The B'nai Jacob Sunday School 'Lesson Plan' Page
Some of our most recent assembly discussions
“BABY-SITTER STEALS”
Last week at the mall, a congregant saw the teenage girl who baby-sits for her young children steal a sweater. She feels like she should either tell her she saw her and make it clear to her that she doesn’t want her passing her habit on to her kids, or else just fire her. The thing is, she’s a great baby-sitter in all other ways. But is it wrong to leave her children in the case of someone who might be teaching them to steal, or worse?
Our Discussion this week with the kids is based on a situation found in "The Good, The Bad, The Difference" by Randy Cohen
Last week at the mall, a congregant saw the teenage girl who baby-sits for her young children steal a sweater. She feels like she should either tell her she saw her and make it clear to her that she doesn’t want her passing her habit on to her kids, or else just fire her. The thing is, she’s a great baby-sitter in all other ways. But is it wrong to leave her children in the case of someone who might be teaching them to steal, or worse?
Our Discussion this week with the kids is based on a situation found in "The Good, The Bad, The Difference" by Randy Cohen
NAZI JUSTICE
Ira Kaufman is a lawyer who is sometime appointed to be a public defender. He is assigned a case where a synagogue has been partially burned and anti-Semitic slogans written on its walls. The man accused of the crime is a member of a white supremacist group, an American version of the Nazi party.
Should a Jewish lawyer defend a member of a Nazi group that attacked a synagogue?
(Based on a discussion found in "You Be the Judge" Book 3 by Joel Lurie Grishaver)
"Is Lying Ever A Mitzvah?"
I am at the synagogue doing work despite my recent knee surgery. No one realizes I have made such great progress. Someone from the community comes in and wants to know if I am busy. I have instructed Nancy to tell everyone that I am not in this week and am resting at home. Nancy feels she is being forced to tell a lie for me. I want to use the time at the office productively since I am way behind in my work and am afraid if she tells the person I am in but busy, they will still come in saying: "Oh, this won't take but a minute!".
Am I wrong asking Nancy to lie for me?
“WHO WAS THAT MASK MAN?”
This Purim, the carnival is going great. In fact: BEST. CARNIVAL. EVER! Everyone is having a spectacular day! The prize booth is filled with kids having a great time. In fact, everyone remembered to wear a mask and costume….but that’s when things went horribly wrong!
One of the parents manning the prize booth comes up to the Rabbi with the following situation: “Rabbi, I think we have a little problem. The comic book you are giving away as the major prize, the very first appearance of the Red Skull, is
missing!”
It seems that one of the kids stole it during the commotion. She saw one kid looking at it and the next thing the parent noticed wasthat the kid was gone and the comic was missing. She believes that the last kid holding that comic and was wearing a Wolverine mask, (the only kid with a Wolverine mask. In fact, he was the only kid who seemed interested in comic book prizes at the carnival.
Our Discussion Question: Should the Rabbi go up to the student and confront him or her? No one actually saw him/her take it, but then, it looks like it must be him. Should the Rabbi just stop the carnival and ask if anyone knows where the comic book has gone?
The Shabbat Picnic
It is an usual winter and the Cohen family decide to take the wonderful Challot their children made at Sunday school and have their Shabbat dinner as a picnic on the porch instead of in the dining room. Instead of a white embroidered tablecloth, it was going to be a plastic red checked tablecloth. Instead of the good china it was going to be paper plates. Mom was all excited. She wasn’t going to have to do any dishes at all. It was a great Shabbat present. She even went to the store and bought two red glass table candles with plastic mesh (like you find in a pizza parlors) to be the Shabbat candles. When
the family sat down to eat,Dad looked at the paper cup that Mom had set next to the bottle of wine as a “picnic Kiddush cup” and said, “This is wrong. Kiddush should be made from a good cup because it is a mitzvah.” Mom said, “It is the blessing and feeling that matters.” Then everyone at the table gave an opinion.
What do you think?
(Based on a discussion found in "You Be the Judge" Book 1 by Joel Lurie Grishaver)
FAKE TZEDAKAH
The Weiss family was watching television one Sunday when a man rang the doorbell. He was asking for tzedakah (charity) for himself and his family who are too poor to afford food and clothing. Mr. Weiss had heard that there was a con artist collecting money around the city. That person was pocketing large sums of money and using it for alcohol and drugs. But Mr. Weiss is not sure if this was indeed the “faker” or, rather, a legitimate collector who needs help. Mr. Weiss had to make a decision on the spot.
