Joe - Judaism
Introducing Joe
Introduce Joe to the children and build a persona for him. Record the details of Joe’s life in a small book e.g.
Name: Joe
Age: 5
Appearance: eyes, hair etc., fair hair, blue eyes, wears a Kippah
Favourite Foods: apples
Favourite Activities: football, swimming
Family: - bothers/sisters/parent(s), occupation(s), great-grandparents came to England from Germany in 1939
Religion: Jewish
Language: English and some Hebrew
(Plus anything else you think significant)
Every time you bring Joe out to be with the children you will need to bring his back pack or bag which will contain the artefacts/books that will help you teach particular lessons.
The first time you introduce Joe you might include in the bag some common objects that most little boys might carry around with them e.g. car, action figure etc.
Let me tell you about Joe, what he enjoys doing, his favourite food etc. What do you enjoy? What is your favourite food?
In some ways we are similar to each other and in other ways we are different. How are you the same/different to other children in the class?
Special Times
Shabbat
Resources:days of the week on cards, white cloth, white candles and candle sticks, kiddushcup ,havdalah candle
Sit Joe in a circle with the children.
I wonder what you can remember about Joe from the last time we talked about him? Joe is a very busy boy. Let me tell you about all the things he does in a week.
Display the names of the week as you speak.
On Monday Joe goes swimming after school.
On Tuesday he goes to Jewish school at the synagogue where he learns to read the special language of Hebrew.
On Wednesday Joe’s granddad picks him up from school and Joe goes to have tea with his Grandma and Grandad.
On Thursday Joe goes to football club.
But on Friday Joe goes straight home from school because he has to help his Mum get ready for the special celebration of Shabbat.
Joe helps his Mum by cleaning the house and by laying the table for the special Shabbat meal that Jewish people everywhere share with their families on Friday evening. Joe would like us to know what happens at the Shabbat celebration at his house and so he has brought some special things to show us.
From Joe’s bag take out a white cloth, place on this two silver candlesticks with white candles, challah bread with cover, Kiddush cup.
As it begins to get dark outside Joe’s Mum lights the Shabbat candles. When the candles are lit Joe’s Mum waves the light of these out to all the family. This is a blessing for everyone there.
Joe’s Dad says a special prayer:“Blessed are You, O lord our God, King of the universe, who has made us holy and commanded us to light the Shabbat candles.” Joe’s family say this special prayer because they believe that God made all of the world and everything good and beautiful in it. Joe’s family believe that all people are made to be holy like God himself. Everyone is very happy because work has ended for the week and now the family can relax together and say thank you to God for all the good things in their lives.
As the family share the challah bread they think about all the wonderful things that God has created for them to enjoy. After the meal the Havdalah candle is lit.
Joe really enjoys being with his family for the special time of Shabbat. What special times do you enjoy with your family?
The children could sequence the events of Shabbat meal.
Hannukah
Resources: Hannukah card, hannukiah(candlestick), story book of Hannukah, dreidel
Sit Joe in a circle with the children in your group.
From Joe’s bag take a small hannukiah, a Hannukah card and a simple story book of the events that are commemorated by Jews at Hannukah.
When do you get cards? This is a Hannukah card. Hannukah is a special time for Joe and his friends and family. It is a Jewish celebration that happens in November or December.
Tell the story or read from a simple story book.
Long ago the Jewish people had a building that was very special to them because it was where they went to pray to God. It was very big with golden decorations that shone in the sun. It was called the Temple.
One day some bad people came and wrecked their beautiful building. They smashed the golden ornaments and the lanterns and broke all the furniture. Can you imagine how you would feel if someone did that to your house? Some of the Jewish people joined together to chase the soldiers out of the Temple and then they set about cleaning and putting everything back in its right place They wanted to light a lamp so that everyone could see that their building was ready to use. It was now a place where it would be good to pray to God. The Jewish people only had enough oil to light the lamp for one day. (If possible show the children an oil lamp) but to their amazement the Jews found that the lamp stayed burning for eight days until some fresh oil was found. It was a miracle!
Show the hannukiah nine branched candlestick and light the eight candles to remember the story and what God did. (The ninth candle is the “helper” used to light the others.)
