, the students will be provided
basic knowledge of the history and practice of Reform Judaism and will build a Jewish
community with their classmates.
The goal of the first class is to:
1. Begin to build a sense of class community.
2. Give all practical information about the course and it’s expectations.
3. Explore where the students are starting from on their Jewish journeys and see
where they would like to go/their expectations of the course.
4. Introduce the basic Jewish timelines: historical, calendar year, and life-cycle.
SETTING
Union for Reform Judaism; 633 Third Avenue, 6th Floor (between 40 - 41st
Streets NYC)
TIME
2 hours 15 minutes
ENDURING UNDERSTANDINGS
• Judaism provides rituals and blessings through which I can make meaning of the
events in my life.
• My experiences can be given meaning by connecting them to the larger story of
the Jewish people.
ESSENTIAL QUESTIONS
• How can I take ownership of my own Jewish identity?
• How can Judaism help me create meaning in my life?
• How can Judaism enrich my life?
QUESTIONS TO BE ADDRESSED
• What are my learning objectives?
• What do I hope to know/feel and be able to do by the end of this course?
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How did I get here?
What is expected of me?
How does the Jewish tradition mark time?
EVIDENCE OF UNDERSTANDING
• Students will demonstrate their understanding of being on a journey by mapping
out what has brought them to this class.
• Students will listen to the stories of others and find commonalities.
LESSON OVERVIEW
• Welcome
• Road map assignment – What people, events, places, and questions have led
me to this class?
• Tachlis
o Expectations
o Devar Torah
• Break
• Jewish time
o Historical
o Holiday
o Lifecycle
• Review, Journals, Close
MATERIALS NEEDED
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Snack food and drink
Copies of the blessing for eating and Torah study
Cups and plates
Polaroid camera and film
Copies of “road-map”
Copies of yearly holiday cycle;
file:///Users/rachelgreengrass/Documents/holiday%20cycle/Launcher.html
Markers, crayons
Pens and paper
Journals
LESSON PLAN:
Welcome (5-10 minutes)
• Greet everyone as they come in the door.
• Invite everyone to partake in the snacks throughout the class time. Say the blessing.
Explain that in Eastern Europe children are given Hebrew letters coated with honey
when they begin their studies to stress the sweetness of learning. So, every week we
will take turns bringing in snacks to build a sense of community and to reinforce for
our group that learning should be sweet.
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Begin by introducing myself; talk about what has brought me there: why I want to be
a rabbi and why I want to be part of this class. Use my own “road map” to give this
introduction.
Road Map Assignment (45 minutes)
• Explain that we will all be making our own road maps to help to introduce ourselves
to the group and begin to share our journeys with one another. Please try and answer
the following question: What people, events, places, and questions have led me to this
class?
• (10-15 minutes) Hand our materials. Go around and take Polaroid pictures of each
student to be fashioned onto their road map.
• Explain that, “We all have our own Torah, our own stories and insights that the group
can learn from. We are about to begin to see one another’s Torahs, and so we should
say the blessing for Torah study. (I would then teach them the blessing – la’asoke
b’divrei Torah). Explain that we will begin each day’s session with this blessing.
• (15-35 minutes) Go around the group and have each person share a bit about their
journey using the road map they created as a jumping-off point.
• Ask everyone to tape their maps to the walls so that during break people can walk
around and learn about one another.
Tachlis (30 minutes)
• Say: “Now that we have begun to learn a little bit about one another and about what
brought us to this class, I think it would be appropriate to talk about our
expectations.”
• Hand out the syllabus and books and discuss my expectations as a teacher.
Emphasize again and again that participation and questioning are crucial for the
success of the class.
• Hand out filing cards for students to put their name and preferred method of contact
on as well as list an expectation they have for the course and any goals they may have
of what they would like to know, feel, or be able to do by the end of the course.
• Have the students share these ideas before collecting them. Be explicit about things
we may not be able to cover and what I believe can be integrated into the course.
• (5 minutes) Give a brief devar Torah on this week’s portion. Mention in it that the
Israelites are on a journey, they are in the desert, they complain and struggle even
though God for them is very tangible, much more so than for us. Connect this to the
learners, they too are on a journey and may often feel they are in the wilderness.
They too will complain and find things they do not like about Judaism, but they will
also see many things that will make the struggle more than worth wile and give
meaning to their struggles.
• Ask for any preliminary questions.
Break for 10 minutes
Time Lines: (25 minutes)
I. Linear
• (Refer students to their resource sheet 120 in their packets) Draw a time line on
the board beginning with Adam (3760 BCE) through the dates given on the
handout.
• Give places for them to look up additional information such as:
o For the Great Revolt:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/revolt.html
o Fall of Masada:
http://www.jewishvirtuallibrary.org/jsource/Judaism/masada.html
o Explain that many of the items on the outline will be gone over in more
detail throughout our course of study
II. Yearly/Holiday
• Hand out copies of the yearly holiday cycle. Be sure to add in Rosh Chodesh and
Shabbat.
III. Lifecycle –
• Draw a circle with Birth, Bar Mitzvah/confirmation, marriage, death, and the
afterlife on it. Explain that all of these life events are surrounded in Jewish rituals
and we will be discussing them in detail throughout the semester.
• Tell them that in addition to these life events, ceremonies have been created for
moving into a new home, experiencing menopause, going through a miscarriage,
dealing with a divorce and many other significant lifecycle events.
• Explain that each of these three timelines create what is known as “Jewish time.”
• Explain that the Jewish calendar is a lunar calendar, and so our days begin at
sundown and end at sundown the next day. Therefore, if a holiday is on the calendar
as October 4th, like Simchat Torah this year, than we begin observing it on the night
of October 3rd.
• Emphasize that what makes Judaism so special is how it creates sacred time. That on
Shabbat, which we will be learning about next week, we take an ordinary day and
make it holy. Jewish tradition can take many mundane moments from the year, from
history, and from our everyday lives and make them holy and special.
• Encourage the group to try and integrate some of the things they learn about Shabbat
from their readings into their Friday and Saturday routines this week.
Journal Assignment and Closing
• Review what we have done so far:
1. We have learned a little bit about what brought each of us here and what we
expect to get from this class.
2. We learned a few blessings and heard our first of many Devrei Torah’s.
3. We got some foundations to work from in the upcoming weeks by exploring
Jewish time. (If there is time, allow some of the Jewish participants to share a
memory from each part of the time line.)
• Explain the journals. They are to be turned in either by hand the following class or
emailed to me directly. Comments will be made by the following class. They are
free to answer the given question or to explore any issue they have encountered and
are struggling with. Journals are only between the student and the instructor. I will
not share any information without permission from the student.
• Last minute questions.
• End with the shehecheyanu. Explain that this is a special beracha, or blessing, that
Jews say to mark special occasions such as first time experiences and joyous
occasions. Teach the Hebrew and the English.