For the past two weeks, Kitah Vav has been focusing on the
Prophet and Judge Samuel, beginning with his family (especially his mother,
Hannah), and leading up through his time as a Judge of Ancient Israel, through
the war with the Philistines and the loss and return of the Ark of the
Covenant. Last week, we read through the original text together, working
through difficult language and concepts as a class. The selection we read
covered Hannah’s silent prayer for a child in the Temple at Shiloh, the
eventual granting of her wish, and her dedication of the boy Samuel to G-d
under the tutelage of the priest Eli. The students completed a worksheet asking
them to think critically about the function and implications of silent prayer,
Hannah’s great contribution to the Jewish religion; once they had worked on
this independently, we discussed our thoughts and realizations as a class.
This week, we continued the story, from G-d’s first
communication with Samuel to the return of the Ark to the Israelites. After
reading the text, the students all chose a portion of the story and interpreted
it in a method of their own choosing, which they then presented to the class at
the end of the day: we had two skits, a comic book, a drawing, and a test-your-Samuel-knowledge
quiz.
Next week, we will continue with the story of Samuel, moving
towards the appointment of Saul and the beginning of the reign of the Kings of
Israel.
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