Should he give money to this man or not?
( Acknowledgement: Based on a topic from the book: "You be the Judge" Book 2 by Joel Lurie Grishaver)
"Pairing Nicely"
Jack walks into services after learning all about tefillin at Sunday School. He is so excited and decides he wants to wear tefillin during morning services (Shacharit). He doesn’t own a pair of tefillin yet, but he decides to borrow a pair from the many that are in the cabinet near the prayer books. He very carefully places a pair on his head and arm and begins to daven (pray). Half way through his davening, the owner of the tefillin comes into services and demands that Jack remove the tefillin and get another pair. Jack feels that since he is in the middle of prayer, this guy (who already came late), should either wait or get another pair. Is Jack right?
What if Jack knows the person is out of town for a month. Would it be all right for Jack to take that man’s tefillin home without permission in order to daven (pray) at home?
Modest Moses!
In this week’s Torah portion, Moshe (Moses) constantly tells G-d of his
inability to lead the people. He continues to tell G-d that he is not up to the task of being the “Shepherd of Israel”. We all know what an incredible person Moses was, but why do you think he was like that?
Was he just being modest or did he really lack self confidence?
“WILL THE CAT COME BACK?”
Ruthie is passing by a street when a cat with a collar on (indicating it has an owner) follows her. She wants to pick it up and return it to its owner, but immediately realizes that it will take a lot of time, effort and money to give back this cat. After all, in addition to the time it will take to care for her, Ruthie will have to feed her and pay for ads to let people know where the cat is.
What is the right thing to do here? Should she pick it up and try to return it or not?
( Acknowledgement: From "You Be the Judge" Book 2 by Joel Lurie Grishaver)
Ruthie is passing by a street when a cat with a collar on (indicating it has an owner) follows her. She wants to pick it up and return it to its owner, but immediately realizes that it will take a lot of time, effort and money to give back this cat. After all, in addition to the time it will take to care for her, Ruthie will have to feed her and pay for ads to let people know where the cat is.
What is the right thing to do here? Should she pick it up and try to return it or not?
( Acknowledgement: From "You Be the Judge" Book 2 by Joel Lurie Grishaver)
“WHEN CHEATERS PROSPER”
(From our discussion on the Torah Portion: Noach)
Jon knew that most of his friends at his high school regularly cheated. Although he was reluctant to cheat at first, Jon got tired of studying hard and getting lower grades than his friends that simply cheated. One night, Jon’s parents overheard him planning his methods of cheating the next day, and they scolded him for doing such a thing. Jon claimed that “everyone is doing it” (although it was less than half the class) and that the subject of this particular class was unimportant for college anyway. His parents were 100 percent clear that Jon should not cheat. Jon said that many adults regularly cheat by exceeding the speed limit, cheating on income taxes, or doing personal business at work. Why should he suffer and be different?
Is Jon’s argument good enough? Should his parents let him cheat?
(Acknowledgement: From "You Be the Judge" Book 3 by Joel Lurie Grishaver)
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"The Beginning of the Torah Cycle"
This week, we are going to talk about all things Torah. This shabbat marks the beginning of the Torah reading cycle as we start with Genesis once again. The Torah scroll is now "heavy" on the left roller and very light on the right.
As we discuss the Torah, we also want to give the kids a chance to earn their points this week ( see our points leaders !). We are going to open up a scroll, completely unroll it, stretch it out and measure its length. How long will it be? That will be the question! Before doing so, the students will each quess how many feet it will end up being and the student who comes the closest to the actual number of feet will win 75,ooo points this Sunday! ( Of course, everyone who participates will take home 10,000 and a nice surprise!)
How many feet is an unrolled Torah? The Answer: the Torah we unrolled on Sunday was 171 feet! Congratulations to Elizabeth Zacks who guessed the closest with her answer of 166 feet!
Rosh Hashana
B'nai Jacob's Got Talent- Rosh Hashana Edition
Starring the Children of Our Sunday School!
Don't Miss it!
Starring the Children of Our Sunday School!
Don't Miss it!
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B’NAI JACOB’S GOT TALENT AND WE’RE GOING TO FIND OUT THIS ROSH HASHANAH!