Joe and his family light eight candles on their candlestick, one more every day for eight days to help them remember their special story. It helps the family remember the wonderful thing that happened long ago. The hannukiah helps Jewish people to remember what happened and what the Jewish people did to create a holy and special place to worship God.
The hannukiah is placed in the window of Joe’s house. How do you think people feel when they see this? As well as sending cards Joe and his family make some delicious potato pancakes and doughnuts to eat at theircelebration. These are cooked in oil as a reminder of the oil in the Temple lamp
There is a special game to play at Hannukah.
Show the children the dreidel from Joe’s bag (it may be necessary to have several dreidels that can be passed around so that the children can examine these for themselves). What do you notice about them etc?
Joe spins the dreidel like this to play a game
Sometimes if the dreidel lands in the right way, Joe wins some sweets. (Devise a simple game to play with a dreidel.)
Joe loves to celebrate Hannukah with his family.
The children could design and make a simple hannukiah with clay and/or play a simple game with the deridel, or make potato pancakes.
Special Places
Synagogue
Resources: tallit (prayer shawl)
Sit Joe in a circle with the children. From Joes bag take a tallit (prayer shawl)
Today Joe has brought a very special shawl that belongs to his Dad. It has a special name - a tallit - and Joe’s Dad wears it when he goes to pray in the synagogue and sometimes when he prays at home.
Show the children the tallit and let them handle it and comment on the design, feel etc.
Before Joe’s Dad begins to pray he makes the shawl into a little tent. This helps him to shut out anything that might distract him from his prayers to God.
When Joe’s Dad first puts on the tallit he says a special prayer:
“Bless the Lord, O my soul:
O Lord my God, you are very great:
You are clothed in glory and majesty, Wrapped in a robe of light:
You spread the heavens like a tent cloth.”
People often make themselves a special and quiet place to pray. Do you know anybody who does this?
Where do you like to go to be quiet and to concentrate? When do you need to concentrate?
How does this prayer help us understand what Joe and his Dad believes about God?
The children could create a piece of artwork that expresses what Joe’s Dad believes about God.
Home
Resources: mezuzah, match boxes
Sit Joe in the circle with the children in your group.
Today Joe has brought something very small for you to see. From Joe;s bag take a mezuzah. Joe is going to give this mezuzah to his uncle as a present because he has just moved to a new house. Many Jewish families will have a mezuzah on the doorposts of their house. Inside the mezuzah there is a tiny little role of paper with some special words written on it. The words say:
Hear, O Israel!
The Lord is our God, the Lord is one. You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your might.
Joe has a mezuzah on his own front door. The words show that in Joe;s house it is always very important to remember God. In Joe’s house his family does lots of things to help them remember God. Can you remember one thing they do? This is a very important command for Joe and his family.
I wonder what it might mean to love God with all your heart, soul, mind and might?
The children could decorate a matchbox, make a small scroll and on it write some words for the front door of their house to show that their home is a special place.
Synagogue 2
Resources: photographs of the synagogue, tallit, yad
Sit Joe in a circle with the children. From Joe’s bag take a photograph of the synagogue.
Joe has brought some photographs of his synagogue to show us
On Saturday morning Joe goes with his family to the place where the family worship God- the synagogue. In the synagogue Joe sits with his Dad and listens to the rabbi who is like the teacher in the synagogue. Sometimes there is singing and the cantor leads all the men in the singing. In Joe’s synagogue the women sit separately so Joe’s Mum and sisters sit upstairs in the big gallery.
Do you remember that Joe goes to the synagogue on Tuesday after school so that he can learn Hebrew the special Jewish language. This school is called Hederschool. Show the children some Hebrew writing.
Joe loves to go to the synagogue to meet all his Jewish friends. The synagogue is a very holy building for Jewish people. When Joe goes there he wears a tallit like his Dad and feels very proud that he is Jewish.
While Joe waits for the service to begin, what can he see as he looks around him? He can see a yellow star, which is a special sign for Jews and is called the Star of David. He can see a big cupboard covered by a curtain. Above the cupboard which is called the Ark is a burning light. Joe knows that the most precious things in the whole synagogue are kept in the Ark. These are the Torah scrolls and in the Saturday service the scrolls are carried to a platform in the middle of the synagogue and placed on a reading desk. One ofthe men will read from the scrolls and will use a little silver finger –a yad - to point to the words. (If possible show one from Joe’s bag.)
