Grade 7/Gesher Students Think Like Rabbis

On Tuesday, we constructed and ate edible dreidels 

and our celebrated Bar Mitzvah summarized this week’s Torah portion eloquently.  We learned a verse in Hebrew (Genesis 41:57) noting that there a special Hebrew word meaning ‘to buy grain’ and discussing the bookends-like structure of the verse; beginning and ending with “all the land.”  Our afternoon ended with excitement as all present in religious school gathered to (carefully) light about 39 hanukkiot.  Gesher students addressed their responsibilities as role models. As Rabbi David Wolpe taught: “The shamash is the candle that lights the others.  Be a shamash.” 

On Sunday, our rabbinic Gesher students were faced with interesting questions:  What do you do if you learn that a gift that you sent is lost in the mail?  Do you replace it?  Who is responsible?  Indeed, this happened in our class when an envelope with a gift card mailed to a guest speaker arrived empty.  Students considered this question seriously and chose to replace the gift card with their own funds.  Each student promised to bring $3.00.

The Men’s club provided us with delicious latkes, applesauce and cider, which energized us for still more rabbinic work.  We considered the case of ‘Sam Skateboard’ who sold his Ritalin at his private school.  The question posed:  Should he be expelled from religious school?  Students developed arguments both in favor and against expulsion and then looked at rabbinic texts about Jewish education.  Students were emphatic and articulate in their opinions that Sam should receive a Jewish education and suggested that he could learn something!