This Sunday we have a very special competition to see how much talent our students have, Jewishly speaking! This morning, October 2nd, we are going to discuss five of the major customs and traditions we perform on the High Holy Days They are: 1. "Davening”(Praying) 2. Dipping an apple in honey 3. Sounding the shofar 4. “Shluggin Kaparot” 5. Tzeddak (Charity) We are going to break you up into teams of five (teams will be drawn by random drawing). You will then be shown the five “talents” that you have to perform and how to do them (as well as how you will be judged). You will then break up into those teams and decide which teammate should do which task. After each team performs, our judges will confer and give each team a total of points. Each player will win that number of points this Sunday as well as a nice prize. If you will listen carefully to assembly and show us the talent we know you have, you could take home as much as 50,000 points today! |
 Davening  Apples and honey  Shofar  "Shluggin Kaparot"  Tzedaka Box |
"The Importance of Prayer"
Throughout the biblical period, prayer was largely unstructured, with each individual using his/her own language and style. In our Torah Portion this week, Ki Tavo, which means “when you enter [the Promised Land],” there is, for the first time, a specific structure and context given for a worship experience. The Israelite who brought first ruits of the harvest would recite a prescribed account of history (Deuteronomy 26t:3-10). The sacrifice would follow. An assurance that the offering was a true tithe (Deuteronomy 26:13-15) would closethe ceremony.
Why did such an observance evolve? Sacrifices represented material plenty. Bringing them was the only way to thank G-d for good fortune. Israelite history represented the divinely inspired process by which the free nation was formed. Reciting that history was a way of identifying with that history and of thanking G-d for the blessing of living in one’s own land.
Are you comfortable with unstructured personal prayer or do you prefer the structure of worship found in a service led by a Rabbi, Cantor, or Shaliach Tzibur ( Lay leader who leads services)? If you could choose any place for prayer where would it be? Why? For what do you pray?
In the introduction to his book "Mishneh Torah", Maimonides states that the toal number of precepts in the Torah is 613. Two hundred forty-eight of them are positive and equal to the number of bones in the human body. The remaining 365 commandments are negative and equal to the number of days in a solar year. Maimonides traces this information to a Rabbi Simlai, a Palestinian teacher of the Rabbinic period. According to Maimonides, this week's Torah portion, Ki Tetze, contains 72 of these positive and negative mitzvot. The first laws which this portion addresses deal with the taking of hostages as a result of war. Ki Tetz means, “when you go out” (to battle).
The subject of returning lost property appears in this portion and also in Exodus 23:4. Essentially, both tell us to return lost property whether it belongs to a person who is an enemy or a friend. The wonderful modern Torah Scholar Nechama Leibowitz points out that not only must one protect a lost object until the owner claims it, but one must also actively safeguard a lost possession so as to return it in good condition (Studies in Devarim, pp. 212ff.).
Our discussion today: Have you every found a valuable object? What steps did you take to find its owner? What are some methods a person might use to either find or restore lost property?
Our Lesson in Action
"Keep the Change?"
Miriam goes to the grocery store and buys $7.75 worth of groceries. She gives the cashier a ten-dollar bill and receives what she thinks is $2.25 in change. Outside in the parking lot Miriam notices that instead of two single dollars and a quarter, the cashier mistakenly gave her a ten dollar bill and a one. She has gotten $11.25 change and made money on the purchase. She starts to walk away. One voice in her head says, “The cashier made the mistake. I am just reaping the reward.” The other voice in her head says, “Walking away is like stealing.”
What should she do?
Miriam goes to the grocery store and buys $7.75 worth of groceries. She gives the cashier a ten-dollar bill and receives what she thinks is $2.25 in change. Outside in the parking lot Miriam notices that instead of two single dollars and a quarter, the cashier mistakenly gave her a ten dollar bill and a one. She has gotten $11.25 change and made money on the purchase. She starts to walk away. One voice in her head says, “The cashier made the mistake. I am just reaping the reward.” The other voice in her head says, “Walking away is like stealing.”
What should she do?
Acknowledgements: "Teaching Torah" by Sorel Golderg Loeb and Barbara Binder Kadden
"You Be the Judge" by Joel Lurie Grishaver
"You Be the Judge" by Joel Lurie Grishaver