Special Books
Torah
Resources: yad, pictures or photographs of dressed Torah scroll
Sit Joe in a circle with the children. From Joe’s bag take a yad.
Can you remember what this is used for in the synagogue?
Show the children a picture of the yad being used to point to the words of the scroll.
Why do you think that the readers might use a yad to point to thewords on the scroll? It is because the words of the scroll are so precious and holy. The yad is used so that the scroll is not touched by fingers.
The Torah scroll is precious and holy because it has all the stories about how God has helped the Jewish people.
If possible show a Torah scroll with its mantle (cover) and bells on the rollers.
When Joe is in the synagogue he loves to hear the bells jingling as the scroll is brought to the reading desk. The torah scroll is so important to the Jewish people that it wears a crown. (Show picture.)
Do you have any very important and precious writing in your house?
Torah 2
Resources: objects/figures to tell story, story book about Jonah
Sit Joe in a circle with the children. From Joe’s bag take out the story of Jonah.and/or some props to help you tell the story.
Joe has some favourite stories that help him understand about God. Today we are going to hear one of Joe’s favourite stories
Read or tell the story of Jonah.
One day God gave Jonah an important message. He told him to go to the city of Nineveh. God told Jonah that he had to tell the people of Nineveh that they must stop doing bad and unkind things.
What sort of things do you think these people might have been doing?
Jonah didn’t want to go to Nineveh. He was very grumpy about it! He decided to get on a boat and sail as far away from Nineveh as he could. Perhaps he would even be able to get away from God.
He found a boat and thought that he really had got away and soon he fell asleep. But “oh dear” when he woke up the sea was rough and wild and big waves were breaking over the boat Suddenly Jonah found himself in the sea He thought he would drown but he found himself sinking down, down into the sea. Suddenly it seemed as if he were in a very dark cave. But it wasn’t a cave- it was a huge fish. A fish had swallowed Jonah and now he was in the fish’s tummy.
I wonder what it smelt like?I wonder what it felt like? I wonder what Jonah could see?
For three days Jonah was in the fish and then the fish gave a great big hiccup and Jonah came out of the fish with a great big plop! He landed on a beautiful beach and there he lay in the sunshine.
Jonah knew then that he could not pretend that he hadn’t heard God’s message to him. Now he would have to do as God wanted and go to Nineveh to tell the peoplethat they must be good and kind to one another. He would have to tell the people that God cared about them and he would have to tell them what God wanted. When the people heard what Jonah had to say they were sorry for the wrong things they had done. They decided that because of Jonah’s message they would try to care for one another and help each other.
Recall the story with the children:
- What did God want Jonah to do?
- What did God want the people of Nineveh to do?
- What do we say when we know that we have done something wrong?
- What did the people of Nineveh do when they heard Jonah’s message?
- When do we have to say sorry?
- What happens when we say sorry?
Torah 3
Resources: story book, objects as before, shofar, apples, honey
Sit Joe in circle with the children in your group. Take out the story about Jonah.
Do you remember the story that we heard about Jonah and the whale? Joe’s Mum and Dad sometimes read this story to him before he goes to bed. Joe enjoys the story at any time but on a special day Joe goes with his Mum and Dad, all his family and other Jewish people to the synagogue and hears the story of Jonah there. The special day is called Yom Kippur. Joe loves Yom Kippur because he loves the story of Jonah.
Joe likes to go to sing the special songs too and hear the special prayers that all the people say. These are special “sorry” prayers just like the prayers that the people in Nineveh must have used.
At the end of the service the Rabbi blows a special horn (Take a shofar from Joe;s bag or show a picture, or hear a recording) How does the sound of the horn make you feel?
For Jewish people the sound of the horn blowing tells them that this is the beginning of a new year
After the service is over Joe goes down to the river near his home and the family throw breadcrumbs into the river to say sorry for the things that they wish they hadn’t said or done. After the crumbs have floated away Joe and his family know that they can look forward to a new beginning.
Now Joe will go home and eat some apples dipped in honey. They taste delicious and very sweet. (You could have some slices of apple for the children to dip in a jar of honey.) The apples and honey remind all the family that they must think of some things they could do to make life sweeter for someone else.