Week 13 - January 28, 2021

This week in Seekers we continued our unit on the Torah.

In Rimonim with Leilah, we further explored how the Torah is broken up into prakim (chapters) and psukim (verses) as well as by Parshiyot Hashavuah (weekly portions). One Rimonim student asked, "How do they schedule it so that they read the whole thing (the torah) in a year?"

Rimonim students then then took the time to become familiar with Sefaria's website (an incredible resource containing most of Jewish sacred text). The class had a lot of fun competing to quickly identify a particular perek/pasuk (chapter/verse) in the Torah and read it out loud. Then we reviewed what we had learned about Abraham and Sarah, looked at their family tree, and started talking about the story of Jacob, Rachel, and Leah. Students related elements of sibling jealousy and other family dynamics to their own experiences. 

In Tamarim with Batya, we learned about another story from the Torah, Noah and the Ark. One Tamarim student said, "If I were the creator of the world, I would maybe give the people one more chance." Another Tamarim student said, "I want to live in a loving peaceful world where people are kind to one another!"

In Te'enim with Rabbi Nadia, we studied the story of Jacob and Esau. The Te'enim students had a lot of questions: "Why is Rebecca barren? What do they mean by struggle? How many kids are in her womb?" Their questions continued with, "Did they intend to have kids? Why is the older serving the younger? Which one is stronger? Why two nations? Why twins?"

In Anavim with Stephanie, we studied the weekly Torah portion, Beshalach. Anavim students reflected about the manna story. One Anavim student said, “It’s like, you shouldn’t take more than you need.” Regarding to the splitting of the Red Sea, one student asked, “What happened to the fish?”